na Djunisijevic
Prof. Klaassen
CLCV 2010A
March. 14th, 2018.
The Portrayal of Revenge as a Mean of Preservation
Seeking vengeance is one of the central themes in Agamemnon and The Medea. Both Euripides and Sophocles explore human nature by examining the human psyche. In the two plays, Clytemnestra and Medea are vengeful and ruthless in their pursuit of justice because of the disloyalty wrought upon them by their male partners Agamemnon and Jason. By preserving themselves through actions of revenge Medea and Clytemnestra challenge the prejudices of the male-dominated societies that seem to have no place for their capabilities. First, in both plays, the women …show more content…
In this case, Clytemnestra is trying to entangle her pray (Agamemnon) into a net (tapestry) to carry out her plan of revenge. So, her emotional turmoil has transformed into an act of revenge as a result of her rage. Medea undergoes a similar emotional transformation as Clytemnestra after her grieving period, which also causes her to enact revenge ultimately. After her episode of fury, Medea asks the goddesses Themis and Artemis to witness how Jason has broken the oaths he made to her. She states: “May I see him and his consort and their palace ripped in pieces, payment for the ways they dared first to mistreat me with injustice.” (Euripides, Medea. 162-165) Medea requests the gods to testify Jason's injustice; she is defending herself and moral righteousness because his actions are not only disloyal to her; they are a breach of the divine law. Medea's loneliness intensifies our sense of his crime to Medea while she is in exile. She openly admits that she wants to take justice into her own hands, and the punishment she wants to enact is extreme. Much like Clytemnestra, her fury induces her to …show more content…
It's also indicative of how far her anger spurred; she would ultimately stop at nothing to humiliate Jason as she goes so far as breaking the natural law of motherhood by murdering her children to make that so. In other words, Medea would rather endure punishment to preserve her reputation than humiliation. To conclude, both Medea and Clytemnestra undergo similar situations; their partners neglect them which ultimately motivates them to perform revenge on their spouses. Although both their male counterparts compartmentalize how the two women are supposed to act, by seeking justice, both Clytemnestra and Medea preserve themselves as strong women. Agamemnon and The Medea are plays which explore the dark parts of human nature, by showing Clytemnestra's and Medea's will to seek justice after their partners dismiss and overlook
Prof. Klaassen
CLCV 2010A
March. 14th, 2018.
The Portrayal of Revenge as a Mean of Preservation
Seeking vengeance is one of the central themes in Agamemnon and The Medea. Both Euripides and Sophocles explore human nature by examining the human psyche. In the two plays, Clytemnestra and Medea are vengeful and ruthless in their pursuit of justice because of the disloyalty wrought upon them by their male partners Agamemnon and Jason. By preserving themselves through actions of revenge Medea and Clytemnestra challenge the prejudices of the male-dominated societies that seem to have no place for their capabilities. First, in both plays, the women …show more content…
In this case, Clytemnestra is trying to entangle her pray (Agamemnon) into a net (tapestry) to carry out her plan of revenge. So, her emotional turmoil has transformed into an act of revenge as a result of her rage. Medea undergoes a similar emotional transformation as Clytemnestra after her grieving period, which also causes her to enact revenge ultimately. After her episode of fury, Medea asks the goddesses Themis and Artemis to witness how Jason has broken the oaths he made to her. She states: “May I see him and his consort and their palace ripped in pieces, payment for the ways they dared first to mistreat me with injustice.” (Euripides, Medea. 162-165) Medea requests the gods to testify Jason's injustice; she is defending herself and moral righteousness because his actions are not only disloyal to her; they are a breach of the divine law. Medea's loneliness intensifies our sense of his crime to Medea while she is in exile. She openly admits that she wants to take justice into her own hands, and the punishment she wants to enact is extreme. Much like Clytemnestra, her fury induces her to …show more content…
It's also indicative of how far her anger spurred; she would ultimately stop at nothing to humiliate Jason as she goes so far as breaking the natural law of motherhood by murdering her children to make that so. In other words, Medea would rather endure punishment to preserve her reputation than humiliation. To conclude, both Medea and Clytemnestra undergo similar situations; their partners neglect them which ultimately motivates them to perform revenge on their spouses. Although both their male counterparts compartmentalize how the two women are supposed to act, by seeking justice, both Clytemnestra and Medea preserve themselves as strong women. Agamemnon and The Medea are plays which explore the dark parts of human nature, by showing Clytemnestra's and Medea's will to seek justice after their partners dismiss and overlook