Is Medea Justified in Her Actions free essay sample

Is Medea Justified In Her Actions? Is the killing of anyone ever Justified? Is the life of one individual more important than another? In Euripides, Medea, Medea kills the princess of Corinth, the king of Corinth, Creon, as well as her own children. Are her actions the actions of an insane, distraught person or those of wise, foreign, barbaric woman trying to protect her children? Through the story of Medea, Medea Justifies the killing of others while several other characters portray the injustice of her killings. Can a person show a ustifiable reason to the killing of others or is the killing of others Justified under certain circumstances? In the work prologue, we discover Jasons quest to Colchis to obtain the Golden Fleece as a task created by his uncle, Pelias in order to claim his rightful inheritance. He assembles a team and they set sail for Colchis on the ship, the Argo. We will write a custom essay sample on Is Medea Justified in Her Actions? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Upon reaching Colchis, King Aeetes instructs Jason to plow a field with a team of fire- breathing bulls. (Euripides 527). During his task, he meets King Aeetes daughter, Medea. Medea, proficient in magic, helps Jason. She helps him plough the field, lull the dragon to sleep, steal the fleece, and escape back to Greece, killing her own brother to distract the attention of their enraged Colchian pursuers. Jason and Medea go to lolcus only to realize Pelias goes back on his word. Angered by this, Medea talks Peliass daughters into boiling him alive by telling them the act will make him immortal. The treacherous act forced Jason and Medea into exile. Jason and Medea marry, have children and move to Corinth. While in Corinth, Jason divorces Medea to marry the princess of Corinth. Because of the divorce, Medeas spirit is destroyed and she is driven to an unstable state of mind. As the story begins, the Nurse is wanting to reverse history, l wish the Argo never had set sail My mistress then, Medea, never would have sailed away the sight of Jason never would had stunned her spirit with desire. She would had never had persuaded Pelias daughters to kill their father never had to come this land Corinth. (Euripides 529). The Nurse continues to mourn the situation, Justifying Medeas feelings Poor Medea, mournful and dishonored sobbing to herself for her ear father, her land, her home, and all that she betrayed for Jason, who now holds her in dishonor. (Euripides 529) but also mentions the instability of Medea, Shes a terror. Theres no way to be her enemy and come out as the victor. (Euripides 529). Medea enters the story, quite evident that she is emotionally unstable. She curses her life, the lives of her children as well as Jasons life as she mentions, O children, accursed, may you die with your father! Your mother is hateful. Go to hell the whole household! Every last one. (Euripides 531). The Nurse notates her anger, But er glance is as fierce as a bulls, let me tell you shes wild like a lion whos Just given birth whenever a servant tries telling her anything. (Euripides 533). Medea pleads to the women of Corinth to keep quiet if she finds a way to repay her husband tor his betrayal. She acknowledges now women teel interior to men but when betrayed, a woman who is betrayed With an injustice in the bedroom, there is no other mind more murderous. (Euripides 535). After she speaks with the women of Corinth, she encounters the king of Corinth, King Creon. King Creon tells Medea how he feels, Im afraid of you. You could hurt my daughter, even kill her Im terrified of whats in your mind. I trust you less than ever (Euripides 535-36). While King Creon feels he is doing the right thing by exiling Medea and her children, it is evident that exiling Medea made her even more emotionally unstable, hes granted me a single day to turn three enemies to three dead bodies: the father, and the bride, and my own husband. (Euripides 538). The story continues with the strophe reiterating how Medea moved away from her home and how she was driven insane exiled to a foreign home only to have her husband ishonor and betray her. Medea encounters Jason. Jason explains to her that her own evil actions have caused her to be exiled for she spoke against the royal family. (Euripides 540). Rationally he explains to her that, However much you hate me, I could never wish you any harm. (Euripides 540). For a man who is having his life threatened, he is calm and trying to explain to Medea that she needs to stop her foolish, crazy actions. Responding emotionally unstable, Medea yells at Jason, miou are the worst! Youre loathsome! She continues screaming trying to illustrate the pain that he has caused er. Jason responds telling her he took her away from her old home, a barbaric kingdom and brought her to a civilized place where she now has fame. He even mentions that he didnt leave her to betray her but he left her to support her and their kids; to give them a life they could enjoy, My motive was the best; so wed live well and not be poor. He goes on to tell her that all women are the same; as long as they are satisfied at home, life is well but let there be some setback or disaster in the bedroom and suddenly you go against the things you should value the most. Jason nd Medea continue to exchange conflicting words without settling anything. Later in the story, Medea summons Jason to offer him a peace offering. She begs for his forgiveness for her previous outbursts and begs Jason to persuade his bride to let him have the children with them so they wont have to deal with the exile. After a little persuasion, Jason accepts her apology and lets their children present his new wife with gifts. Unknown to the children, the gifts contained poison. The poisonous crown and robe killed the princess. The king threw himself on top of the princess which lead to his death. The news of their death got back to Medea where she mentally tries to Justify her next action, l must kill my children and leave this land before I give my enemies a chance to slaughter them. (Euripides 559). Medea slaughters her children. Before she leaves she encounters Jason. Jason, having learned of the fate of his children, curses Medea, miou hateful thing. (Euripides 559). Medea responds telling him that because he betrayed her, she couldnt let him go on to lead a pleasant life. (Euripides 563). Medea wants to make Jason feel lonely, lonely as she felt when he betrayed her. Jason continues to try to understand why Medea killed all the people. Medea explains the killings as a way to make Jason feel pain. She even makes sure he knows that everything that happened was to hurt him, to do to him what he did to her, I Jabbed your heart. Throughout the story, Medea tries to Justity ner actions based on teeling betrayed by her husband. Several characters Justify that her actions are wrong. Even though kings arent supposed to show fear, King Creon tells Medea he is afraid of her. Jason overly tells Medea that he wasnt trying to betray her but to help her; help her by aving fortune so he could take care of her and their kids. Medea continuously through the story tries to portray that she will kill people because of Jasons betrayal. In the end, she kills her children because she believes they will die because of her actions. They will die anyway, and since they must, I will kill them. King Creon, Jason makes valid points of Medea being emotionally unstable. In the end, Medea does not prove that it is okay to ever kill anyone. Works Cited Euripides. Medea. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Volume l. W W Norton, 2012. 525-564. print.