In Medea, by Euripides, the character of Medea is shown as a elaborate unusual being with a multitude of human emotions, who ends up ruining all of her relationships. Medea’s peculiar origins, being a foreigner and former princess, having betrayed her close ones, and being an exile all contributes into the possible explanations for Medea’s horrible reaction towards her husband’s betrayal--killing her children.
Medea’s background as being a foreigner in Greece contributes to Medea’s eccentric reaction to Jason’s betrayal. Medea betrayed her hometown by providing Jason every source of help at the expense of her family, her brother’s life being one notable example. Having chopped her own brother into pieces and throwing them behind one after another--in a cruel attempt to escape from the King’s pursuit--it becomes apparent that she would never be able to return to her hometown in good terms. Having lost the comfort of her hometown, having left a place where she was born, grown up in, and formed her stable life, Medea becomes cut off from her life of options. The only “option” that was now left for her was: a life as a foreigner in Greece and of being the wife of Jason rather than being the princess of Colchis. Now being left with only one option--living with her family in Corinth--the news of Jason’s betrayal places her in jeopardy. She has lost everything else she had--wealth, fame, loyal status, family--to live with Jason (although it was indeed her decision) and now she has nothing without him. Feeling deeply betrayed and frustrated, Medea develops a bottomless pit of hate for Jason.
The person she had broken all her ties from back home for ends up betraying her such a bad way. He leaves her in the part of life where she had started fully depending on him and had nothing or nowhere to go to except him. This is definitely going to lead her to despise the person who did this to her for the rest of your life. And Medea will despise this person so much that she will want to do something to him that will pierce his heart from within, “Love is a dangerous thing (L. 80)” When you put your heart and soul into a relationship because you love that person so much and that person throws everything you ever did for them away, there is no extent to which you can’t go for revenge. She actually said, “I’d gladly watch him and his new bride being smashed into pieces with their whole house for the huge wrong they have done to me (L.63-64).”
Jason having betrayed Medea and deeply hurting her, Medea wanted to do the same to him because for him, “..having new offspring benefits the older ones”( L. 556-557). This showed Medea that the real reason he got married to the princess was to have children because his number one priority out of everything was someone to carry on the family name. He was in no way acting the way he was out of fatherly love, it was all for his own selfish reasons. Medea being the overly emotional person she is, since she originates from Colchis, is filled with a burning passion for revenge which causes her to eliminate the thing that constitutes a central part of Jason’s ego (having an heir)--his sons and the new bride. By killing both the sons and the new bride Medea eliminates every possibility for Jason to get a heir.
Jason is now also left with nothing but himself like Medea was left all alone by him. Medea now has achieved her revenge. She has pierced Jason’s heart by taking away his way of having heirs to gain wealth. All that he wanted has been taken away from him and Medea is finally at peace. Even though at first Medea had some difficulty in killing her children since she is a mother after all, her desire for revenge was much stronger than her motherly love. This shows the depth of her revenge and how Medea could go to any extent to get revenge for the betrayal she received.
Thus, Medea ends up achieving her revenge by piercing Jason’s heart on the inside by the murder of their children and the Princess. It started out as her despising Jason, then she takes the life of their children and the Princess because having heirs was very important to him and after all this Medea achieved her revenge. All this shows how Medea is such an elaborate character who was so deeply affected by the betrayal of her husband that she went to such an extent to get revenge.
In Medea, Euripides portrays a horrific tragedy of Medea and Jason by illuminating their fundamental differences during their argument. Although Medea’s murdering of her own children is often frowned upon as the most atrocious and inhumane conduct, Jason’s shift from an arrogant to conciliatory tone from their argument with the use of synesthetic imagery, hyperbole, allusion and descriptive diction further feeds into the tension between the two fundamentally different characters.
