Medea’s murder of her children Essay

The range of Medea presented by Euripides in the exodos is undoubtedly largely horrifying and horrible to the consultation. Medea manifestly presents her proneness for revenge and it is hard-fought to sympathise with her character. However, in many respects her character fits the mountain range of a sadal hero. Although, it is widely contr all oversial to associate Medea with grand aspects in modern days, from an ancient Grecians perspective her actions and personality might well match aspects of the sad hero such(prenominal) as consistency, appropriation, noble state, and tragic stigma.This essay allow explore whether her introduction in the exodos as well as her actions in other circumstances justify her tragic hero status. First of all, Medea has al expressive styles enjoyed a mature reputation and high-rank in society. Her heroic identity symbolises the fact that she is a grand- daughter of the Sun. Moreover, Medea was a princess of Colchis and displayed a massive knowledge of enchantments and medicine. When Jason abandons her in a foreign land she becomes a stateless refugee and her pride suffers. It has also been express by the Chorus in the playOf all pains and hardships none is worse Than to be deprive of your native land. L. 651-652 It seems intolerable for her to be rejected & homeless in a foreign land. We drive out infer this by the use of words such as pains and hardships which emphasises her dramatic role through and through an accumulation of two similar meanings. Also, the word deprived implies that Jason has taken her land almost physically. Here, the case of chorus line modifies the structure in the play as they go forthance break up the acts in the play. Thus, Euripides attaches an important role of the chorus to construct the play.Her behaviour has been farther explored by E. R Dodds who states that members of an ancient Greek society acknowledge anything which exposes a man to the contempt or ridicule of his fellows, which causes them to lose face, as unbearable. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero essential hold noble, respected social status. It can be argued t herefore that Medeas strike of her children in exodos was a desperate and impulsive response to the pressure of social conformity (Dodds) and a diseased attempt to gain back her reputation.Such actions be common in Greek tragedies such as The Oresteia where Atreus admitted an even larger horrific act of revenge against his brother who had affair with Atreuss wife. Similarly, era Medea loses face when Jason abandons her, Atreuss reputation suffers when his wife commits adultery. Nevertheless, later Atreuss takes c are of his brothers son. This, as opposed to Medea, can be considered as tragic heros sense of guilt or, perhaps, the way to dispense justice. On the other hand, Medea doesnt regret her actions. Her sense of guilt does non exist.Contrarily, she seems to be uplifted of her murder as she uses cynical and sarcastic techn iques while she responds to Jasons accusations in stichomythia Go home your wife waits to be buried. The mention of Jasons would-be wife is extremely cruel and tactless as previously, Medea pitilessly murdered her. In the exodos, Medea and Jason get under ones skin a short and sharp exchange after Jason sees the dead bodies of his children. Questionably, Medea appears here to be extremely exultant, victoriously using cynical techniques untypical for the tragic hero such as You grieve too soon.Old age is coming. It is brighten that Medea identifies her murder with a triumph over Jason. This opposes the fact that Medea can be regarded as a tragic hero because members of an ancient Greek society, patronage their desire for high reputation, had a sense of guilt and justice which is described by E. R Dodds as a gradually growing sense of guilt which transformed into a punishment and embodiment of cosmic justice. This implies that Medea as a tragic hero should regret her actions howev er, this never occurs.Instead, at the ending of the play, Medea and the bodies of her children are taken away by the gods in the shape of Deus ex Machina. Up until the exodos, Medea has had some features of a tragic hero. However in the exodos, the absence of any kind of regrets opens up a debate over whether Medeas presentation can be truly regarded as a tragic hero. Here, the gods seem to appear strangely sympathetic in her murderous sufferings and surprisingly shocking in supporting Medeas actions and heavy Jason.It can be argued that the gods support Medea and Deus ex Machina occurs in order to dispense justice by non allowing Jason to bury his children and leaving him unsatisfied. Although, the gods not always seem to make right decision and sometimes their will performs as cruel and unmoral. It isnt just the fact that Medea kills her children that seem to be questioning Medeas heroic aspects. It is also true that Medea does not die. The play is in fact the only surviving Gre ek catastrophe where the tragic hero doesnt die.Furthermore, Medea is a woman driven by male desire. Her desire for revenge leads to her overcoming the sense of maternal instinct. Therefore, the Greek audience couldnt completely regard Medea as a tragic hero and yet the audience ( ) shudder at the ruthless of her anger and passion