Medea (Euripides) question please help me..?

Question

i have an essay coming up soon and i could not work on it over the summer bacause of no internet, i have spent 2 days looking for something but i could not find anything.. can you please help me/???

it is a question on medea (euripides)

What traits best characterize Medea as a wife? As a mother? As a person?

Answer 1

As a person, Medea was wounded, fragile and hurt. Who wouldn't be after a bothersome goddess (who by the way, is very similar to her in experience) made you fall MADLY in love with someone to the point of killing people (enemies of Jason) including your own family (younger brother - well, part of it, anyway).

As a wife, she was dutiful and very infatuated. But again, she was wounded and desperate. This aspect of her has justified her vindictiveness. In addition, I found her VERY similar to Hera in the sense that they both killed mistresses of the husbands (Hera does this too, sometimes).

As a mother, she was unfair YET she was also practical. She shouldn't have involved her children in this mess. BUT... Since she had already killed the "other woman", Jason's so-called mistress, she knew that her children would suffer a worse faith at Jason's hands. She cannot sustain them as she has nowhere to go yet. So, the best option she found was to give them a swift painless death. Ultimately, she's an excellent tactician.

Hence, I believe her to be a very complex character not entirely cruel and evil as some may say but a wounded individual, a dutiful and vindictive wife, and a desperate yet practical mother (though I don't approve killing her children).

P.S. Save your excuse for the teacher, 'kay? :)  (though based on experience, it wouldn't work... they'd rant about how there is always the library - blah blah blah) :)

Answer 2

Jealous, angry, vengefully <---Wife

Heartless, cruel <-----Mother

Consummed by anger, Obsessive< ----Person