The arrogant tone of Jason’s argument reinforces his justification for leaving Medea. He skillfully utilizes syntactical arrangement of the first sentence--“Still, it’s my view that you got much more out of my being saved than I ever did”--as an attempt to emphasize the extent that Medea benefited from this marriage compared to his own. By boldly arguing with hyperbolic diction that Medea rather benefited, not poorly disadvantaged, from this marriage, is an attempt to undermine his guilt and discomfort stemming from Medea’s sacrifice and thus feel good about himself. He also uses the phrase “all the Greece knows” as a hyperbolic metonymy representing the Greek populace. He uses this as an attempt to exaggerate the extent of her reputation after moving into Greece, thus reinforcing his argument that Medea benefited more from this marriage. This can be seen as part of his strategy to grab a superior position in the argument. He keeps complimenting Medea, saying she’s “famous” and that having this reputation is better than “a house full of gold.” This is contradictory with Jason’s own belief. It was only used to gain a superior position in the argument as he himself left Medea, yearning for power and a “house full of gold.” Also, referencing himself as an “exile,” indicates his tone shift from the heightened arrogance into softer and humbler nuance in order to justify the reason for his marriage to the new princess. He uses self-deprecation by using the word “exile” to help reason that he is, in fact, doing this for the sake of the family, that he did not have a choice. And from his phrases and reactions we can observe that he has this innate pride and sense of superiority in Greek culture over others, looking down upon whatever that is not Greek. He says “first, you’re living in Greece, not some foreign country.” From this, Jason reveals that he thinks so highly of Greece and thinks relatively lowly of this “some other foreign country.” Then his reference of Colchis as the “ends of the earth,” reinforces his sense of superiority influenced from this highly self-esteemed Greek society.
The focus then shifts into addressing the future plans that Jason has for the family. The aspiring and prospective tone of Jason is reinforced by his repetitive use of “I will” (L. 563, 566) statements. Forming a stance that women aren't necessary were not for the need to continue the human race, Jason’s comment that “Then there will be no more female race, and mankind will be free from trouble(L. 574-575)” boldly outlines his patriarchal mindset as nourished from the Greek society. The emphasis on the Jason yearning for offspring is also a concept that is explained this passage. The lines “In my case, having new offspring benefits the older ones” (L. 566-567) emphasizes his sole concentration on having an heir and benefiting from that concept of heir.
The speaker goes on and further develops the conflict between Medea and Jason. This is reinforced through the diction of Medea when she describes Jason as a “scoundrel” (L. 581) who used his “cleverness” (583). Medea calls Jason a “scoundrel” because he cleverly tries to defend his marriage to the princess as betterment for the family when really he married the princess for a higher status. She develops her argument against him by questioning his morals when he “deserted [his] wife.” She also emphasizes how Jason is “glossing over his crimes” and how he is not taking accountability for the betrayal.
Jason and Medea’s relationship is finally rigged with hate, and has turned into a tiresome quarrel. The weary tone of Jason is clearly conveyed through his deeply irritated diction, especially when he mentions how he wishes to end the “squabbling”(609) with her. His heartless suggestions for the future of Medea and her children raises the tension between them. Medea’s complete sense of rejection towards Jason’s half-hearted suggestions is reinforced with her use of the phrase “No good comes from a bad man’s gifts”(618).
Through the use of hyperbole, descriptive diction, and the change in tone Euripides shows the strain in the relationship of Medea and Jason. As conveyed from Jason’s arrogant tone shifting towards conciliatory and Medea’s frustrated tone, the apparent difference in personality and values derived from the origins finally collides.
In Medea, Euripides portrays the reaction of the general populace towards Medea’s atrocities through the voice of the Chorus. The sudden contrast between critical and sympathetic tone contributes to the complex attitude of the Chorus towards Medea, accumulated from the Chorus’s presence in the past hardships of Medea and its societal value of Greek society that collides.
In the first stanza, the focus is on peacefulness and a prosperity. In that stanza, it can be seen that Euripides uses many different forms of trying to get this focus across. He uses many elevated diction words like nourish, glorious, and golden. A lot of those words can be used as imagery. The word choice that was chosen by the author had a softer tone. Especially with its approach like the war was mentioned. When looking at a topic of war most people will think death and blood. Euripides took a different approach, he looked at a land that was able to withstand a war. In the line, “Athenian offspring of the Olympian gods, raised in a land untouched by war,”(L.825,826) the Athenian offspring even though they were given everything was able to be seen as the ones that protect the land. That related to Medea because her character is put into play when she is the one that is breaking the peaceful flow with committing murder.
