Full Answer
What is Creon's role in Medea?
Creon, son of Lycaethus, is the king of Corinth, the city-state where the events of Medea take place. He is a discerning judge of character, and accurately determines Medea 's intentions, yet he does a poor job of applying his insight in service of justice.
How does Jason criticise Medea?
Jason criticises Medea: Whilst Medea appeals to the “women of Corinth” on matters relating to the intolerable status of women, Jason seeks to narrow the debate and focus on her personal grievances and sexual jealousy.
What does Lady Creon say when she appeals to Creon?
She appeals to Creon, saying she does not hold this turn of events against him or his daughter, but against her husband, and promises to “keep the peace.” Creon remains suspicious, however, and repeats his order.
How does Euripides characterize Medea in Medea?
Euripides characterises Jason as cold-hearted (heartless, indifferent, detached, calculated and cool/ phlegmatic) and who patronises Medea as a foreigner of no worth. (She is often referred to in dehumanising terms. For example, she is “no woman, but a tiger”. She is an “abomination” and a “lioness”).
How does Creon treat Medea?
Creon. The King of Corinth, Creon banishes Medea from the city. Although a minor character, Creon's suicidal embrace of his dying daughter provides one of the play's most dramatic moments, and his sentence against Medea lends an urgency to her plans for revenge.
What is Creon's reason for banishing Medea?
Fearing a possible plot of revenge, Creon banishes Medea and her children from the city. After pleading for mercy, Medea is granted one day before she must leave, during which she plans to complete her quest for "justice"--at this stage in her thinking, the murder of Creon, Glauce, and Jason.
What happens to Creon in Medea?
He showed hospitality towards the couple, and later expressed consent for Jason to marry his daughter. Ultimately, he fell victim to Medea's subsequent revenge, getting burned to death as he was attempting to rescue his daughter from similar fate.
How does Medea convince Creon to show her some mercy?
It is clear that Medea loves her children and wants to protect them “like a lioness guarding her cubs.” When Creon tells Medea that she must take her sons and go into exile, she begs Creon to show some mercy. She manipulates him by taking advantage of his weakness; his daughter.
How does Jason justify his treatment of Medea?
He does have one justification for his second marriage which is almost credible. He tells Medea that "I was not […] tired of your attractions […] it was simply that I wanted above all to let us live in comfort, not be poor" (62). It was perfectly respectable for a Greek male to have more than one family.
What happens to Medea in the end?
No matter the number of children, Medea eventually leaves Jason in Corinth, and marries the King of Athens (Aegeus) and bears him a son.
Who is King Creon to Medea?
Creon, the name of two figures in Greek legend. The first, son of Lycaethus, was king of Corinth and father of Glauce or Creüsa, the second wife of Jason, for whom Jason abandoned Medea. Euripides recounted this legend in his tragedy Medea. The second, the brother of Jocasta, was successor to Oedipus as king of Thebes.
Who killed Creon?
He refused burial for the bodies of the enemy, but Theseus intervened with an army, killed Creon, and allowed the dead warriors to be buried (Thebaid XII. 773-781; Roman de Thèbes, 10003-10172). Creon appears five times in medial positions, KnT 938, 961, 963, 1002; Anel 64; and once in final rhyming position, LGW 1661.
Who suffers the most in Medea?
While Jason is the victim of his children getting murdered by Medea, the tragic figure still remains Medea due to how she is the one who suffers the most throughout the play because of Jason and societal expectations. Right from the start, on the first spoken line of the play, the portrayed victim is already Medea.
Is Medea a villain or victim?
Euripides presents the protagonist of his play in a way which inspires both fear and pathos. As a villain she represents the Ancient Greek fear of foreign women, with Medea's brutal revenge and formidable magical powers.
What is the purpose of Medea?
Medea's motivation is a desire to punish her husband, a major category used by researchers investigating the background to such crimes. One research article even suggests that mothers are more likely to kill male children if their motivation is vengeance: Medea's is, and her victims are both sons.
What is the main message of Medea?
The main themes in Medea are revenge, passion, gender, and power. Revenge: Medea's revenge is cruel and excessive, and she pays a heavy personal price to enact it. Medea's righteous fury overwhelms everything else, allowing her to kill her own children so long as Jason also suffers.
Why does Medea plead for just one day?
It ends with Medea pleading for “just one day” in order for her to get her affairs in order, and devise a plan for where she and her children will go. In this, she appeals to Creon’s kindness as a father himself, claiming that it is not for her sake, but the children’s, that she is asking.
What is Medea's speech about?
In a long speech, she appeals to their gender to understand her plight, by enumerating the inequities women face in their relationships with men. Her situation is further complicated by her foreign status, which has left her without family to turn to in her despair. The speech closes with an appeal to the women to remain silent about any plans she makes to take her revenge on her faithless husband. The Chorus women express their sympathy, and pledge to say nothing.
What does Creon say to Medea?
Creon is contemptuous and harsh towards Medea, abruptly telling her, in no uncertain terms to leave. “Go, you poor wretch, and take all my troubles with you! Go1 (27) Creon also concedes that she is a “clever woman, skilled in many evil acts”.
Why does Jason use words in Medea?
He uses words to draw attention to Medea’s irrational and passionate outbursts, which do in part, reinforce the Nurse’s depiction of Medea at the beginning of the play. But whereas the Nurse is sympathetic towards Medea, Jason focuses on her passionate side to belittle her.
What does Medea say about the boon of civilised justice?
When he says that he has brought Medea the boon of civilised “justice” the claim is further compromised by the fact that he has broken oaths made to the gods. As the chorus points out, “the grace of sworn oaths is gone/Honour remains no more/In the wide Greek world but is flown to the sky”).
Why is Jason sympathetic to Medea?
Whereas the Nurse is sympathetic towards Medea because of her grief, Jason focuses on her passionate side to belittle her and refers to “seamanship” imagery to suggest that he must navigate and weather Medea’s emotional storm. “I’ll furl all but an inch Of sail and ride it out.”.
Why did Medea sail on the Argo?
Jason’s accusations reinforce the Nurse’s regret at the very beginning of the play that Medea did indeed sail on the Argo because of her love for Jason: “never would she have persuaded Pelias’ daughters to kill their husband and children”. Not only does he appear cold-hearted and ruthless (and ambitious).
What does Jason see Medea as?
Jason sees Medea as a women suffering from sexual jealousy. Jason uses “seamanship” imagery to suggest that he must become the “seasoned helmsman” and “trim the edges of my sail” in order to navigate or weather Medea’s emotional storm or tempestuous and “noisy protestations”. According to Jason, he must become “like a seasoned helmsman”.
What does Euripides suggest about Jason?
Euripides suggests that Jason is typical of those who are so self-conceited that they fail to anticipate the danger that lurks near them. His lack of perception and his lack of emotions lead to a catastrophic downfall. Euripides suggests that a system that rejects emotions and human feelings cannot survive.