Laurence Chan, Medea II

After finishing the play, I am surprised at how much I enjoyed the rest of the play. I was waiting to see Medea's rationale on killing her own children and totally destroying Jason's happiness, and I must say I liked it. Medea is a victim of an unwanted spell of love. She had given Jason everything she could, done everything possible under the sun to help him achieve his dreams and the only thing she had asked for was to be his only wife. I felt no pity towards Jason and though I don't approve of all her actions I fully understand. Medea won my sympathy.

Overall I thought the play was a fun read. It pleased me to see the gods and chorus had been on Medea's side as well. Good example of Greek tragedy.

Laurence Chan, Medea I

I have heard of the play Medea before reading it. I knew it was going to be a bloody tragedy involving many murders and betrayal. "A mother who kills her own children." I wasn't sure what I would think as I began reading the play but to my surprise I am enjoying it. Medea had fallen in love with Jason unwillingly, and when the play begans she already had forsaken her own homeland and betrayed her people. The spell love casts over people is strong, and perhaps though the play is fiction, people can be brainwashed and step over lines they never knew they could for it. Many people have often gave up their own families for love.. and unfortunately it usually does not end well.

Medea

Medea was a very interesting play to read. We came across this woman who deceived her family and killed her own brother for the man that she loved. Ultimately her love was so unconditional and deep for this man, that his deception drove her to a point where she was willing to hurt her own children. This play emphasizes a woman’s strength and displays the capabilities of a woman who has a plan; a woman who feels double crossed by her lover. I was surprised she actually killed her sons, but it made for a dramatic ending and left me speechless. It makes you wonder how love can drive individuals to certain actions and the extents to which people can be provoked.

Willie Ho

When I first read Medea I thought, why would the Greeks promote an idea such as killing one's own brother to betray her father and help a man she doesn't know? It didn't seem logical at the time. But as the story progressed, the man who Medea helped, Jason, betrays her. Medea takes her own revenge on Jason for causing her to lose everything. She sacrificed everything she had for him and he only betrayed her so she kills his bride.

Then I realized it explained the dangers of a damaged love. If Medea was willing to kill her brother simply for her love for Jason, Jason should have thought twice before crossing lines with Medea. She was very powerful and her rage came rational decisions. She went all out because she had nothing to lose. She had already given everything up for Jason.

Medea

Intriguingly, as we can tell from the title, the protagonist of this story is female unlike the other readings. Usually, anger of a woman or revenge of woman portrayed as more severe and cruel than man's. Story of Medea develops from her anger and vengeance when Jason abandones Medea,the wife and the two children. Jason was offered remarriage with Glause, the daughter of Creon who is the king of Corinth. Unfortunately, Medea was emotionally broke when Jason left her and curses her and her children's existance. This story tells miserable and brutal fates of characters that clearly shows the tragic deaths. Tragedy has much bigger impact to the readers than other happy ending story. It made me think human nature of anger and rage. Depressing storyline but influential.

William Chiu

This tragedy separates itself from the other tragedies of the book on many levels. The first of which would be the great emphasis placed on the strength of women. As shown through Medea, the reader can see how women are not mere objects but can be subjective as well. Medea does not sit idle while the male of the story Jason leaves her. Demonstrating a reversal of the roles of male/female, Medea takes actions into her own hands to achieve revenge. Her revenge was perhaps the most shocking of the revelations in the tragedy. She appears to have no motherhood instincts by killing her children. It was very hard to picture the thoughts in Medea's mind as she proceeded with such a disgusting act. Medea also separates from the other stories in the way it evokes many emotions from the reader. This tragedy was particularly interesting because of the outrageous events of murder by love. The story drew me in because it was able to target my emotions. Ihroughout reading of Medea I thought of who different my own mother is from Medea who is the protagonist of the tragedy yet can be perceived as a monstrous human being.

Medea

I honestly liked Medea a lot. Reading the play, it felt more realistic and it definitely felt more modern. It was a departure from the other Greek tragedies we've read in that the play is focused on a scorned woman who successfully gets her revenge. Also, the chorus is all female, which was not the norm for these types of plays. The chorus was really involved in this play. They kept taking Medea's side and didn't do anything when she was murdering her children. Normally the chorus is only a narrative voice, someone for the characters to talk to when they need to say something, and a descriptive voice for the scenes that take place off stage. The chorus didn't even provide the narrative voice for one of the most important scenes, in which Medea's poisoned dress and coronet kill the princess and her father. I actually like the chorus better in this play because they're not just standing around impassively.
Both the chorus and the central character, Medea, talk about what it means to be a woman and how it feels. This is different from all the other tragedies in that it seems they're bringing up social issues, whereas normally the tragedies only deal with actions and consequences and fate. I can see why this could be considered to have a feminist voice, since Medea does lament the fate of women in Greek society. Also, the fact that she is a woman who atypically does not have a maternal instinct strong enough to even try to save her childrens' lives is unusual. She murders her own children and gets away with it. The fact that she gets away with it flies in the face of every other tragedy of the time. One of the main reasons why the tragedies were written was to be didactic. Each play sent a message; in Oedipus, it was "don't try to avoid your fate", in Clytemnestra it was dealing with the consequences of your actions, specifically murder. The only role Medea seems to fill is to be cathartic. There are plenty of characters to feel pity for here, especially the children, who are completely innocent.

