Euripides releases in his play Medea that moderation is imperative to a successful existence.
Performed in the city Dionysia in 431 BCE, Euripides’ tragedy Medea, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea, the plot centres on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the “barbarian” kingdom of Colchis, and the wife of Jason. Euripides’ tragic story revolving around anger and revenge ending in pain and ruin for most characters entrenches the notion that moderation in all forms is imperative to a successful and
The idea of the “golden mean [moderation]” (line 124) is introduced early in the play by a minor character: the nurse. A slave to the ‘once’ upper-class woman Medea, the nurse has seen how the extremes of wealth, ambition, and emotion can bring ruin to a person and his/her family, and she observes these destructives extremes in Medea. Unlike the main characters in the play, she does not have high ambitions, but instead she “hopes that it’s her luck to grow old in …show more content…
Time and time again, whenever Medea is faced with a choice, she chooses the most extreme option. She is not satisfied simply to ruin Jason’s marriage, instead she chooses to murder his wife and inadvertently her father Creon in an extremely gorgy way. Medea is so enraged with the thought of Jason’s new love and the betrayal he has shown “Woman, on a whole, is a timid thing: but wronged in love, there is no heart more murmurers” this is shown multiple times with the play in her show of complete ignorance for moderation in all aspects, most notable in her enraged attempts to gain revenge for the wrongs committed against her. Medea does not stop at this first murderous act and flee to safety, she chooses to continue to blight Jason by destroying their children, his only heirs, with her own hands. Medea is constantly consumed by revenge and lacks any sense of moderation, thus leads to her tragic
Performed in the city Dionysia in 431 BCE, Euripides’ tragedy Medea, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea, the plot centres on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the “barbarian” kingdom of Colchis, and the wife of Jason. Euripides’ tragic story revolving around anger and revenge ending in pain and ruin for most characters entrenches the notion that moderation in all forms is imperative to a successful and
The idea of the “golden mean [moderation]” (line 124) is introduced early in the play by a minor character: the nurse. A slave to the ‘once’ upper-class woman Medea, the nurse has seen how the extremes of wealth, ambition, and emotion can bring ruin to a person and his/her family, and she observes these destructives extremes in Medea. Unlike the main characters in the play, she does not have high ambitions, but instead she “hopes that it’s her luck to grow old in …show more content…
Time and time again, whenever Medea is faced with a choice, she chooses the most extreme option. She is not satisfied simply to ruin Jason’s marriage, instead she chooses to murder his wife and inadvertently her father Creon in an extremely gorgy way. Medea is so enraged with the thought of Jason’s new love and the betrayal he has shown “Woman, on a whole, is a timid thing: but wronged in love, there is no heart more murmurers” this is shown multiple times with the play in her show of complete ignorance for moderation in all aspects, most notable in her enraged attempts to gain revenge for the wrongs committed against her. Medea does not stop at this first murderous act and flee to safety, she chooses to continue to blight Jason by destroying their children, his only heirs, with her own hands. Medea is constantly consumed by revenge and lacks any sense of moderation, thus leads to her tragic