Medea Vs Odyssey Research Paper

Odyssey vs. Medea Odysseus is sent to Troy to help fight the Trojans in order to win back Helen. In order to help the Greeks Odysseus must leave his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. Odysseus was gone for many years and in that time face many problems as well as when he was back in Ithaca. Medea is a sorceress who falls in love with Jason and helps him steal the Golden Fleece from her father and escape. Medea and Jason safely reach Greece are married and have two children, but Jason leaves Medea to marry a new bride and become king. Medea is the protagonist of Euripides’s play Medea she is comparable to Odysseus from Homer’s epic The Odyssey in that they both are faced with many problems, but the way in which they handle the situations sets the two apart. When Jason left Medea for his new bride and new throne Medea was enraged. Medea immediately went seeking for revenge against Jason and his new bride. Medea gifts the new bride a beautiful gold dress and diadem sent by the children and the new bride dresses in her present. Euripides depicts Medea’s vengeance through her gifts and a messenger is sent to tell Medea what had happened. “The wreath of gold that was resting around her
The same is true of Medea who meets many problems on her way to Greece with Jason. Odysseus chooses to rationally fix his problems with wit. “Here, Cyclops, try this wine . . . ‘this is nectar, ambrosia – this flows form heaven’” (Od, 9. 388-403). Odysseus gives the Cyclops wine and the Cyclops gets drunk making it easier to defeat the Cyclops and escape the vault. When Medea was helping Jason escape her brother and father were chasing after them. Medea knew that if she killed her brother her father would have to give him a proper burial which would give them enough time to escape and be on their way to Greece. Medea then proceeded to kill her own brother to help Jason the one she was forced to love by