Essay Sample on Medea: A Woman with Unparalleled Power and Characteristics

Medea was the protagonist in Euripides' Medea. She is a diverse character with many characteristics not evident in ordinary women of her time. Her unique characteristics make her be treated differently by other members in the society. Several factors make her unique and different from others. She had supernatural powers; she was vindictive, manipulative, and driven by revenge. The situations she encountered and the life she lived is partly because of her actions as well as her characteristics.

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Medea uniqueness in her society makes people afraid of her. Even men feared her. As a result, Jason was the first person she had fallen in love. When she fell in love with Jason; nothing could stop her from marrying him. To protect her passion, she killed her brother and the beast guarding the Golden Fleece. Medea actions made her a murderer. She also left her family, home, and everything she knew (Murphy 23). Her behavior was contrary to what women would do during her time. As a result, she was not an ordinary woman in her society. The things she did because of her love for Jason would at the end of the play account for her actions.

Even though Medea killed and betrayed her family and society, among other bad things through the play, she was a loving and caring person. Her love is evident in her attitude and actions toward Jason at the beginning of the play. If she were not a loving person, she would not have what she did for Jason. Her caring character is evident in the way she loved her children. Although she later killed them, she was a mother who showed affection to her children. Even before killing them, she thought twice (Manzoor 40). It is her loving and caring nature that made her do horrible things in society. She was heartbroken by Jason to the extent that she had to decide to hurt Jason in return.

Medea was a soft-hearted person. When she knew that Jason was planning to marry Creon's daughter, she was deeply hurt. However, her heartbreak turned into vengeance when she realized that there was a plan to exile Creon's daughter. Since Medea was a manipulative woman, one day was enough for her to execute her evil plan. She planned to revenge by leaving Jason with nothing, the same way she was left without anything (Kramer 45). She killed Jason's wife to be her father and children. In this way, she wanted to destroy anything that would benefit Jason. The other reason for her horrific actions is because he wanted heroic fame. She argued that vengeance was a way of showing people that she can be harmful to enemies and kind to friends as well. Besides, she was not an ordinary woman who is quiet when injustice is done to her. Both Jason and Medea are people driven by emotions and passions, where none of them acts with dignity as expected from the people of the upper class like them (Manzoor 40). Just like ordinary, when the public mask is taken off from them, they are flawed people controlled by Jealousy and engage in petty quarrels.

Despite the brutal killing of the children, her manipulative and calculated nature, she was a desperate and broken woman. What she went through cannot be the excuse for her barbaric act. However, it is essential to note she was just a human being who could go to great length when he is hurt. Difficult circumstances can push people to make unimaginable choices. She was neither a heroine nor evil, but just a human.

Works Cited

Kramer, Christina Faye. "The socially deviant (M) other in Euripides'" Medea" and two modern adaptations." (2018). https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/148/

Manzoor, Sohana. "Translating Medea's infanticide: A reading of Euripides' Medea." A Journalof English Studies 10 (2019). https://sah.ulab.edu.bd/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/09/Crossings_Vol10_2019.pdf#page=87

Murphy, Ashton Lacy. "Medea and new media: Analyzing Euripides' tragedy through the medium of video games." (2016). http://dlynx.rhodes.edu/jspui/handle/10267/33674