Jo Eun Kim (jek266)

Medea: Tragic or Evil?

Greek mythology is depicted in a variety of forms, from writings to works to art such as paintings and sculptures. With these different venues of expression, myth is also expressed in various ways, raising the question: how does the depiction of myth differ in texts and images? Sometimes the depiction in images matches that of textual writings, whereas in other instances the pictorial representation presents the same myth in a different light. For the purposes of this essay, I analyze the depiction of the story of Medea killing her children and fleeing Corinth in text and in images. I base my analysis on Euripides’ play Medea, and on images depicted on a Roman sarcophagus from the mid-second century CE, a Greek krater from 400 BC, and an Greek amphora from 300 BC. I argue that Euripides portrays Medea as both a victim and a perpetrator, while the images depict Medea in either a completely sympathetic or a nefarious manner. Euripides’ play portrays Medea’s murder of her children and subsequent fleeing from Corinth in a more well-rounded manner than the one sided depictions that are represented in the images. In order to analyze the differences in how the story is told in the textual version and the images, we must first examine the myth of Medea. Medea, a sorceress, was the daughter of King Aeetes, the king of Colchis. She fell in love with Jason when he came to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece, which was the property of Aeetes. Medea agreed to use her magical powers to help him as long as he would marry her once he succeeded. After Jason obtained the Golden Fleece, Medea killed her brother and scattered parts of his body to distract her father so that they could successfully escape from Colchis. They fled to Corinth where they married and had two sons. There, Jason betrayed Medea and abandoned her to marry the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. Medea got her revenge by murdering their two sons and Jason’s new bride. Afterwards, she fled Corinth on a chariot that was given to her by her grandfather Helios, the god of the sun. Both Euripedes’ play and the images represented in the artwork depict the scene of Medea murdering her children, yet the images are one sided while the textual work shows both the anguish and the callousness with which Medea killed her children and fled Corinth. Euripedes’ play shows both the struggle and cold-heartedness with which Medea kills her children and flees Corinth. The play opens with a monologue by a nurse who describes Medea’s mental state of mind. The nurse states, “she [Medea] hates her children and feels no joy in seeing them”[1]. Based on this statement, one can assume that she hates her children and that those lines are a harbinger of things to come. Later in the play, Medea herself says “You horrible children, of a mother who hates you god damn you with your father, and the whole house go to Hell”[2]. In theoe lines, Medea directly states that she hates her children as well as their father Jason, and she hopes that they will all go to Hell. It seems as if Medea shows no love towards her children and would kill them without remorse. However, although Medea does kill her children, it is revealed that she is reluctant to do so and does not appear to hate her children as the Nurse and even Medea herself suggested earlier. In fact, we see the emotional struggle she endures as she prepares to kill her children to exact her revenge on Jason. She states, “my heart is giving way as I look into my children’s shining eyes. I could never do it!”[3] It is clear that Medea is torn and does not truly want to harm her sons. She struggles to decide if she can accomplish her plans. However, she ultimately chooses to carry out her intent.
Medea laments: “My friends. I have determined to do the deed at once, to kill my children and leave this land, and not to falter or give my children over to let a hand more hostile murder them. They must die and since they must I, who brought them into the world, will kill them. But arm yourself, my heart. Why hesitate to do these tragic, yet necessary, evils? Come, unhappy hand of mine, take the sword take it, move to the dismal turning point of life. Do not be a coward. Do not think of your children — how much you love them, how you gave them birth. For this one short day forget your children, and mourn tomorrow. For even if you kill them still you loved them very much. I am an unhappy woman.”[4]
It is clear that although Medea is committed the heinous act of killing her children, she is clearly struggling with the decision to do so. She even states that loves them even though she is going to kill them. Despite her love, Medea has to exact her revenge on Jason. Her desire for revenge overcomes her love for her children. With this decision, we can see her vengeful and callous nature. She refuses to let Jason near his sons’ bodies and even mocks him from atop a dragon-drawn chariot that her grandfather Helios gave her. She states that she is going to take her sons’ bodies with her and bury them lovingly[5]. She flees Corinth on the chariot with her sons’ bodies in her arms. Throughout the play, we can see Medea’s vengeful nature and her desire for revenge consume her. However, we also see her struggle with the decision to kill her children. Euripides’ play paints Medea’s murder of her children and her subsequent escape as both a tragedy and a triumph of revenge. The scene depicted in the Roman sarcophagus shows the struggle and reluctance that Medea felt towards murdering her children. It paints Medea as a victim, and the pain she feels about having to kill her children is evident. The image does not depict her vengeful nature and the rage that consumes her. On the image on the left, the woman in the middle is Medea and the two young boys on the left are her sons. We can see Medea looking down at her young sons. Her sons are smiling and playing innocently with a ball, and Medea looks torn. Her arms are open and pointed to her sons, as if she is about to embrace them. However, she has what appears to be a sword in her left hand. Interesting, the sword is not raised and she is merely holding it. In this scene, we can see the struggle she is going through. She is holding the sword that she is going to use to murder her sons, yet the sword is not raised and she is looking down lovingly at her children. She does not look vengeful but instead regretful, and if it were not for the sword in her hand we would have no idea that she is about to murder her sons. In fact, without the sword the image we see is merely a mother looking lovingly at her happy children. There is no indication of Medea’s vengeful and evil intentions in this image except for the sword. In fact, because she looks so motherly, the fact that she is holding a sword is tragic and this image suggests that she wouldn’t murder her children unless she absolutely had to. The depiction on the sarcophagus paints Medea as a tragic victim instead of a spiteful woman bent on revenge. The images on the krater portray Medea in a much harsher manner than that of the sarcophagus. In this particular depiction, Medea is portrayed as a cold-hearted vengeful woman who does not seem to show any signs of grief over murdering her sons. Medea is riding a dragon-drawn chariot and Jason can be seen to her bottom left. The bodies of her dead sons are seen on her bottom right, and Like the krater, the depiction on the amphora also potrays Medea as cold-hearted.

Euripides, and Judith Mossman. Medea. Oxford: Aris & Phillips, 2011. Print.
Medea, Attic red figure krater, late 5th/early 4th century BCE. Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio
Medea killing her son, Campanian red figure amphora, 340 – 320 BCE. Louvre. Paris, France
Medea and her children, Roman sarcophagus, mid century CE. Berlin, Germany.

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[1] Euripides, Medea, lines 36-7
[2] Euripides, Medea, lines 114-16
[3] Euripides, Medea, lines 1033-35
[4] Euripides, Medea, lines 1236-49
[5] Euripides, Medea, lines 1377-1387