The tone of these lines as a whole second stanza could be described as romantic and serene since Euripides portrays a harmonized and flawless land where love and desire are prevailing but under sensible control. “Love from Aphrodite cup flows through a river of Cephissus, spreading a sweet breeze through the land.” Euripides uses epithets to express all of the delightfulness and peace of the world he’s describing, such as “sweet breezes” and “twinning garland of fragrant”. To create this meaning he uses ancient Greek Gods’ names to represent a word that refers to them, where Aphrodite is an ancient goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, and protection, simultaneously Cephissus is a river god of ancient Greece, associated with the river. Through hidden meaning, subtext, Euripides equalizes the phrase with the word he wants to express; for example “blooming roses” could be possibly described as a love, which was born early in spring, while “Desire at Wisdom’s side” means self-control of emotions and desires. Therefore you could notice that words “Desire” and “Wisdom” were both capitalized, which leads to personification. Also, the allusion to the gods also corresponds with Euripides’s portrayal of Medea as a figure blessed by the gods, and the sudden tone shift after describing this godly allusion indicates Chorus’s disagreement and disbelief in her linkage to the gods, thus disapproving of the
In this stanza, the Chorus tries to evaluate Medea as a character. This is done by showing Medea how she lives in such a pure and peaceful place where violence is not fitting at all. By doing this the chorus shows its intricate attitude of the speaker. They show a more peaceful tone by showing how pure of a place they live in but they also show a critical side of themselves toward Medea by criticizing her for living in such a peaceful place and thinking of committing violence. The more peaceful side is shown when alliteration is used as, “How can that land of sacred dreams” and the critical side is shown when a lexical anaphora is used by the chorus which goes, “Think what it is to strike a child! Think who you are killing!” There is a sudden shift in the tone from the seemingly prosperous and peaceful tone to a critical tone as it is sharply indicated with the use of “unholy woman” and “killer of children.” The repetitive use of “think” as anaphora serves as a critical reminder for MEDEA to reconsider her extreme decision. The Chorus is the only one who realizes that over everything else Medea is still a mother. Considering her own sacrifices and commitments needed for such decisions as a mother, Chorus somewhat sympathizes with Medea’s situations, despite not agreeing with her decisions.
It becomes more apparent in this stanza that Chorus has both critical and sympathetic view towards Medea. The use of anaphora, with the repetitive “How”s functions as to create Chorus’s disbelief, disappointment and even anger towards Medea’s decision, as the Chorus has been a supporter of Medea up to this point of the play until Medea finally decided to kill her children. The euphemism employed in this part of the ode “..to lift your hand against your sons” serves to emphasize the Chorus’s unwillingness and hesitation in articulating Medea’s atrocious plan to kill her children, thus letting readers be able to infer Chorus’s harshly opposing view towards Medea’s plans. But the “How”(L. 856,857) used in the latter part of the ode is used to convey different tone as it shows the deep worry and sympathy towards Medea’s self-destructive plan. Chorus’s acknowledgment that it is a self-destructive plan, directly indicates how it does realize the consequences and personal loss that Medea is resolved to succumb to in order to carry out her decision.
Thus, the speaker establishes a complex attitude which criticizes and sympathizes with Medea as a person. The chorus criticizes her for continuing with the atrocious scheme for revenge, all the while looking at the situation from her perspective, with sympathy and a little worry.
Script:
Anastasia Anikina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor/Filming
Sarah Tariq. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Medea
Hyein Cho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jason/ Police 2
Maggie Zhang. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Police 1
Color-Coded Key
KEY:
Thesis
Medea Quotes
The Usual Suspect Additions
Outside Sources
Stage Directions
SCENE I
Modern setting, a simple but old apartment in NYC. MEDEA sits alone in a cold room, with two little figures lying on the floor. A siren blares in the background.
Voiceover (POLICE 1): My father always said, “I don’t believe in god, and I’m afraid of him”--Well, I believe in god. And the only thing that scares me is MEDEA.
[Enter JASON]
JASON: [Hurriedly knocks on the door]
Jack! Jacob! Open the door, please, my sons!
[JASON kicks the door open]
JASON: (Gasps, trembling in shock)
You abomination, most hateful of women
to the gods, to me, to the whole human race.
You were actually able to drive a sword
into sons you had borne; you’ve made me childless.
How can you live and see the light of the sun,
when you have committed this sacrilege
and ought to be dead? Now I see what I missed
when I brought you from that barbarian place
MEDEA: I’ve done what I had to: I’ve pierced your heart.
