Emotion and Absolute Devotion Essay Example
Medea is the protagonist of the play, she is portrayed as a woman perversely set on choosing rage over mercy and reason, while struggling between her responsibilities as a mother and her desire for revenge.
Medea’s desire for revenge and the way she is going to go about getting it, conflicts with her motherly instincts towards her children. This split in her personality is entirely due to that all her motivations are driven by the rage and the determination to make Jason suffer, for his betrayal has transformed Medea’s passion for their love from suicidal despair to sadistic fury. From the beginning of the play, Medea is displayed as a woman who is suffering from her own love and passion. Furthermore, what motivates her throughout the entire play is her desire for Jason to suffer. Medea’s desire to avenge is all she can think about, it highlights the meaning of the play, where she is shown as a woman with extreme power and the ability to manipulate the men around her to accomplish her goal. We see this in the dialogues that took place between Creon and Medea, Medea was able to secure her favor to stay in Corinth for one more day by appealing to Creon’s hubris and his absolute devotion to his daughter as a father. Medea’s personality is revealed through her way of manipulating the conversation, she cleverly appeals to Creon’s fatherhood figure: when Creon makes a casual reference to the absolute devotion he feels for his daughter, Medea starts to appeal to him on behalf of her own children and secures one more to stay in Corinth before his order of banishment takes effect.
These internal conflicts, which Medea must take on as a woman, highlights the meaning of the text; which is to show the differences hidden within Medea’s personality that are displayed as opposite towards the traditional values of women in the ancient Greek society. When Medea first pronounces herself in front of the women in the choir, her pronouncement can be seen like a
Medea’s desire for revenge and the way she is going to go about getting it, conflicts with her motherly instincts towards her children. This split in her personality is entirely due to that all her motivations are driven by the rage and the determination to make Jason suffer, for his betrayal has transformed Medea’s passion for their love from suicidal despair to sadistic fury. From the beginning of the play, Medea is displayed as a woman who is suffering from her own love and passion. Furthermore, what motivates her throughout the entire play is her desire for Jason to suffer. Medea’s desire to avenge is all she can think about, it highlights the meaning of the play, where she is shown as a woman with extreme power and the ability to manipulate the men around her to accomplish her goal. We see this in the dialogues that took place between Creon and Medea, Medea was able to secure her favor to stay in Corinth for one more day by appealing to Creon’s hubris and his absolute devotion to his daughter as a father. Medea’s personality is revealed through her way of manipulating the conversation, she cleverly appeals to Creon’s fatherhood figure: when Creon makes a casual reference to the absolute devotion he feels for his daughter, Medea starts to appeal to him on behalf of her own children and secures one more to stay in Corinth before his order of banishment takes effect.
These internal conflicts, which Medea must take on as a woman, highlights the meaning of the text; which is to show the differences hidden within Medea’s personality that are displayed as opposite towards the traditional values of women in the ancient Greek society. When Medea first pronounces herself in front of the women in the choir, her pronouncement can be seen like a