Condemning Medea
Medea is an impeccable example of a woman being controlled by the ravaging effects of love. Unfortunately, those effects lead Medea to commit a serious transgression: murder. She takes the life of not only a king and his daughter, but also of two of her own children. Although the king’s death was more of an adverse consequence than a direct murder, Medea planned all of their deaths down to the last detail. The prosecution charges her with four counts of premeditated murder. The prosecution would like to take into account the evidence provided by three witnesses: Medea’s nurse, Jason, and Medea herself. Medea’s nurse observes Medea’s transformation from a jilted lover to an enraged murderer from the beginning. At one point the nurse says, “She’ll not stop raging until she has struck at someone” (4). She realizes Medea’s extreme emotional turmoil but can do nothing to soothe her. The nurse can provide a firsthand account of Medea’s slow descent into moral destitution. She sees how upset and angry Medea is at Jason but unfortunately does not realize the severity of the situation until it’s too late. The nurse is with Medea when she makes the decision to murder King Creon, his daughter, and her own children. Medea confided in the nurse saying, “You I employ on all affairs of greatest trust” (27). Medea’s nurse knows of everything that Medea has decided to do and is acutely aware of Medea’s motives and premeditated actions. In addition to the nurse as a witness, Jason also has something to contribute to Medea’s prosecution. Jason is the prime incendiary of the situation, the catalyst that sets into motion the events that would result in the deaths of four innocent people. He is the main cause of Medea’s rage, so naturally he can testify to Medea’s radical reaction to a commonplace event: him leaving her. When Medea accuses Jason of being a coward for marrying behind her back, he points out that “[even] if [he] had told [her] of it, [she still would be] incapable of