Is Medea Justified in Her Actions?
Is Medea Justified In Her Actions? Is the killing of anyone ever justified? Is the life of one individual more important than another? In Euripides, Medea, Medea kills the princess of Corinth, the king of Corinth, Creon, as well as her own children. Are her actions the actions of an insane, distraught person or those of wise, foreign, barbaric woman trying to protect her children? Through the story of Medea, Medea justifies the killing of others while several other characters portray the injustice of her killings. Can a person show a justifiable reason to the killing of others or is the killing of others justified under certain circumstances? In the work prologue, we discover Jason 's quest to Colchis to obtain the Golden Fleece as a task created by his uncle, Pelias in order to claim his rightful inheritance. He assembles a team and they set sail for Colchis on the ship, the Argo. Upon reaching Colchis, King Aeetes instructs Jason to plow “a field with a team of fire-breathing bulls.” (Euripides 527). During his task, he meets King Aeetes ' daughter, Medea. Medea, proficient in magic, helps Jason. She helps him “plough the field, lull the dragon to sleep, steal the fleece, and escape back to Greece, killing her own brother to distract the attention of their enraged Colchian pursuers.” Jason and Medea go to Iolcus only to realize Pelias goes back on his word. Angered by this, Medea talks Pelias 's daughters into boiling him alive by telling them the act will make him immortal. The treacherous act forced Jason and Medea into exile. Jason and Medea marry, have children and move to Corinth. While in Corinth, Jason divorces Medea to marry the princess of Corinth. Because of the divorce, Medea 's spirit is destroyed and she is driven to an unstable state of mind. As the story begins, the Nurse is wanting to reverse history, “I wish the Argo never had set sail...My mistress then, Medea, never would have sailed away... the sight of Jason never
Cited: Euripides. "Medea." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Volume I. W W Norton, 2012. 525-564. Print.