In literature across the world, women play a significant part, whether minor or major. A woman can be regarded as a heroine in a piece of literature. A person is defined as a heroine who is idealized or admired for noble qualities, outstanding achievements or courage. Some people may agree with the above fact, while others would argue against it. Medea does hurt others and cause drama because it is pushed too far. A true heroine cannot act in the manner Medea does. It is the opposite of a heroine since she aims at revenging and ends up ruining the lives of others and her own. She shows suicide as a solution to her issues, a wave of manipulating anger, mentality and other things resulting in termination of life(s). In the research at hand, I will examine what Medea does because of being pushed to the corner and pushing women to the brink.
In the tale, Medea denoted by Euripides, the character Medea is outlined as opposed to a heroine or against heroism to that matter. At the beginning of the story, Medea is seen thinking of the death of her husband because of being left for a young princess. Her contemplating of killing her husband shows that she is not a heroine. In other words, her resolution or actions does not demonstrate the greater good, self-sacrifice and courage. Instead, Medea is consumed by her pity. Selfishness and devastation. She wishes that lightning would split her head since she does not see the reason for being alive; she is contemplating her death. She is portrayed as straining in the mission of maintaining power and control of her life. The Medea is looking forward to being given an audience and revered for the queen she was once.
Medea evaluates everything in terms of her good. This is seen for being “madly” in love with her husband and then suddenly hating him. She exhibits the way she is anti-heroism by killing her family because of the husband marrying a young princess. She causes chaos and turns her back on her family for her love for the husband (Rehm 105). On the other hand, when her husband scorns her, her feelings move in the opposite direction, making her feel that her life does not have a meaning. Suicide is not just a selfish action, but it does not also show the significance of heroism. Medea wants to demonstrate the easy way of dealing with homelessness and abandonment by killing herself.
She considers killing herself as an option of dealing with her issues before committing betrayal, manipulation and evil as revenge for her unfaithful husband. She sees suicide as a relief from her betrayal, which is not an important component of a heroine, but from the heroine perspective, it is an act of manipulation at the end of the day. She starts her manipulation by begging the king not to banish her immediately but allow her to spend one more day to know where to spend her exile life and take care of the children since their father had decided to leave them. She uses the love for his daughter to make the king sympathetic to her kids and the situation they are currently in. The component of looking at what is best and the truth for the greatest good is an act of being a heroine or a hero. However, Medea defines the opposite of being a heroine; she is just looking at ways of taking revenge for those who have wronged her. The extended time and the manipulation of the king pave the way for her passion and anger to heighten, eventually leading to the death of those surrounding her. In other words, the manipulation starts with the king making her continue with the treacherous act that results in deaths.
She tricks her kids into carrying presents to the young bride that will lead to the death of the husband and her young princess. At this point, her anger and rage have escalated. Medea no longer thinks that her acts are terrible and evil; she is controlled by emotions (Boedeker 15). Taking the lives of those surrounding her hinders her from being regarded as a heroine. She seems not ready to stop the heinous act of killing the princess who wears the poisonous dress and die in it. His husband also dies because of the hidden poison after lying near her daughter.
The tale of Medea offered by Euripides shows Medea’s character as a person filled with anger and greatly manipulative. She sees killing as the solution to her issues, thus escaping the world and her fate. As a result, she cannot be considered a heroine since she failed to develop amicable ways of making peace with the people she felt had betrayed her.
Work Cited
Boedeker, Deborah. 6 Becoming Medea: Assimilation in Euripides. Princeton University Press, 2021. 10-20.
Rehm, Rush. “TORCHING THE MARRIAGE EURIPIDES’MEDEA.” Marriage to Death. Princeton University Press, 2019. 97-109.
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