Persuasive Essay On Medea

Ancient Greek society highly valued the idea of its citizens meeting the expectations of their social and moral responsibility in terms of the principle of sophrosyne, that is finding balance between reason and passion. However, Euripides in exploring the rationalisations of Jason and Medea, in his tragedy Medea, challenges the commonly held value of seeking balance. Jason breaks his oaths and leaves Medea for fortune and prestige, while Medea sets on the quest to exact her retribution on Jason. Ultimately, however, Medea is Euripides iconoclastic attack on the Greek social system, suggesting to the audience that maybe the real criminal is the androcentric Greek society, where woman and the second class are unjustly subjugated.

Leaving Medea for Glauce, in pursuit of wealth and prestige, Jason remains naïve to the fact that he has become a criminal. In leaving Medea, Jason reasons that he “acted out of love” but fails to recognise the …show more content…
Of course, Medea being a woman of extreme behaviour and extreme emotion, her passion turned to rage. Through her transformation of passion to rage, Medea goes from a mother to a murderer- to a criminal. Medea’s criminal behaviour stems from her sacrifice to kill her brother and king Pelias in order to aid Jason. Nonetheless, after being betrayed by Jason, Medea embodies perfectly the proverbial “woman scorned” determined to ensure a bloodbath as she sinks into abysmal hopelessness and despair. In her quest to exact retribution on Jason, Medea’s criminal character becomes complete with her murder of Glauce and Creon and ultimately her own children. Granted, both the ancient and modern audiences can agree upon the fact the Jason deserved his fate, but Medea’s act of infanticide is where the line is drawn. However, Euripides in leaving Medea unharmed, comments on the nature of justice, revealing that justice doesn’t always mean