Medea also uses her children by having them deliver poison in the disguise of gifts, as no one would expect the children to have ill intentions. The children present the gifts as a request to let them avoid banishment, but in reality the gifts have been sent not to aid the children's situation at all. Throughout the play Medea acts like a puppet-master using the children to get her goals accomplished without being detected. They are the perfect cover. In addition to the children being used as a symbol, Euripides also harnesses the use of the sun as a symbol in Medea. The sun is a symbol of the "light" of reason and civilization, in a contrast to Medea's darkness and barbaric nature. Two sun gods, Apollo and Helios, are both used in Medea. "Apollo is the god of order, of art, of moderation and civilization. Helios, on the other hand, is the deity of the older age of the world, the god of wild Nature and barbarism." (Hlabadie) The sun is a dual symbol. Through the appearance of Apollo, the sun is representative of Greek culture...

Through Helios, the sun is the force of nature which both creates as destroys, like Medea herself who is from a barbarian island and both birthed and killed her children.
Symbols play an important role in Euripedes' Medea because they fuel the drama of the story. The children are used as a symbol of Medea's power and deceitfulness, as she harnesses them to accomplish her plot of revenge. Euripides also introduces the sun as a dual symbol of both civilization and nature, which are competing forces in this play.

Bibliography

Euripides. Medea. Trans. Ian Johnson. http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/euripides/medea.htm

Hlabadie. "Medea." Reference, Education and News > Teaching and Research. Google Answers. March 2004. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=312929

Tagle, Steven. "The Dramatic Appeal of Human Props in Greek Drama." Stanford University. 9 March 2004. http://www.stanford.edu/~stagle/ESSAYS/WIN%20IHUM33A%20E02%20HumanProp.htm