Medea

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 49

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Summary

Background

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Medea

Medea is the protagonist of the play. She is present in every scene, and speaks most of the lines in the play. Medea is the wife of Jason and mother to their two sons. She comes from a royal dynasty that rules Colchis, and can claim semi-divine status as the granddaughter of Helios, god of the sun. Medea is proud of her origins. As she tells Creon, “I had high birth, good luck, and royal power/I shone in glory” (II.217-218). No physical description is given of Medea: her age is indeterminate, but she repeatedly contrasts her identity as a wife, mother, and mature woman with an earlier time when she was a young girl.

Medea’s primary character traits are her rage, jealousy, and desire for revenge. In her very first speech in the play, Medea urges herself to “take on the armor of anger, prepare for destruction/Possessed by fury” (I.51-52). Even when other characters, such as Jason and the Nurse, plead with her to reconcile herself to her fate, Medea stubbornly insists on her need for vengeance at any cost. She claims, “peace can only be mine/If I see everything ruined along with me” (III.426/427). Nonetheless, Medea does sometimes waver in her desire for revenge, and appears to still love Jason. Early in the play, she shifts the blame for his betrayal to Creon, reflecting that “another’s rule and power/Forces him to do this” (II.136-137). Later, she pleads with Jason to stand up to Creon and run away with her. Most poignantly, Medea hesitates before enacting her ultimate plan of killing her children, asking, “why am I led in two directions, now by anger/Now by love?” (V.938-939). Medea’s conflicted emotions towards both Jason and their children add complexity to her character arc and dilemma, which in turn raises the stakes for her revenge.

Medea’s character remains quite consistent throughout the play, although her commitment to wreaking revenge sometimes fluctuates. Most of her character development and growth has already happened through the events that took place before the start of the play. Medea contrasts her earlier crimes (including killing King Pelias, and her own brother) with the revenge she is going to seek, explaining, “When I did this, I was not even angry/I was driven by painful love” (II.135-136). When Jason abandons her, Medea develops into a character without any limits or constraints when it comes to her desire for vengeance. She sees this development as empowering and central to her identity, proclaiming, “Now, I am Medea. My nature has grown with my suffering” (V.910). Medea ends the play boldly defiant, connecting her bloody acts to a consistent personal history of violence. As she says mockingly to Jason, “Do you not know your wife?/ This is the way I always leave a country” (V.1021-1022).

Creon

Creon is the antagonist of the play: he precipitates the conflict of the plot by forcing Jason to leave Medea and get remarried to his daughter. Creon is the king of Corinth and is very arrogant about the power he wields. As he tells Medea, “you must submit to power, just or unjust” (II.195). Despite this insistence on his authority, Creon is offended by the implication that he is an unfair man, and rebukes Medea by telling her, “I have provided quite sufficient proof/That I am obviously not a tyrant” (II.252-253). Creon believes that all of his actions are justified because he blames Medea for everything; this belief conveniently allows both Creon and Jason to regard themselves as innocent.

Creon’s mistrust and hatred of Medea is rooted in xenophobia and misogyny. He calls her “Medea, poisonous child of Colchian Aeetes” (II.179) and the “scheming source of every criminal act” (II.266). However, Creon does seem to have some capacity for mercy, which ultimately proves to be his undoing. He reassures Medea that he will protect her children, and reluctantly grants Medea one day of grace before sending her into exile. Since Creon is also a father, he may have sympathy for these requests, even though his concession ends up giving Medea the time she needs to enact her revenge against his own daughter.

Jason

Jason is a Greek hero, originally from the kingdom of Iolcus. Prior to the beginning of Seneca’s play, Jason undertook a famous quest, travelling to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. During this journey, Medea helped him, and the two of them got married. Just before the start of the play, Jason renounced his marriage to Medea in order to marry Creusa, the daughter of the king of Corinth. Jason claims he was reluctant to take this action, explaining, “If I wanted to be faithful to my wife —she had earned it—I had to forfeit my life. If I did not want to die, I had to give up—poor me!—fidelity” (III.434-436). Jason wallows in self-pity and laments his fate, complaining, “my luck is always bad” (III. 431), although at the start of the play, he is a celebrated hero who is on the cusp of marrying into a royal family. His self-pitying nature contrasts with Medea’s actual suffering, while his passivity forms a juxtaposition with the forceful way she takes her destiny into her own hands.

Jason’s character contrasts with Medea’s in that he is passive, timid, and willing to submit to unjust authority without challenging it. His weak character traits contribute to the element of gender inversion in the play, since Jason’s passivity undermines traditional expectations of masculinity and heroism. Medea urges Jason to stand up to Creon and refuse the marriage to Creusa, but Jason responds, “I am tired; I give in” (III.519). Jason also urges Medea to meekly accept her fate as well, arguing, “peace makes sorrows soft” (III. 559). In addition to these character traits, Jason is a very loving father who is devoted to his children: he tells Medea that “they are my reason for living” (III.545).

Jason’s character remains consistent throughout the play. Jason creates tragedy by underestimating Medea and by being susceptible to her trickery. When Medea pretends to repent of her anger, Jason assures her of his forgiveness, saying, “I have driven those words from my mind” (III.557). His belief that Medea will actually quietly leave Corinth gives her the time she needs to enact her plot. In their dramatic final confrontation, Jason begs Medea not to kill their remaining son, showing that he still thinks he can influence and control her. In the end, Jason is forced to accept his complete lack of control over the situation. Surprisingly, given his betrayal of Medea, Jason is left alive at the end of the play, but he is an utterly broken man who has lost everything.

The Nurse

The Nurse is a secondary character who acts as a helper and confidante to Medea. Medea refers to her as, “faithful nurse, companion of my sorrow” (III. 568). The Nurse is likely from a lower social status, and may perhaps have come from Colchis along with Medea. If the Nurse is also from Medea’s homeland, that might explain the trust and loyalty between them. Despite the Nurse’s loyalty to Medea, she consistently begs Medea to abort her plan for revenge, making statements such as, “Stop, suppress your anger, control yourself” (III.381). In contrast to Medea’s wrath, the Nurse offers a model of calm and rational action, even in the face of injustice. The Nurse does not dispute that Medea has been wronged, but she recommends greater caution since “attacking those in power is never safe” (III.430). The Nurse’s lower social station renders her vulnerable, and she is more likely to work within existing systems of power rather than challenging them outright. However, in spite of her attempts at intervention, the Nurse is not ultimately able to dissuade Medea from pursuing revenge.