Medea vs. Oedipus: Comparison of Reactions to Tragedy
In many Greek tragedies, we are introduced to characters that are faced with many hardships within the tragedy itself. When faced with such tragedy and difficulty, we all vary in how we react and respond to said circumstances. In this paper, I will be looking at two characters from our writing; Sophocles’ Oedipus of Oedipus the King and Euripides’ Medea from Medea. In these two characters, we can see two reactions to difficulty and misfortune. With Media, we have a woman who loses her husband and becomes murderous, hateful and dangerous. Oedipus who learns that he murdered his own father and married his mother, becomes self-destructive. In Sophocles story, Oedipus is very intelligent and civilized. In his search for truth, he leads himself to his own demise and loses everything. Oedipus and Medea’s stories both have life changing events but they handle the …show more content…
This includes leaving her homeland and having two children with him. The tragedy begins when Jason leaves Medea due to a fight and falls in love with the daughter of the king of Corinth. Upon learning this, Medea vows to ruin not only Jason, but his new wife, their home, and even her own children. Medea here is showing signs of delusion and she does not understand the potential consequences of her thoughts and potential actions, nor the fact that killing Jason’s children equates to killing her own.
Medea eventually tricks Jason into believing that she is no longer is willing or able to harm him or his own family, so she then sends her children back with poisoned gifts. This is unimaginable that any mother could be so vengeful as to use her own son and daughter for revenge. “O your heart must have been made of rock or steel, you who can kill with your own hand the fruit of your own womb” (Euripides 669). Medea however is content in the fact that she takes everything away from
In many Greek tragedies, we are introduced to characters that are faced with many hardships within the tragedy itself. When faced with such tragedy and difficulty, we all vary in how we react and respond to said circumstances. In this paper, I will be looking at two characters from our writing; Sophocles’ Oedipus of Oedipus the King and Euripides’ Medea from Medea. In these two characters, we can see two reactions to difficulty and misfortune. With Media, we have a woman who loses her husband and becomes murderous, hateful and dangerous. Oedipus who learns that he murdered his own father and married his mother, becomes self-destructive. In Sophocles story, Oedipus is very intelligent and civilized. In his search for truth, he leads himself to his own demise and loses everything. Oedipus and Medea’s stories both have life changing events but they handle the …show more content…
This includes leaving her homeland and having two children with him. The tragedy begins when Jason leaves Medea due to a fight and falls in love with the daughter of the king of Corinth. Upon learning this, Medea vows to ruin not only Jason, but his new wife, their home, and even her own children. Medea here is showing signs of delusion and she does not understand the potential consequences of her thoughts and potential actions, nor the fact that killing Jason’s children equates to killing her own.
Medea eventually tricks Jason into believing that she is no longer is willing or able to harm him or his own family, so she then sends her children back with poisoned gifts. This is unimaginable that any mother could be so vengeful as to use her own son and daughter for revenge. “O your heart must have been made of rock or steel, you who can kill with your own hand the fruit of your own womb” (Euripides 669). Medea however is content in the fact that she takes everything away from