Medea is one of the best known tragedy playwrights till today. There are two versions written in two different periods by two different writers: Euripides and Seneca. Despite the play been written by two different authors, the background of the story and the plot remained consistent. The main difference is that these two authors approached the ending from a different perspectives. While Euripides approached the ending providing philosophical aspects of human characteristics, Seneca approached the ending providing more realistic aspects of human's irrational nature influenced by emotions.
First of all, it is in human nature to act rationally, but emotions overwhelms our rationality and gets the worst of us. Seneca portrays this aspect of human’s irrational nature influenced by emotions through the main character Medea in Medea. Medea’s love for her husband, Jason, is so much, and so is the pain when Jason betrayed her …show more content…
In Euripides’ Medea, Jason is portrays as the antagonist, a disloyal husband and a womanizer. When Jason approached his wife he said, “here I am at your command...Woman, [w]hat new is there that you might want from me?” (866-869), as if he does not want to be here but he came. He showed signs of disrespect toward his wife, which gave off a sense to the readers that Jason is marrying the princess since she is younger than Medea. Another evidence that Jason is a womanizer is when Jason categorizes woman in one category by saying, “if she is a woman like the rest of them, [then I can persuade her]” (944-945). Jason’s characteristics is evidently more proven when all the other characters- the Chorus, the Nurse, the Tutor- takes the side of Medea and be an accomplice to her crime. Therefore, the readers feel that Medea’s action is not a crime but rather a justifiable punishment that Jason deserves. But in Seneca’s Medea, Jason is soon to be victim of Medea’s
First of all, it is in human nature to act rationally, but emotions overwhelms our rationality and gets the worst of us. Seneca portrays this aspect of human’s irrational nature influenced by emotions through the main character Medea in Medea. Medea’s love for her husband, Jason, is so much, and so is the pain when Jason betrayed her …show more content…
In Euripides’ Medea, Jason is portrays as the antagonist, a disloyal husband and a womanizer. When Jason approached his wife he said, “here I am at your command...Woman, [w]hat new is there that you might want from me?” (866-869), as if he does not want to be here but he came. He showed signs of disrespect toward his wife, which gave off a sense to the readers that Jason is marrying the princess since she is younger than Medea. Another evidence that Jason is a womanizer is when Jason categorizes woman in one category by saying, “if she is a woman like the rest of them, [then I can persuade her]” (944-945). Jason’s characteristics is evidently more proven when all the other characters- the Chorus, the Nurse, the Tutor- takes the side of Medea and be an accomplice to her crime. Therefore, the readers feel that Medea’s action is not a crime but rather a justifiable punishment that Jason deserves. But in Seneca’s Medea, Jason is soon to be victim of Medea’s