[JASON further cries in despair, falling on his knees]
[Siren blares in the distance]
SCENE II
Police department, bustling with uneasiness. Two police officers stand in front of the coffee machine, talking to each other.
POLICE 2: So, I heard your department got a peculiar case yesterday?
POLICE 1: Don’t even tell me, it’s unbelievable. A mother killed her two children. Why? We are assuming it was out of revenge. Her husband tried to marry a daughter of a millionaire. But to kill her children! She went way too far. Wow, family dramas these days.
POLICE 2: Well, it seems as if she’s insane. I have seen so many horrible cases but that one is kind of odd. I think there is something else that made her who she is now. I did some research and from what I found I can guess that the horrific tragedy of this infanticide is not simply an act derived from a cruel sorceress’s mindless insanity for destruction. It was the accumulation of factors--disparities from being a former princess, chopping her brother into pieces, conflicting values derived from different cultures-that led to the horrific tragedy. This logic of reasoning is effectively reinforced with the use of hyperbolic diction, strategic reasoning, syntactical arrangements to further convey their differing views and to suggest a more acceptable justification for MEDEA’s atrocious actions.
POLICE 1: That’s why I took this case, I want to figure out what was the reason of her actions.
Dark, enclosed room in the police station. POLICE sits in front of MEDEA.
POLICE 1: Ms. MEDEA, it’s quite apparent that you killed your children. Do you admit to this?
MEDEA: You know nothing.
POLICE 1: Are you currently taking any medications or mental treatment or do you have any
history of them?
MEDEA: No. Are you calling me insane? You don’t understand what I have been through. You don’t understand how it feels after betraying all of your close ones for one person and that one person ends up betraying you.
POLICE 1: Please, explain. Be specific.
MEDEA: Okay, so, here it goes.
SCENE IV
Flashbacks into the past--arguments between MEDEA and JASON inside their old and almost empty house.
[Far-sighted camera view including the distant scene of JASON and MEDEA arguing, without actual sound, then it closes up towards their argument.]
JASON [arrogantly]:
...Still, it’s my view that you got much more
out of my being saved than I ever did.
First of all, you are living in Greece,
not some foreign country. Here you find justice
and the rule of law; force has no standing.
And all of Greece knows how clever you are;
you’re famous. If you lived at the ends of the earth,
no one would ever have heard of you.
I see no point in a house full of gold,
or a gift for singing better than Orpheus,
without the good fortune of being well known,
So--since you have turned this into a contest,
those are the things I accomplished for you.
Now, on this royal marriage that you dislike,
[crossing his arms arrogantly]I can show you that I acted wisely,
somberly, and in the best interest
of you and the boys. Just stay calm for a moment.
When I moved here from the city of Iolcus,
I was dragged down by impossible problems.
What better solution could there be
for an exile like me than to marry the princess?
You are upset, but it’s not what you think,
that I am sick of you and smitten with this girl,
or want some prize for having lots of children;
I am satisfied with the ones we’ve got.
It’s so we’ll live well and won’t be in need.
I will raise our sons as benefits our family
and add some brothers to the boys you gave me.
Bringing them together in a single tribe,
I’ll prosper. What are more children to you?
In my case, having new offspring benefits
the older ones. Is that such a bad plan?
You wouldn’t say so if it weren’t for the sex.
You women reach the point where you think
If all’s well in the bedroom everything's fine;
But if some trouble arises there,
you insist on rejecting whatever’s best.
We should have some other way of getting children.
Then there will be no more female race,
and man king will be free from trouble.
MEDEA [brute]:
I’m clearly different from everyone else.
To me, a scoundrel who is good at speaking
should have to pay a special price for that.
Since he knows he can gloss over his crimes,
he’ll try anything, though cleverness has limits.
That’s what you are. So don’t try to impress me
with clever words. A single point refutes you:
if you were so noble, you would have gotten
my consent to this marriage, not kept it secret.
JASON [Breaking, Irritated]:
Oh yes, I’m sure you would have agreed
if I had told you then, when even now
you can’t help reacting with fury.
MEDEA [brute]:
That wasn't it. You thought a foreign wife
would be an embarrassment in years to come.
JASON: You need to understand. It is not for the woman
that I'm taking on this royal marriage.
It's what I told you before. I only want
to give you protection and safeguard our children
by fathering royal siblings for them.