Medea

This week in class we read the Greek Tragedy Medea. I found this story to be a pretty interesting read and I enjoyed the characters of this play. Medea is a powerful character who is described as a barbarian throughout the story because she is from a foreign land. Jason is somewhat of the anti-hero of the play because his character is not seen as very commendable because of his lack of heart for Medea and his children. This story was different from the other tragedies we read, mainly because the protagonist in the play is female, whereas we are used to reading plays with male protagonists. I was somewhat disappointed with the ending of the tragedy, mostly because Medea never is justly punished by fate for what she has done. Being banished and losing your children by your own hand is hardly enough punishment for the murder of four people. But then again, maybe it is? Maybe having to live after having to kill your children might be punishment enough.

Medea

Medea was an interesting story, because it's dealing with the topic matter of tragedy and sympathies was so radically different than what was the supposed norm. In most stories, the protagonist and the main person to rally behind is the male lead, but in Medea we instead focus on Jason's wife, Medea. This radically changes the perspective, and allows for a different mood to permeate throughout the work. Surprisingly enough, Jason is still portrayed as the rational actor throughout the tragedy, despite his being clearly at fault for abandoning his very supporting wife. Her plan at revenge is well thought out, although the motivation behind it can still classify the actual revenge as an act of "passion", due to a supposed failing of the mentality of women. Jason's use of logic as the reasons for his abandonment of his wife should endear the audience to his cause, but the idea of his ditching his life partner for such a trivial reason still lands the majority of the audience in favor of Medea.

Medea

Medea by Euripedes was one of the most interesting stories, in my opinion, that we have read so far this semester. Once I began reading this story it was very easy to sit there and finish. I found this story to be very passionate and the character of Medea was powerful and enthralling. The character of Jason mostly annoyed me because I found him to be a coward. He was a true smooth talker when he was talking to Medea and trying to win her favor back and sooth her anger. I have mixed feelings about the ending, mostly because it was so ambiguous. I also, felt that Medea let Jason get off too easily.

Courtney Lum

What is interesting about the tragic play of Medea is how the audience is compelled to sympathize with Medea instead of feeling emotions of hate and disgust. Even though she murders her own children, along with the king and the princess, the audience is still not compelled true disgust and dislike towards her character; instead we are lead to commiserate in her sadness, justifying her actions due to the neglect and betrayal of her husband, Jason. And even though we know that murdering her own children is distasteful and truly a terrible sin, we understand that her intentions were only to seek revenge on the husband that scorned her. Jason’s lack of remorse and complete betrayal and Medea’s complete and utter devastation from his actions shows the reader what compels Medea do perform such terrible deeds. Even so, Medea is also aware that her actions are terrible and blameworthy, yet deems it necessary to punish her unfaithful husband in every way that she can.

Medea

The tragedy Medea begins in a state of conflict. Jason and Medea have established their own family in Corinth when Jason decides too leave Medea and his two children to marry the daughter of Creon, the King of Corinth. It is her loyalties to her former husband that has made Jason's abandonment even more difficult for her to grasp; she is now intent on seeking revenge. As the play continues we discover Medea's own internal conflict. Her grief has drove her to madness and leads her to kill her own two children. I enjoyed reading the play and can sympathize with her when Jason left her, however, as the story progressed I began to feel that she was just a crazy woman. What kind of mother kills her children? I also liked this play because it wasn't as boring as I thought it would be.

Medea

Even though the play of Medea is centered around the tragedy of Medea, Euripides didn't show any sympathy to her like Aeshylus did to Clytemnestra in the tragedy of Agamemnon. Compare to Medea, her husband, Jason seems to play like a more righteous role even he betrays Medea ultimately. Jason is almost created as a hero on his way to Colchis because he has taken numerous adventures and succeed. In Jason's mind, he regards all of his successes to the gifts from gods. Based on this, he must overestimate his ability and neglect the help from others like Medea. Thus, when Jason gets a chance to choose between Medea and a princess later, he is surely to choose the princess because he wants to be rich. He must think that this opportunity is also predetermined by gods. On the contrary, Medea think that Jason's survival and successes should contribute to her. For helping Jason, Medea even killed her father and betrayed her country. She also overestimates her influence on Jason's life. In my opinion, the conflicts between these two different thoughts drag out the tragedy. So, sometimes human should be less selfish to earn a happier life.

