The Ultimate Revenge

In ancient Greek times, it is alright if a man wants revenge on another man for hurting him or his loved ones. The man who causes the other man s misery is partially responsible for the another man s actions. In the play Medea, Medea kills Kroen s daughter and her children to get revenge on Jason for leaving her for Kroen s daughter. Because of the values of the Greek Society and Jason leaving Medea, Medea feels she needs revenge for the pain Jason has caused her. The Greek Society s values and Jason s action cause Medea to want revenge because of these factors they are partially responsible for Medea s actions. The values of the Greek Society and Jason share some of the responsibility for the deaths, but Medea is the one who holds the most responsibility.

The values of the Greek Society share some of the responsibility for the deaths. The values of the Greek culture are that women are subservient to men. If a man thought that their wife is no longer pleasing them, the Greek Society allows the man to take another women in their bed. An example of this situation is when Medea s husband, Jason, leaves her for Kroen s daughter. By Jason leaving Medea for Kreon s daughter, she falls into a desperate state of depression. She becomes emotionally and physically unstable. Her heart is engulfed with violent evil thoughts. Because of the Greek Societies values, Medea is unable to deal with the pain, which makes her heart revengeful. Another

example of the values of the Greek Society is that women were thought to be subservient to men. Medea gives up her life to Jason. In line 8 the nurse says, her heart is on fire with passionate love for Jason. Medea even kills her brother so Jason can escape from her home with the Golden Fleece. When Jason leaves her, she feels slighted because she has giving up so much for him. All her efforts being thrown back in her face cause her to be enveloped with immense anger and she becomes revengeful. Because of the values of the Greek Society, Jason leaving Medea is seen as being alright, but in Medea s eyes it is wrong which in turn causes her to go through with her revenge.

Although the values of the Greek Society hold some of the responsibility, Jason is partially responsible for the deaths too. When Jason leaves Medea for another woman, Medea becomes enraged with anger. Medea begins to think of the ways she can get her revenge on Jason for what he has done. If Jason never slept with Kroen s daughter, Medea would have never needed an excuse to get revenge on Jason. Even Jason s harsh comment toward Medea helps to intensify the anger inside her heart. He has the nerve to say in lines 562-563, It would have been better far for men to have got their children in some other way, and women not to have existed. Then life would have been good. Jason basically means that he never even cared for her, which is like a knife in Medea s back because she killed her own blood for him. Jason s actions towards Medea cause her to want revenge for the things he has done to her. Because of Jason s actions, he is partially at fault for the deaths. If Jason never slept with Kroen s daughter or said the things he said to Medea, the thought of revenge never would have been in Medea's heart. Jason

is the cause of most of Medea s pain, which leads her to commit the violent acts upon Kroen s daughter and her sons.

The values of the Greek Society and Jason hold some of the responsibility for the deaths, but Medea is ultimately responsible for the deaths. Medea has many occasions to change her mind and to not go through with the murders. Medea at one time says that she renounces her plans to kill the princess, but soon after she says she would be a weak woman to not go through with her plan. She also says in lines 1025-1026, Oh, but what a weak woman even to admit to my mind these soft arguments. The reader can clearly see that Medea is not going to go back on her word now. She even lets her anger become more important to her then the love of her children. She goes as far as using her

children as ponds to commit her crime. She knows that by sending her children to deliver the poisonous dress she will be sacrificing them, but she is willing to let her children die because she can not bare the thought of being mocked by her enemies. In the end, Medea can not bare the fact of her children dying by someone elses hand, so she kills them herself. Going through with her plans to kill the princess even when she had time to back out, letting her anger consume her, and killing her children by her own hands ultimately puts Medea most responsible for the deaths then any other person or thing.