MEDEA: [Deeply frustrated] Spare me a life of shameful wealth
or a good situation that eats at my soul.
JASON: You know what you really need to pray for?
The sense not to see a good thing as shameful,
not to think you're suffering when you're doing fine.
MEDEA: Go on, be cruel. You have a safe home here,
while I'll be cast out with nowhere to go.
[Flashback inside flashback to MEDEA’s old times in Colchis, happy, laughing, and enjoying her life and status as a princess in a wealthy Kingdom. - IN THE FORM OF PICTURES/COLLAGE]
[Have multiple pictures of MEDEA showing her in a higher status, wealthier, and happy.][Along with that include a happy tune.]
[Screen suddenly goes dark and have dramatic/sad music playing]
[Picture of MEDEA with a knife in her hand and her brother on the floor dead is shown. This leads to a picture of MEDEA and JASON leaving (Colchis)]
[MEDEA is aboard the Argos with JASON, trying to escape her father’s rage.-IN THE FORM OF PICTURES/COLLAGE]
[Fade out of that picture][Music slowly stops]
SCENE VI
Scene snaps back to the original flashback, the argument between MEDEA and JASON
JASON: You chose that. Don't blame anyone else.
MEDEA: How? I betrayed you by marrying somebody?
JASON: No, By rudely cursing the royal family.Don’t you get it?
MEDEA: [pointing at JASON] Well, I’ll bring a curse to your house too.
SCENE VII
Returns to the police interrogation scene between MEDEA and POLICE 1
POLICE 1: So you said you’ll bring a curse to JASON’s house, by killing your children? Was it the only thing you had in mind?
MEDEA: You saw how we were so different; we had so much tension from having opposite perspectives. And on top of that, he was very arrogant. Look at his tone from the beginning. I don’t want to admit to this, but he does skillfully utilize syntactical arrangement of the first sentence “Still, it’s my view that you got much more out of my being saved than I ever did”(L. citation) as an attempt to emphasize the extent of my benefits from this marriage compared to his own. How dare he talk about how I benefited more from this marriage! Ha! So ridiculous. I lost everything I had from this marriage. “Of all creatures that can feel and think, women are the worst treated things alive”(L. 31). I lost everything for him! He would surely know this? Why doesn’t he understand? He surely had a sense of discomfort and guilt from my sacrifice in the beginning of this marriage. And we both ignored it. Oh, I get it. JASON being JASON, he’s trying to cover up that sense of guilt (from me losing everything for him) by boldly arguing that I rather benefited, not poorly disadvantaged, from this marriage and thus feel good about himself. He also used the phrase “all the Greece knows”(L. 538). as a hyperbolic metonymy representing the Greek populace. He used this as an attempt to exaggerate the extent of my reputation after moving into Greece, thus reinforcing his argument that I benefited more from this marriage. Which, again, is absurd. Don’t you see? This is also part of his petty strategy to grab a superior position in the argument. He keeps complimenting me by saying that I’m “famous”(L. 540) and that having this reputation is better than “a house full of gold” (L. 542). Well this is basically a false statement that only exists to gain a superior position in the argument. He himself left me for that “house full of gold!” What a hypocrite. Do you see the amount of frustration that I would have had after listening to that ridiculous argument? Also, from referencing himself as an “exile”(L. 554), it indicates his tone shift from the heightened arrogance into softer and humbler nuance in order to justify the reason for his marriage to this new rich woman. He uses self-deprecation by using the word “exile” to help reason that he is, in fact, doing this for the sake of the family, that he did not have a choice. Being a representative of a true Greek patriarchal mindset. Ha! And from his phrases and reactions we can observe that he has this innate pride and sense of superiority in Greek culture over others, looking down upon whatever that is not Greek. He says “first, you’re living in Greece, not some foreign country”(L. 535-536). From this, anyone can infer that he thinks so highly of Greece and thinks lowly of this “some other foreign country.” Then he boldly goes up and refers Colchis as the “ends of the earth”(L. 540), apparently reinforcing his sense of superiority influenced from this highly self-esteemed Greek society.
POLICE 1: Yes, he does seem to have emphasized that for a higher ground.
