In
the previous part we read about Jason’s voyage to Colchis and how with the help
of Medea he gets the Golden Fleece, but in the process, Medea loses her family.
After they reach Colchis, Pelias is killed by his daughters after they are
tricked by Medea, but have to leave Colchis too.
Euripides’s
play “Medea” starts from here.
Jason
and Medea along with their children reach Corinth and seek asylum. Creon,
the King of Corinth was aware of the fame and the heroism of Jason. Soon Jason
leaves Medea and gets married to Glauce, the daughter of the King of Corinth.
Medea is shocked to learn about the development and had been sulking at the
rejection for no apparent reason, except ambition, which was so obvious.
Needless to say that Medea felt used and discared.
The
King of Corinth however, was uncomfortable with the presence of Medea whose
reputation had preceded her in Corinth. He took it upon himself, to banish
Medea and her children from Corinth, as Medea had made her disapproval of the
marriage of Jason and Glauce public, in no uncertain terms. The king wanted her
to leave immediately, but Medea managed to beg a day to make arrangements for
the departure. The King was uncomfortable but agreed reluctantly to give her no
more than the dawn of the next day.
When
Jason learnt about the banishment, he ended up blaming Medea and washed his
hands off from being able to do anything or even intervening in the said matter.
Instead he offered her money as an aid which she would need during her exile,
which Medea declined. Clearly Jason had found new family and couldn’t care much
for Medea.
On
the same day, the King of Corinth had a guest, in the childless Aegeus, King of Athens
and fortunately an old friend of Medea. Medea requested him for a safe haven in
Athens and in return promised him a son. Aegeus told him that since he was a
state guest of Corinth, it would not be a good idea to take her with him, but
if she could reach Athens, then she could be his guest and stay with him.
Having secured her future, Medea set out for what she had in mind. She was not
going to leave things so easy for Jason.
Medea
was aware that Jason had a soft corner for his children, and if he wanted to
intervene, it was only for the children and not so much for Medea. She
approached Jason, and reasoned with him, that it wouldn’t be easy for her to
take care of the children in exile and now that she was away, couldn’t he take
care of the children? As a token of her appreciation, she would send the
children to Glauce. Jason found it reasonable and accepted it and was sure
Glauce should have no problems with the arrangement as long as Medea was not in
Corinth.
To
reflect her change of heart, she sent her children with gifts for Glauce. The
children take with them a robe and a small crown for Glauce as gifts. Once the
children return from Glauce, Medea awaits news from the palace. Glauce in the
meanwhile was happy with the change of heart and was glad that Medea was
leaving the next day. When the children had left, she decided to try the gifts.
She put on the robe and the crown.
Unknown
to Glauce, the robe and the crown had poison in them. As soon as she wore the
dress and put on the crown, her body was covered with poison which ate into
her, and she died even before she could realise what had happened to her. When
the King saw the dead body of his daughter, he tried to save her and when he
realised she was dead, he embraced her in grief. The poison soon spread over to
him and he too met a slow bur torturous death.
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| Glauce and Creon Roman Sarcophagus |
When
the news of the deaths in the palace reached Medea, she made her final move.
She entered into the bedroom of her children and killed her own children. By
now Jason had heard about the deaths of the King and Glauce. He rushed in to
Medea’s room as he was sure that the soldiers of Corinth would kill his
children. When he reached the room, he learnt that his children too had been murdered.
He broke open the bedroom door of his children, only to find them missing. He
could see Medea flying away in a flying chariot with the dead bodies of their
children, depriving him of even the last look and the last rites of the
children he so loved.
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| Medea Flees after killing children |
Medea
escaped to Athens and left Jason with neither a family nor a loved one, and deprived
him of all that he craved for in life.
This
brings an end to the tragic life of Medea according to the play of Euripides. The
story goes on to another conclusion, according to which, she flees to Athens
and bears a child to the King of Athens. However, she never finds peace even
there as she gets embroiled in palace intrigues and other issues, which we will
skip for the time being.
While
Medea is the heroine of Euripides’s play, she comes across as a vengeful woman,
who doesn’t hesitate to murder, all of them pre-meditated. So what was it about
this woman, a villain or a victim?
While
the murder of an innocent brother, going against ones father and then killing
her own children would be proof enough of an individual’s inherent criminality,
the story goes beyond that. The story of Medea is not simply a tale of love and
vengeance. It’s a beautiful drama of love and passion, at its extremities,
though. It brings out the strength of passion along with the suffering of
spurned love leading to the terrible consequences of vengeance. The great
sorceress ends up being portrayed as a weak woman, succumbing to the emotions
of love. For Medea, the crime or the hurt of being spurned by the man for whom
she left her home, country and reputation was much stronger than the subsequent
murders that led her to a life of uncertainty, which she had foreseen and thus
the plan to escape made well in advance.
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| Medea |
While
many might not agree with her murdering her own children, this was dramatically
expressed in the turmoil she goes through before she slays them. There was no
dearth of love for the children, rather it was love, that made her kill her
children, rather than they be killed by the men of the King or grow up to be
vengeful creatures. Was it a mother killing her children to save them from a
barbarous and torturous death by the kings soldiers or was it a mother killing
her children just to deprive their father of the love of his children, is
hardly debatable. Finally, she leaves with the bodies of her children depriving
Jason of even the last rites of the children he so loved. However cruel this
may sound; the pain that Jason goes through is the emotional victory for Medea,
not that she could escape the emotional turmoil of killing her own children
herself.
Medea’s
actions are downright despicable, but then matters of heart are never judged by
the rules of mind. The inner recesses of a woman’s mind are unfathomable and
the ire of a spurned woman is more so. Is a woman, just a lover or wife and
finally a mother? Isn’t she an individual who has a right to express her hatred
and indignation? Must her expression of indignation always be within the
boundaries of expected behaviour or cultural norms? Euripides’s Medea defies
these and expresses her anger and resentment in her own way, which goes against
the set norms of a dutiful wife or motherly love. Her passion is intense,
albeit with aberrations which are wild, but by these aberrations she either
reigns or ruins wayward men!
Call
her a barbarian, a villain, the vile or whatever; Medea is the intense lover,
in her own way who lets her passion dictate her ways and nothing else. It is
important to note that the story of Medea has always been treated as a story of
a woman who is vile and treacherous, while Jason is the tragic hero; it is only
in Euripides’s play that Medea gets a different treatment and some semblance of
respect.
What
do you think?
