There are several fatal women in the history of world literature , one of which is Medea. A brief summary of this tragedy will deepen you into the atmosphere of Ancient Greece and talk about the difficulties of human relationships and human vices.
Euripides Philosophy
The ancient Greek playwright Euripides claimed that man is wiser than the gods, therefore, one of the first to decide on a critical attitude towards the inhabitants of Olympus. Any supernatural power, as he believed, is the result of human imagination.
Euripides writes his famous tragedy under the name "Medea", reviews of which are still very mixed. The main merit of the author is to portray not an ideal person, but a vicious one who suffers and commits terrible crimes. The characters in the play are negative. Events develop in such a way that human suffering comes to the fore.
Characters. Excerpts from the biography
In Euripides, the heroes of tragedy could be gods, demigods, or mere mortals. Medea is the granddaughter of the sun god Helios, the daughter of King Eet and the ocean of Idia, whose parents are Ocean and Typhid. It is curious that in the tragedy the sorceress is not able to rectify the situation without bloody reprisal, because if she punished Iason and his bride without the intervention of children, the end would be less tragic. However, Medea becomes a humanoid bearer of vices.
The main characters lived in marriage for twelve years and gave birth to two boys - Mermer and Feret. Their marriage was organized with the participation of magical power: the gods send love spells to Medea and she helps Jason and the Argonauts to get the golden fleece. In gratitude, the hero marries her. Although Jason was not a god, he came from a noble family and was the son of King Eson, the ruler of the city of Iolk.
After meeting with Jason, Medea immediately shows her cruelty: she escapes from Colchis with him and, in order to detain the angry Eet, kills her brother Apsirt, who was her traveler. Pieces of the body were scattered on the seashore - because of this cruelty that Medea showed, the reviews of this legend are very mixed.
Glaucus is the daughter of the Corinthian king Creon. According to Jason, he will marry her not out of great love, but in order to ensure his sons a happy future. Having become related with the royal heirs, the boys could later live among noble people.
"Medea": a summary of the tragedy of Euripides
King of Corinth invites Jason to marry his daughter Glaucus, to which he replies with consent. The actions of his wife Medea sometimes begin to frighten the hero, and he is not averse to leaving her to the mercy of fate. An enraged woman calls her ex-husband ungrateful, because it was with her help that he obtained the golden fleece and regained its former glory. However, Jason says that he has done his duty to her. He gave her two sons, and now he can live his life as he pleases. Perhaps this position will seem incomprehensible to women, therefore, the reviews of Iason may be negative about the Medea tragedy.
The Corinthian king expels Medea, but she tries to take revenge on her ungrateful husband and decides on a desperate act - to kill children, so that Jason will die from despair. The villain persuades her boys to bring Glaucus a wedding present - a poisoned crown that instantly eats away the face of the beautiful queen. A desperate father who decided to save his daughter, dies after her. Medea dooms his children to death: angry Corinthians would tear them to pieces, so the unfortunate mother herself decides to kill them and does not even allow Jason to say goodbye to them.
About the main character
Medea is not able to put up with humiliation, so she begins to hate her husband and is looking for a way of revenge. She does not immediately decide to kill the children, but the teacher of the boys instantly guesses her plans. Creon is to Medea - the father of Jason's future wife orders her to leave Corinth along with her offspring.
She makes the final decision on the murder after meeting with the childless king of Athens, Aegeus. She understands how a man suffers without offspring, so she decides to take the most precious thing from her husband. Medea and Jason were once a happy married couple until the fateful day arrived, on which the leader of the Argonauts made his harsh decision. The main character thinks about leaving her city alone - Aegeus offers her refuge, but the thirst for revenge is much stronger: with the help of her little ones, she wants to take revenge on her rival. According to the myth, the children of Medea were killed by the inhabitants of Corinth, and Euripides changed the ending and pretended that the unfortunate mother herself takes on this sin and reassures herself that the boys died a less terrible death. In the play, Medea changes his mind four times - this is where the exceptional psychological skill of Euripides manifests itself, which shows the complexity of human nature.
The trial of Medea or how the heroine was punished
Euripides contemporaries criticized the tragedy of Medea, reviews were most often unflattering. The main opponent was Aristophanes, who believes that a woman had no right to kill her children. If Greek comedians and tragedians judge the heroine, the accusations would be as follows:
Everyone knows that even the latest traitor,
Keeps and protects his child,
And ready to rush for him in the mouth of a formidable beast.
But Helios’s granddaughter, accused by Medea,
Counts his anger above life
His little ones - two sons.
She killed four at once:
Corinth of the king lost and his heiress
And her unborn Jason descendants.
Murder is the worst sin
Kill four at the same time
And break the fifth life
For my own satisfaction-
The solution is rather crazy
Rather than reasonable, therefore bear
Severe punishment is due to Medea.
The content of the tragedy does not imply the existence of a court, and the author enables readers to condemn or justify the heroine themselves.
The fate of Medea
Despite the bloody crimes committed, the killer did not carry out executions and hid in distant lands. In Athens, she married Aegeus and bore him a son, Honey. Theseus, known for his struggle with the bull Minotaur, soon visits their home. Medea wants to kill the guest, but Aegeus recognizes his son in him in time and makes the villain Medea leave their country. The summary does not tell about the future fate of the heroine, but other works narrate about this.
On the island of the blessed, the exile becomes the wife of Achilles. The sorceress lives a long life, which is the worst punishment for her. She constantly lives in exile, tormented by the mere thought of a perfect crime, everyone despises her. Perhaps this punishment is worse than death - such is the fate of Helios’s granddaughter.