Tim Hand 12C
Medea Essay
Is Medea used and manipulated or is she a cunning evil woman driven by pride?
In the text Medea, the main character Medea is a person who is not used or manipulated; but an evil and cunning person who has caused much grief to herself, Jason and many other people.
Throughout the text, it is evident that she is a cunning evil person. From the very start, she displays herself as a person who will not take anything lightly. If someone hurts her she will not let them get away unscarred – mentally or physically. It is in her blood that she is evil. This is evident in the first part where she contemplates revenge on Jason – when he has left her to go marry Glauce - Creon’s daughter. She says “If I can find a way to work revenge on Jason for his wrongs to me, say nothing.”(257-259) She says this to the chorus which makes them worry greatly about Medea. The key word in this quote is ‘revenge’. As I said previously, if someone hurts Medea, she will not let them get away. Jason has betrayed her, and now Medea wants revenge. She plans several murders to get back at him, to ‘pay for what he has done to me’. It is in the planning of these murders that she really does show how skilful she can be. She thinks and plans long and hard about them, which just goes to show how evil she is.
But why does she do this? Pride. “…you must not invite laughter from Jason and his new allies…”(403-404) but also the lines “Yes I can endure guilt, however horrible, the laughter of my enemies I will not endure.”(788-794) She plans and carries out these dreadful murders not only for revenge but also to protect her pride or ‘self-image’. She doesn’t want to be laughed at by Jason, or anyone else and this may portray to the reader that she is selfish too. She will take any means necessary to achieve this.
Although at the beginning of the text, we may think Medea is being manipulated and used by Jason, I believe it Jason and others who are being manipulated and used by Medea. This is evident in the lines 940-942.
Jason:I don’t know if I can persuade him; but I’ll try.
Medea:Then – get your wife to ask her father to let them stay.
Jason:Why certainly; I’m pretty sure she’ll win him over.
Here she uses Jason to help carry out her murders. We may begin to feel sorry for Jason here, as he doesn’t know what he has done by helping Medea. He doesn’t know that he is going to loose his family and close friends. Medea also uses the children in the same way. They help her carry out her evil plan by carrying the dress and golden coronet to Glauce. This again shows the evilness of Medea - using her children to carry out murders that they aren’t even involved in.
In conclusion, I believe that Medea is an evil, selfish and cold hearted person. She has no respect for anyone – especially her children. She looks at her pride more importantly than the safety and welfare of her children. She is selfish. Taking advantage of anyone or anything to make sure she ‘comes out on top’. She is evil – manipulating anyone for her benefit and her benefit only. Children are gifts of life, they have feelings and should be cared for; not used as a bargaining or revenge ‘tools’ in a family mishap.
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