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The story of Medea is about a woman of extreme behavior and extreme emotion. His passionate love for Jason is immeasurable to the point that she sacrificed all; even committing unspeakable acts on his behalf. And when her husband married the daughter of Creon (a betrayal that killed her), the passionate love was transformed into rage. Her once formerly devoted faithful and dedicated heart has turned violent and unbalanced set on nothing but his destruction. The Greeks were always interested in various extreme emotions and the consequences of leaving these emotions unchecked. They also consider strong passion and rage as part and parcel of greatness.
This particular Euripides play is just an example of such Greek penchant; a passion carried too far, in a woman perversely set on choosing rage over mercy and reason. In Speech A, Medea laments about the inequities that women had to suffer in the world of men. In it she pours out her bitterness and her sufferings but not as one who is losing all hopes but as a woman who is determined to avenge the wrong that was done to her. This suggests that she is a strong-willed woman -- suffering yet unfailing in spirit; hurt but unyielding. This particular trait of Medea is the central character of the plot. Although she speaks of death as preferable to the lives women lead under the hands of men, her courage and strong determination is always perceived and stressed.
The first part of the play talks about a woman scorned and betrayed; and is now planning her attempts at revenge. Medea's suffering is not just because of her betrayal as a wife but also as a foreigner in a country where is alone with neither family nor home. Speech B is similar to Speech A in the sense that they are both personal outbursts about Medea's sufferings because of her husbands unfaithfulness and somehow treachery. Speech A talks about women in general but the second monologue (Speech B) is about her personal dilemma and her decision and plans to do about it. She was apprehensive about her fate in case of failure but her outburst also reveals the cold blooded ness of her plots, she outlines her plan to the chorus, perhaps with some degree of glee excitement. The chorus is seemed won over by Medea's personal vendetta for they would sort of live vicariously through her and her plans for revenge -- something which somehow will be the retribution for all women.
This particular scene (incident) is relevant in the unfolding of the plot in the sense that it reiterates the desperation of a woman who is cheated and deluded by her husband despite of her faithfulness and as such is also considered a foreigner in her husbands land. It also divulges Medea's plan to kill her husband by stealth as well as her apprehension regarding what fate might have in store for her. Speech C showcase how good Medea plan her moves, she is the master manipulator. She elaborates in morbid details the guile that Medea intends to use in killing Jasons new bride, her own children and then Jason. This shows the audience or reader that the victim is now the victimizer; that Medea, amidst the sufferings and heartaches that were bestowed on her, has turned into a monster by her own making because of her damaged pride. The speech shows Medea as a cold-blooded, ruthless, angry woman in her quest for revenge.
Anger, love, pride and then cunning sum up the whole speech. Medea plays perfectly on the weaknesses and needs of both her enemies (Jason) and her friends (the soft-hearted King Aegeus). Her next discourse (Speech D) was undertaken right after a messenger reported about the death of the Corinthian princess and subsequently of her father, Creon. In here, Medea speaks now of the final part of her plan. Although she has mixed emotions regarding the final part of the plan, she contemplated of aborting her plan.
Rage and reason are played against each other as Medea's resolve wavers. Yet, in the end, she decided that she must steel herself and murder her own children, in part because of her incredible pride. With close analysis, one can see that Medea is incredibly self-absorbed. Although she grieves for her children, her contemplation seems more focused on what she is depriving herself -- loss of her childrens care for her. The audience can very well see the contrast between Medea's false and real plan. The plan she outlines for Jason is that of a mother doing the ultimate act of selflessness: a mother separating herself from her children for their own good.
Despite her anguish and misery, she would have her children brought up away from her because it means greater future them. The true plan, however, shows her as the opposite: mother who is bent on revenge at all cost even the loss of her own childrens lives. She is not thinking at all about her children but is rather moved to tears by the thought that her children will not be able to care for her in her old age. She was more concerned about her misery rather than the horror of her children being dead. Medea's final speech (Speech E) is the reiteration of her plan to kill the children. Here she did all she can to justify the horrible act she was about to commit.
Again and again, she speaks of her children's uncertain future afraid that if she did leave them in Corinth, they will be mocked for they are not wholly Greeks. As always, Medea cannot stand the thought of being victimized: My friends, I am resolved upon the deed; at once will I slay my children and then leave this land, without delaying long enough to hand them over to some more savage hand to butcher. Needs must they die in any case; and since they must, I will slay them-I, the mother that bare them. (1237 - 38) She cannot bear the thought of her enemies destroying her children. Paradoxically, she decides to prevent this grief by killing them herself. Medea's rage is central in this story; her hatred indicts her world, the loving home that has become her prison, the injustices and hollow parties of Greek civilization. The play also, somehow, implicates humanity.
Her hatred and rage, though extreme, remain unnervingly and immediately recognizable; the grim satisfaction she takes in her revenge, however brutal and self-destructive it was, bears at least some resemblance to mans own secret and unfulfilled fantasies. Works Cited Lattimore, Richmond and David Great, eds. Euripides I: Alcestis, The Medea, The Heracleidae, Hippolytus (The Complete Greek Tragedies). London: The University of Chicago Press, Ltd. , 1985.
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