ipl-logo

Role Of Sacrifice In Medea

371 Words2 Pages

n the play Medea by Euripides we are presented with a woman who is about to go into exile with her two children. Her husband has left her for another and now Medea wants revenge. She does this by way of gifts and their destructiveness is conveyed through the fact that she destroys everything that ties her to Jason except Jason himself. The biggest sacrifice Medea had to make was killing her children. She knew that she would not be able to win Gluace over on her side if she was to present the gifts, but her children would be much more appealing as they are a symbol of a new relationship due to their inability of causing harm. By sacrificing her children she is giving away the only thing they had in common. Medea speaks to her children before sending them off and tells them "your father took away your chance of happiness.  We see that Medea knows that this will hurt Jason and reflect how much he hurt her. Moreover, it conjures up the idea that she is getting rid of all ties with Jason as she tells him, "you were never going to shame our bed and lead a pleasant life and laugh at me  so he can be left to hurt on his own just like he left Medea. …show more content…

That is what makes Medea's gift even more destructive. Her gifts were supposed to be acts of kindness and appreciation as well as cultural norms. Medea even stresses the point of reciprocation by stating that "to save my children from exile I would give up not only gold but my life  Medea's indifference about losing her children and defying cultural norms shows how extreme the gifts she gave were.
There is no doubt that the gifts Medea gave were of high value and worth. This is because not only are the gifts very luxurious, Medea is the daughter of the king in Colchis and is

Show More
Related

  • Why Did Medea Want To Glauke

    464 Words  | 2 Pages

    Medea wanted to give Glauke a gift and knew the only way she would take it is if her sons would give her the gift. When Jason saw that Medea wanted to give Glauke a gift he thought she had a change of heart. Medea wanted the gifts she has prepared personally given to Glauke because she put poison in the dress, that she knew she would want to try on. The poison Medea places in her dress killed her and when her father Creon the King of Corinth saw, he embraces her. At that moment the poison then took effect on him as well.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Medea

    281 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is an ironic statement as Medea is actually planning to kill her children, a fact which the audience does not yet know about. Jason uses another form of rhetorical stretching, which includes his plea that leaving his wife and children was a ‘wise move’, and that the decision was made with Medea’s best interests at heart, as much an attempt to convince himself as much as the audience. The chorus is quick to point out that ‘You have betrayed your wife and are acting badly.’ The Nurse is our first instance of anagnorisis during the play. Though an ancient Greek audience would well be in tune with the stories in Greek mythology, the Nurse’s role would still have proved important, as she was a tool Euripides used to transport the audience

    Read More

  • Medea Revenge Quotes

    663 Words  | 3 Pages

    She can’t see the pain she is afflicting on her own life through the filter of anger. By trying to take Jason’s new life away from him, Medea leaves herself with nothing. She has every right to be upset with him for leaving her for another woman but she simply took it too far. “Forgive and forget” is easier said than done but her children could have had a great life.

    Read More

  • Medea Rhetorical Analysis

    559 Words  | 3 Pages

    Medea husband’s leaves her for another woman. Medea is particularly hurt by this since she betrayed her own family to be with him. King Creon banishes her and her two sons even after she begs for mercy. She meets Aegeus who promises her and her children a place to stay and then begins to enact her revenge.

    Read More

  • Role Of Revenge In Medea

    1146 Words  | 5 Pages

    Revenge can cause more damage than the original injury. Even in old Greek days people used revenge to hurt one another. In the ancient Greek tragedy Medea, a young woman named Medea gave up her family, home and country to be with a man named Jason. As they moved on in life, Jason then decided that he would leave her and his children for the princess, a royal bed. This caused Medea to be vengeful and go out on a rampage.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: Medea By Euripides

    1497 Words  | 6 Pages

    After doing such a thing she was exiled from her own homeland and while she was escaping with Jason and the Golden Fleece she took severe measures and murdered her brother, cutting him up into little pieces, and throwing those pieces into the sea in order to gain some time to escape successfully. This was a complete and utter betrayal by Medea towards her family and homeland. This was not it, Medea and Jason settled in Lolcos and in Lolcos Medea manipulated the daughter of the king and tricked her into killing her father (the king of Lolcos). The only reason she did this was so that Jason could obtain the throne of Lolcos but both of them were banned from Lolcos too. After this Creon, the king of Corinth, welcomes them into his territory, in Corinth, Creon asks Jason to marry his daughter and Jason accepts, betraying Medea.

