Compare And Contrast Medea And Clytemnestra

Medea and Clytemnestra are two iconic transgressive female characters in classic literature. In Euripides’ Medea, the female powerhouse Medea is presented as a ruthlessly strong female whose actions can make the audience squirm. In Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Clytemnestra is painted as a bold female who seethes revenge and successfully gets it. Both women are undeniably strong, and given their situations, Clytemnestra is the more sympathetic character. As for the theme of feminism in the plays themselves, Medea definitely presents a stronger ideals of feminism. As stated above, Medea and Clytemnestra are both very strong women who go against the grain of what is expected of women in their time. Medea is married to Jason, but at the beginning …show more content…
Both of them have reason to be upset, and both of them decide to do something about it. Although their actions aren’t moral, they do successfully get revenge on their husbands. The fact that both of them seek revenge of their husbands elevates their transgressive qualities because it shows that both of them can destroy the man who supports them in life. The interesting difference between the two of them is that Clytemnestra kills her husband because he killed their child, while Medea kills her children because her husband left her. This elevates Clytemnestra as a mother but diminishes Medea as …show more content…
Medea is seeking revenge on Jason because he left her for another woman. This occurrence is not a rare one and unfortunately happens to many women. Medea does not take this easily and kills Jason’s bride. She could have stopped there. That seems like a big enough punishment for Jason, but she continues to destroy Jason. Medea goes much too far when she kills her children, and it casts a shadow on her character that is too dark to identify with. Clytemnestra on the other hand has a very good reason to seek revenge on Agamemnon. He kills their daughter and leaves without communicating with Clytemnestra. This would make not just any woman mad, but any human mad. She has over a decade to chew on ideas and plans of revenge, and when Agamemnon gets back, she kills him along with Cassandra. Although she kills Cassandra too, she is the more sympathetic character because she has better reason to seek revenge. Along with better reason, she succeeds in a much less gruesome and more acceptable