Medea Tragic Hero Essay

Back in Ancient Greece the Greeks would have considered Jason to be the tragic hero however, throughout the play Medea, Euripides sets a very clear notion regarding the position of woman throughout the play. Woman weren’t seen as equals. Their status was lower than a man’s status. In the play Medea, Medea sacrifices everything just for Jason. Her city, her family, and also her status just because of love. Jason takes her back to his land and has two kids with her. He later exiles her after having two bright children with her for another Princess. Jason uses Medea only for his benefits and could care less what happens to Medea. Euripides shows the struggles that Medea had to go through. She was not evil before but due all the hardships she

In fact, he has if he would have stayed committed to Medea none of this would have even happened. It would have been a happier ending where everyone continued living in peace. However, Euripides also wanted to emphasize that even though a man or women might possess good traits. Those traits can also ultimately lead to their destruction. Medea possesses some qualities of a tragic hero, however Euripides uses those against her and instead creates her into this monster type character that ends up killing the princess, the princess’s father and her two children. This play has conflicted with traditional ritual theater since it shows how Medea with the use of witchcraft and her prayers to the Gods was able to cause so much destruction. What makes the play resonate for the modern audience is portrays a sense of woman liberation. It shows how Medea took action on her husband for ruining her life after she dedicated everything to him only to find him loving someone else. There have been many shows today based off Medea’s plot such as “Gone Girl”. Also modern audiences do not realize the severity of being exiled and what it actually meant for the ancient Greeks at that