    Read More

  • Medea Revenge Quotes

    946 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the beginning everything was fine Medea and her family were welcomed with open arms but it was until Jason had left them and the house was filled with hatred because Medea was upset that he had left after all that she had done for him. She refused to eat , she stood in her room, cried the days away , sometimes she would call out for her father, her country and her home: all abandoned and betrayed for a man who now abandons her, betrays her honor and her love ( pg 6, line 32-34 ). So now she wants personal revenge to punish him for his actions only to get the delight that revenge brings to herself. Jason left from Medea ‘for a royal bed’ is said by the ( pg, line 22 ) which shows the audience to look at Jason as a selfish man. Medea did

    Read More

  • Sympathy In Euripides's The Medea

    1118 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Euripides’ text The Medea, Medea can easily be painted as the villian. She is a woman who killed her own children in an attempt to spite her husband. But, by examining the text, we can see that she deserves some sympathy. She has little to no control over her own life and has to rely on the will of men. And as a foreigner in Corinth abandoned by her husband, she faces even more challenges than the native women of Corinth did.

    Read More

  • Cruelty In Medea's Exile

    180 Words  | 1 Pages

    Medea never intends to commit any acts of cruelty until she’s banished which eventually leads to the rising action. The King tells Medea to leave even though she has no plan and no help for her sons. She is pushed further off a cliff with no chance of escape. The moment after she has a last day granted to stay, she starts planning the murder of Jason and his wife. She feels the need to get back at Jason for what he did and any chance of getting back with him is ruined.

    Read More

  • Medea Quote Analysis

    1434 Words  | 6 Pages

    She describes the world to be unjust, especially to women. Medea believes that women are looked as inferior to men, and even so, men are quick to display their unlikely maltreatment. To her, women have little to no say in their marriage, their bodies, and general society. Medea’s outlook of women is first conveyed through this quote, bringing upon the theme of the state of women within Greece. This quote reveals the state of women within Greece, a leading theme of the story.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Injustice In Medea

    727 Words  | 3 Pages

    Medea was treated unfairly in the patriarchal society that she lived in and due to the circumstances she was forced to abide by, she sought to achieve her own form of justice. Women were mistreated and regarded as inferior to men. In fact, Medea mentioned how women were like foreigners forced to abide by their husband’s laws and remain subservient. Essentially, women were treated as outsiders and were thought to need constant protection from male figures. So, when the King of Corinth kicked her and her children out of Corinth and Jason left them, she wanted revenge since she felt she had been wronged.

    Read More

  • Why Is Medea Unethical

    320 Words  | 2 Pages

    The people of Corinth did not trust her because she is a sorceress. Additionally, women had little to no rights in Greek society where the men had complete dominance. So although Medea did have the right to be a bit angry, she did not have to kill so many people that she loved in order to get her way with Jason. Medea also showed motherly characteristics towards her two sons before killing them. This can be seen when she says “Medea: So sweet […] the mere touch of you: the bloom of children's skin--so soft […] their breath--a perfect balm” (173).

    Read More

  • Medea Argumentative Essay

    1607 Words  | 7 Pages

    Lush explains “Although Euripides did not cast Medea as a male solider as its protagonist, the play depicts Medea as suffering from the background Trauma, betrayal, isolation and consequent symptoms attributed to combat veterans with lasting psychological injuries” (Lush, 2014, p. 25). Hence using Lush’s view on Medea’s character as a devoted warrior suffering from Traumatic hardships in her experiences with the man she gave everything to, we can understand why she wanted revenge. Medea believes Jason owes her more than just the normal husband-wife obligations a man swears to when marrying a woman; in her view, she helped him be the man that he is and supported him throughout his heroic journey. Without her, Jason would not have succeeded in retrieving the Golden Fleece. Without her, he would not have had his father resurrected.

    Read More

  • Medea Marriage Analysis

    1516 Words  | 7 Pages

    WORLD LITERATURE ESSAY Euripedes’ portrayal of the theme and significance of marriage in Medea. Euripedes portrays the central conflict between Medea and Jason as a resultant of Jason’s betrayal of his marriage to Medea, breaking the marriage vows and rejecting the sanctity of her nuptial bed for the politically motivated marriage with Creon’s daughter. The play, Medea, can be interpreted as a searing indictment of the institution of marriage. It is the desecration of this sacred institution by Jason that infuriates Medea and causes her to unleash her wrath upon Jason by committing filicide so as to leave him without sons to carry his family forward.

    Read More

  • Euripides's Role Of Women In Medea

    1010 Words  | 5 Pages

    Her despair and grief intrigued everyone in Corinth which led to the appearance of the chorus. Since Medea is a foreigner in their city, it was easier for them to judge Medea for they do not know her. They thought that Medea’s reaction was too much and since she is a woman, she had no rights to act that way. Medea was too devastated to show up yet she wanted to point out her side. She shared her heart breaking story of how Jason left her and their children for Princess Glauke.

    Read More

More about Role Of Sacrifice In Medea

Open Document