Linda's Reviews > Medea

Stronger than lover's love is lover's hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make."
― Euripides

Euripides" revenge drama retells the myth of Medea, who, smitten by Jason of Argonaut fame, gives up everything, family and country, to help him capture the Golden Fleece. She even kills her brother. She does all this in exchange for the promise of marriage.

After ten years and two sons, Jason decides to leave her for a more advantageous marriage to a royal princess. Then, in a rage, she orchestrates the death of the princess and, inadvertently, her father, the King. Finally, Medea realizes that her children may pay the price for her deeds and decides to kill them herself rather than leave the act to individuals who may enact revenge more cruelly. This action, she surmises, will devastate the unfaithful Jason.

From the view of tragedy and play structure, this is an excellent drama. However, I found both protagonists unsympathetic, which hampered my ability to empathize and enjoy the audio production.

Differing Interpretations

I read the play as part of a course on Greek Tragedy and was surprised to learn that Medea did NOT murder her children in the original myth. Instead, according to the lecturer, Euripides added this action for dramatic effect. So I researched and found that contemporary retellings (Stephan Fry and Gustav Schwab) use Euripides as their only source. However, Robert Graves tells a different tale. He says that the Corinthians, enraged by the Princess's and King's deaths, stoned the children to death. Graves states:

'Mislead by the dramatist Euripides, whom the Corinthians bribed with fifteen talents of gold to absolve them of the guilt; many pretend that Medea killed two of her own children." (p.558).