MEDEA

Medea was a great story to read and really showed the wrath of a woman when what belongs to her is taken away especially something as important as a husband. Medea is full of rage after Jason decides to marry another woman but she lets the rage take over her. Even though she thinks and devises her plan before carrying them out she doesnt weigh the consequences of things before doing them. Like "is it worth killing my brother to marry a man?" Or "is it worth killing my children to hurt my husband?" She is very hardhearted and would do anything to get revenge. She can be seen as similar to Achilles in her rage and wrath but similar to clytemnestra in her pursuit of revenge.

Medea

I really liked reading Medea. it was different from the other Greek tragedies because it had a feminist point of view which was interesting. It has a female chorus which was a new concept, and Medea was a strong character who had been betrayed. It is interesting comparing her and Clytemnestra because Clytemnestra kills her husband because of the death of her child, but Medea kills of her children because of her passion turned to hatred for Jason. Medea puts her husband above her children, even her revenge against him, while Clytemnestra is only concerned with avenging her child, even though her husband is considered a Hero and did nothing directly to her.

Medea

Euripides Medea tells a story of the supposed granddaughter of the Sun. This woman, Medea, helps Jason (who was in pursuit of the Golden Fleece) to complete tasks set forth by her own father Aeetes. While helping Jason, she actually ends up betraying her father and killing her brother. Medea and Jason end up fleeing from Colchis, Medea’s homeland. The play takes place in Corinth, the place they ended up after running away. Throughout the play she is portrayed as a cunning and determined woman who sought nothing but revenge against her husband, who betrayed her with another woman; a revenge so desired, she would hurt her own children to see it through.

Margaret Yoon: Medea

Medea is quite different from the works we have read because of the power given to the female figure, Medea, as well as the important role the Chorus of women plays. Similar to how others think Clytemnestra is manly in Agamemnon, Medea shows characteristics that were thought to be manlike at the time, such as her aggressiveness and potency. Clytemnestra and Medea also use language very cunningly to realize their goals. For example, Clytemnestra receives her husband with great welcome, as if to present a pretense of joy, and Medea convinces Jason that she has turned from her foolish anger and realized his good purpose to ensure their sons a bright future. But their words are empty, for their underlying intentions involve murder. Medea is more extreme to me in her desire for revenge, however, because she goes so far to kill her own children. Even though she has moments of weakness and indecision as to whether she should kill her children or take them with her to Athens, when she thinks of Jason’s unfaithfulness, she is fully resolved to continue her schemes again.

I think it was noteworthy that Jason slanders her with being a foreigner, connecting her crimes to her origins. He says, “I was mad before, when I brought you from your palace in a land of savages into a Greek home-you, a living curse, already a traitor both to your father and your native land” (179). Jason is beyond angry at this point, but I don’t think that excuses him from saying this, for Medea committed those crimes for his sake. By condemning her for killing her brother and deceiving her homeland, he envelopes the misunderstanding that spans the whole play-that he does not appreciate her full devotion to him in the past, evident in his marriage to Creon’s daughter.

Felicia Ooi; Medea

Medea is an extremely apt example of the epithet “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. After all the help she gave Jason in his quest to obtain the Golden Fleece and saving his life on several occasions, even betraying her father and country, I could sympathize with Medea when Jason decided to remarry another woman of royal birth – the daughter of Creon, King of Corinth at the time. However, that is the extent of my sympathy.

Medea is portrayed as a woman who is very prideful and her most important priority is that of her honor. She is deeply upset when Jason leaves her and this grief drove her to madness, to a rage that was murderous enough to go beyond any natural, human, motherly/wifely instincts that she might have possessed. There is no doubt that Medea is a woman of great cunning and with many skills at her disposal. However, her life is riddled with deaths, all of her own orchestration, from the dismemberment of her half-brother to the death of Pelias, to the deaths of her own children and Creon and his daughter.

Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel that yet again this was in part because of the gods’ intervention in mortal lives. It was after all Aphrodite who caused Medea to fall hopelessly in love with Jason. However, it was Medea herself who chose to exact her revenge on Jason in such a cruel and cold-blooded manner that involved the deaths of her own innocent children. All though she does show some regret and indecision at killing her own children, she ends up choosing revenge over her children and this makes Medea an extremely vicious character, even by Greek tragedy standards.