for revenge (Easterling). It is unclear whether Medea aims to portray herself as a woman or to employ the heroic male implement. She often sympathise with females as a group We were born women useless for honest purposes.But in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners l. 406-407 Here, Medea uses first person plural verb in order to become a representative of females. However, the fact that she lacks her maternal instinct and kills her children in reaction to her dishonour and her violence, which she herself abhors follow the base of a male desire. At this halt, it is difficult to define Medea as a tragic hero because she evidently contradicts the idea of consistency in that she portrays herself sometimes as a representative of oppressed women and sometimes as a male hero.It is largely controversial to argue that Medeas presentation in the play (particularly in the exodos) is uncorrupted and appropriate (Aristotle). The tragic heros character should be good if the purpose is good (Aristotle). Euripidess presentation of Medea at the beginning of the play is to make the audience pity her dramatic position however, if we consider the fact that previously Medea has committed two acts of murder in order to marry Jason it is difficult to sympathise her. The murder of her children is a highly horrifying act of the play as the children plead for wait on (Help, help, for the gods sakeShes killing us ). The repetitiveness of a word help and their imprecations gives us a sense of their desperation. In this way, Medea fits her image of a tragic hero because according to Aristotle, fear and pity must be aroused in circumstances in which a t ragic incident between those who are near or dear to one another. Indeed, we pity characters in the exodos as the act of murder has been done at the expense of innocent children pleading for help.On the other hand, it has been investigated by P.E Easterling that Euripides many imitators have tended to present Medeas behaviour as that of madwomen. This is because the way in which Medea murders her children is largely brutal as she uses a sword and seem to be murdering them in a mercilessly pattern. Therefore, even the Ancient Greek audience seems to reject the idea of Medea being good and appropriate.In addition, for Medea to fully fit the image of a Greek tragic hero it is essential that she has her tragic flaw which contributes to the downfall. It is necessary for the tragic heroes to be wrap in the mystery () with that something beyond which we can only see through them, and which is the source of their strength and their mountain alike (Anderson) Without this, tragedy cannot b e regarded as a tragedy itself.Therefore, in context of Medea, the equivalent of something beyond can be considered her excessive pride and obsession with the laughter of my enemies. Even if the audience does not point out any indication of the laughter of Medeas enemies, she still insists their presence. She does not perceive the support of the women of Corinth (meaning the Chorus) or -perhaps, she does not want to perceive it.Therefore, Medeas obsession with the laughter of her enemies can be considered as the catalyst of her tragic downfall. However, it might be believed that this obsession cannot be regarded as the catalyst of her tragic downfall because it is clear that Medea fully acknowledges her flaws and in her horrific act in the exodos she recognises that whats shes doing is wrong. In the line 1077 she says I understand The horror of what I am going to do Evidently, Medea appears to be aware of her tragic flaw and to accept the consequences.In this case, Medea cannot be regarded as a tragic hero because she acknowledges her flaws. Therefore, the Greek audience could not be entertained or surprised by Medeas actions. We do not pity her because she accepts her tragic flaws throughout the play. Medeas self-awareness of her immorality contradicts Andersons belief that the message of tragedy is that men are improve than they think they are. The message needs to be said over and over lest the race lose trustfulness in itself entirely. There is a large distinction between the recognition of a tragic hero in Ancient Greece and the modern world.We associate heroic aspects with goodness, appropriation and a well-developed sense of forgiveness. The presentation of Medea in the exodos as well as her actions throughout the play, strongly contradict with the principles of Christianity and her character appears as strange to modern ideas. Unfortunately, Medea from the Ancient Greeks point of view can be regarded as a tragic hero to a significant extent. The ho rrific act of murdering her children is insane and sickening however, it is without doubt that it fits with the image of a tragic hero in a several respects.BibliographyAristotle, Poetics. Trans. S.H. Butcher. www.classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics/htmlAccessed 5th January 2012P.E Easterling The Infanticide in Euripides Medea, Yale upright Studies, 25(1997) 193-225Dodds, E.R. The Greeks and the Irrational. University of California Press, (2000).Allan, William. Euripides Medea Duckworth Companions for Greek and Roman tragedy. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, (2002)Anderson, The Essence of TragedyNorthrop Frye, The Mythos of Autumn