MEDEA: After, years of living with JASON, I now know his self-centered and patriarchal mindset. You see, this neighborhood where we used to live, called Greek, was a pretty much male-dominant society. Having been raised up surrounded with that mindset and even being a “hero” in that community he has a different perspective and priorities regarding “family.” He is so arrogant to proclaim using anaphora that women are basically tools for producing more males. As you can see, JASON was trying to turn the blame towards me. He kept repeating the word “you”(L. 563.565) to put emphasis on that. He used it to question in a sarcastic way.
POLICE 1: Other than stating that, is there anything else he tries to convince you to believe?
MEDEA: JASON tries to reason that it was actually for the benefit of their sons that he is marrying the daughter of this billionaire. But in reality it is apparent that it was because he wanted all the wealth. Why can’t anyone see how he’s a self-centered hypocrite? And see how JASON argues, that I would have reacted with fury regardless of when he told me, to justify why he kept it a secret from me? He’s so fed up with the bias that I, MEDEA from Colchis, would be so emotional and hot-tempered just like how the highly Greek view us Colchis people as. He doesn’t even realize the real reason of his faults.“I'm .. dangerous to enemies, but well disposed to friends”(L .3). He should’ve known the consequences.
POLICE: I see how JASON also seems to be trying hard to be logical when he really isn’t. But you have to admit you were indeed emotional to some extent by taking excessive revenge. This clearly shows how you both are opposites.
MEDEA: You see, JASON is wrong here. “Oh, what a disaster to fall in love” (L. 330)!
POLICE: I can see both perspectives. I see how you acted the way you did because of your origins, you were prone to it and Jason acted the way he did because he was prone to it. This will be it for now. If we have further questions on behalf of this investigation we will advise you. In a few minutes there will be a officer leading you to your cell.
[POLICE 1 meets POLICE 2]
POLICE 1: (Grabbing POLICE 2 a second cup of coffee) Hey, you were right. MEDEA was not just an insane woman who just randomly decided to kill her children out of revenge for her husband’s betrayal.
POLICE 2: (After drinking a sip of coffee)Yeah? What was her situation?
POLICE 1: (looking at the file) She basically gave up everything to live with the husband who later turns out to betray her for a younger and richer woman with influence. Since she betrayed her own family to stay with JASON in the first place, she doesn’t have a place for support and to go back to, but also she knows the mentality of a person who betrays their loved ones. So that was what mostly baffled her.
POLICE 2: Wait why does that baffle her out the most? That’s unusual. You mean, she is most afraid of being betrayed because she has betrayed her loved ones herself?
POLICE 1: Yes, apparently. Have you heard of the boomerang effect when everything comes back? I mean, karma. It seems like she used to believe in such things, She was afraid to feel the pain she brought to her beloved family. She is fully aware of the psychology of the person who resolved to betray a person. (pause) And think about it- (pause, another sip of coffee)-the amount of adornments, respect, and prestige she would have enjoyed until she betrayed her family and left with her husband. It is just not the same.
POLICE 2: The thing what I don’t get is: why would she go as far as to kill her children out of revenge to her husband? That is so extreme. Does she not have even a little sympathy being a mother?
POLICE 1: She does. But I think the burning desire for revenge especially considering her origins surpasses the motherly love. “Love is a dangerous thing. But, oh, if the goddess should visit, A love that is modest and right, no god is so exquisite”(L. 80).
POLICE 2: Are you saying that she’s willing to do anything to those who betrayed her?
POLICE 1: In this way, yes.
POLICE 2: Then what about JASON? He seems to be trying to sound too logical.
POLICE 1: Yeah, being a Corinthian and viewing themselves more moderate and controlled, JASON is subconsciously looking down on MEDEA’s temperous and emotional reaction. Because they are Greek, the “center” of the “civilization,” a faraway place of Colchis is foreign and barbaric to them.
POLICE 2: Yeah, I’m starting to see the difference in their personality.
POLICE 1: Talking about that, MEDEA’s personality is like a blazing match. She is very short tempered on her thoughts like in JASON’s comments that she “can’t help reacting with fury” (L. citation )
POLICE 1: Strictly looking at it, the idea of JASON leaving her for the sake of their family was just a show. In reality it was his own selfish reason and her reaction, as she said, was absolutely normal.
POLICE 2: Wait, so basically, her origins are influencing her actions, right?
