Freudian theory believes that extreme suffering removes own from the tamed state which each individual resides within civilization, "Just as satisfaction of instinct spells happiness for us, so severe suffering caused us if the external world lets us starve, if it refuses to state our needs," (Freud 28). Medea is so affected by her suffering that she removes herself from everyday life, "She lies without food and gives herself up to suffering," (Euripides 2). In order to deal with her extreme pain, Medea chose to take back the authority which Jason and the King had originally stolen from her. Rather than fade away into exile, she took action in her own life to regain control, an act which is also seen in Freud's theories, "One may therefore hope to be freed from a part of one's sufferings by influencing the instinctual impulses," (Freud 28). She let loose her aggression and desire for destruction as a way to regain control over her destroyed life. After she murdered Jason's new bride out of sheer aggression and jealousy, she, in her own mind, was forced to save her children from suffering the consequences of her actions. She knew that they would have suffered just as much, if not greater than her, if they were to live through this disastrous mess. Getting into the psychological reasons for this shows how she did not necessarily hate her children. She loved the very much so. She murdered them to satisfy two concerns she had with the external world. First, she wanted to save them from the suffering she herself could not handle. She also wanted to ensure that Jason would be a ruin man for the rest of his life, "While you, as right, will die without distinction, / Struck on the head by a piece of the Argo's timber, / and you will have seen the bitter end of my love," (Euripides 45). Without children to carry on his lineage, or a wife to bear him more children, Jason's legend would die with...
Medea relates a story about the power of love, which induces sacrifice as well as jealousy and feelings of revenge aroused by betrayal. Medea, the principal character, is a woman, who is so smitten by her love for Jason that she forsakes her family, country and people to live in "...the land of Corinth with her husband and children, where her exile found favour with the citizens to whose land
Medea Villianness, Victim, or Both? Medea has emerged from ancient myth to become an archetype of the scorned woman who kills her own children to spite her husband, who must then suffer the fate of outliving them. The story itself is horrific, and yet it remains strangely fascinating, and into the mouth of its maniacal heroine many writers have given philosophies which were too subversive to be voiced in open discourse. Many
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
This double standard is prominent in Medea, for example when Jason admits that it is normal for women to get very angry when their husband is being unfaithful, yet he expects Medea to forget about it. (Euripides, ln 908-910) This is yet another way in which Medea parallels the position of women in our society today who are also expected to keep their feelings hidden. Medea has an inclination towards
"As a female foreigner whose relationship with Jason was only formalized with the birth of the children, Medea would have been viewed as an irregular companion, and after Jason's betrothal to Glauce, she would be reduced to the status of concubine." (Guastella in Claus) This makes them a helpful tool in securing her bond to Jason. Another means by which they can be useful props for Medea is when she
The children are their mother's power in a very real sense. When Medea must appeal to the best intentions of Creon, she presents the case of her poor unfortunate children that are no deserving of any punishment. It is through his pity for the children that Medea is able to remain for a time long enough to fulfill her plans to get revenge. Again, her children assist her when
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