POLICE 1: That’s exactly the point. We have to consider the context of where she lives and came from. Also in the perspective of JASON, in this world of billionaires and millionaires inheriting everything to their bloodlines, in this world of second generation absolute monarchy, an heir is the top priority in life. They need to carry on their name, their legacy, their way of doing things--it’s so important. And MEDEA caught how important it was in JASON as well. For him, “..having new offspring benefits the older ones”( L. 556-557). MEDEA saw how having children was his number one priority out of everything and all he wanted was someone to carry on the family name. He was in no way acting the way he was out of fatherly love, it was all for his own selfish reasons. There was still some fatherly love, but that selfish reason was stronger. Knowing that, what would MEDEA, filled with a burning passion for revenge, do? Eliminate the thing that constitutes a central part of his ego(having an heir)--his sons and the new bride.
POLICE 2: Wait, I get the son part, but why the new bride? Out of jealousy?
POLICE 1: Partly, yes. But that new bride could still bear him new sons if she was alive. So from killing both the sons and the new bride MEDEA eliminated any possibilities for Jason to get an heir. She is THE woman. She actually said, “I’d gladly watch him and his new bride being smashed into pieces with their whole house for the huge wrong they have done to me”(L. 63-64).
POLICE 2: Well, I guess we’ll just wait out until further instructions come in regarding her punishment.
In the police station, sits POLICE 1 and MEDEA. POLICE 2 enters the room.
POLICE 1: (talking to MEDEA) Okay, you can leave.
[MEDEA is leaves the police station]
POLICE 2 is shocked, sees POLICE 1 being lost in his thoughts.
POLICE 2: What is it? This woman just has been released? That’s nonsense! We have to go get her!
POLICE 1: [sits silently]
POLICE 2: Do you understand what you just did? This woman (points at the door through which MEDEA has left) is a cruel killer. She doesn’t deserve such luxurious thing as a freedom. She killed two children, they were her own! Can you Imagine, how ruthless and callous you have to be to do such thing?
POLICE 1 [shocked]: She was crying. Sincerely. I felt like I was mesmerized. Her situation is so unclear and blurry. There is something in her eyes that made me to believe her. But now, I’m feeling I was defrauded.
POLICE 2: So, now you’re telling me, that you let her go because her pretty eyes were filled with tears (in the book MEDEA manipulated people around easily with her tears)? Now, this is what you’re calling a police job. How great! Human beings, no, animals like her, should never be released so easily.
POLICE 1: Listen, I know, I made a mistake, but we can always find her.
POLICE 2: You think that she’s that dumb to let us find her one more time? How don’t you understand, she could have left the city already! This is not how it works. [slams on the table] Sometimes, when such things happen, I want to quit this job. We have to get her before she gets farther away.
[POLICE 2 leaves the room]
SCENE X
MEDEA elegantly steps down from the police station, approaching a “Mercedes” sent by her new ally and millionaire Aegeus. She puts her sunglasses on, and trying to open her new Mercedes when POLICE 1 and 2 follows her out of the police station.
POLICE 1: The son of Erechtheus, long blessed with wealth,
Athenian offspring of the Olympian gods,
raised in a land untouched by war,
nourished by the glorious arts,
stride easily through the radiant air,
where once, it’s said, the holy Muses
gave birth to golden Harmony.
MEDEA : There’s no golden Harmony in this world, what an absurd word. How could you think that after my husband’s betrayal, I could see harmony in the world I’m living in?
POLICE 1: I’ve heard that Aphrodite dips her cup
in the streams of clear Cephissus, ceferuis
and sends sweet breezes through the land.
Crowned with a twinning garland
of fragrant, blooming roses,
she sets Desire at Wisdom’s side
to foster all that’s good.
MEDEA: “Love, did you say? It is a mighty curse.” (L.44) A man betrayed a woman, I don’t see any love here. And for what? For a rich and wealthy lady? It’s so disgraceful, it’s wrong.
POLICE 1: How can that land of sacred dreams,
that open-hearted city,
be a fitting home for you,
unholy woman,
killer of children?
Think what it is to strike a child!
Think who you are killing!
By every sacred thing
I beg of you:
spare those boys.
MEDEA [Becomes silent and has no words.]
POLICE 1: How can you find the will,
how can you steel your mind,
to lift your hand against your sons,
to do this awful thing?
(In a softer tone) How will you stop your tears,
when you see them dying?
They will huddle at your knees,
and you will not be able
to spill their blood
with a steady heart.
MEDEA I have no regret. Everyone is to blame. I did nothing wrong. This is the price of what they did.
[MEDEA exits in her (car) waving goodbye to POLICE 1]
POLICE 1 and POLICE 2 hopelessly walks back into their office, sits on their working sofa.
POLICE 1: Why does god favor the ones that do wrong to the world? But still I cannot fully say I am overly angry.
POLICE 2 : Yes, that is because you have a sympathetic yet critical understanding towards MEDEA. You see MEDEA in many different ways causing you to have contradicting viewpoints on her as stated in the past argument that the two of you had. I get that you included the affluent portrayal of the prosperous image of the city to later build into your comment that MEDEA does not deserve such prosperity, thus criticizing her. You included that to show that MEDEA doesn’t deserve this perfect life. The setting is then described in a peaceful tone when you lowered and softened your voice away, from the rage that was already built inside of you. Also your word choices such as “nourish”(L.829), “glorious”(L.829), and “golden”(L.833) adds to the visualizations of the prosperous description.
POLICE 1: “How frightening is resentment, how difficult to cure, when lovers hurl past love
at one another's hate.” (L.61)
POLICE 2: You described our world as romantic and serene, a harmonized and flawless land where love and desire are prevailing but under sensible control. You used epithets to express all of the delightfulness and peace of the world you were describing, such are “sweet breezes”(L.838) and “twinning garland of fragrant”(L. 840). To create this meaning you used ancient Greek Gods’ names to represent a word that refers to them and as an allusion, where Aphrodite is an ancient goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure and protection, simultaneously Cephissus is a river god of ancient Greece, associated with the river. Through hidden meaning, subtext, you equalized the phrase with the word he wants to express; for example “blooming roses”(L. 841) could be possibly described as a love, which was born early in spring, while “Desire at Wisdom’s side”(L. 844) means self-control of emotions and desires.
I think your sudden shift in the tone from the seemingly prosperous and peaceful tone to a critical tone is sharply indicated with the use of “unholy woman”(L. 849) and “killer of children” (L. 850). The repetitive use of “think”(L. 856,857) as anaphora serves as a critical reminder for MEDEA to reconsider her extreme decision.
POLICE 1: Yeah, exactly. I just didn’t get “why [she would] link children with the nasty things their father's done”(L. 116).
POLICE 2: Despite the primarily critical attitude that you have towards MEDEA, I do think you also have this sympathetic view towards her. You are conflicted inside right now, aren’t you? Surely the use of anaphora, with the repetitive “How”(L. 856,867,860) functions as to reinforce your disbelief, disappointment and even anger towards her decision(action), as a plain human being. The euphemism employed in this part of the ode “..to lift your hand against your sons”(L. 858) brilliantly hints at your unwillingness/hesitation in articulating MEDEA’s atrocious conduct in killing her children, thus leading me to make an inference on your harshly opposing view towards her. But the “How” used in the latter part of the ode is used to convey different tone as it shows the deep worry and sympathy towards her self-destructive plan. And by this self-destructive plan I am trying to say that you do realize the consequences and personal loss that MEDEA is resolved to succumb to in order to carry out her decision. I am guessing this sympathetic view is definitely stemming from you seeing what everything that MEDEA has gone through during her interrogations.
And I guess the fact that MEDEA is eventually released, leaves in a “Mercedes,” provided by her new ally Aegus and not get punished for her crime--although it is frustrating--is an addition to the catharsis of MEDEA as she not only succeeded in giving a critical blow to JASON, but also succeeds in not suffering from the consequences of her actions.
[Back to the small, old apartment in NYC, MEDEA sits in the empty room where her children sits frightened and gets lost in her thoughts, her hands reaching for a knife on the table.
[MEDEA Gets up and goes over to the children with the knife in her hand, has a slight smirk. The scene ends with the close-up shot of the knife. Black screen.]
VOICEOVER A lovely house, that was a safety shelter and used to keep the love, became a vindictive repository of bloody revenge and anger. Medea lost her mind, without a notice, she stole two guiltless lives. My dad, a tough man, used to tell me when I was much younger: “I don’t believe in God, and I’m afraid of him.” Well, I believe in God; and the only thing that scares me is MEDEA.
