Soares 1

Kenji Soares AP English 7-8 Mr. McHale 26 October 11 Medea Medea, from the ancient Greek tragedy Medea, responds to justice in an abnormal way. Her sense and understanding of justice grows more perverted as the play progresses. Medeas search of justice was successful to an extent, even though it cost her childrens lives. Her quest for justice was significant in that the emotions she experiences during this quest are also shared by many readers. Medeas actions, however, go far beyond the actions taken by an individual in reality. In the beginning of the play Medea was a devoted wife and mother to Jason and their children. She had even deserted her parents and her homeland to be married to Jason. Later on Jason takes interest in Glauce, the princess of Corinth, which deeply upsets Medea and causes her sense of justice to become cloudy. Self-pity initially sets in but it soon snowballs into bitterness and hate of Jason and everything that has to do with him, including the children. Medea then restrains her grief and with a clear mind she devises a plan to poison Jason, Glauce, and Glauces father, Creon. She has her children deliver poisoned gifts to Glauce, which ends up killing everyone except for Jason. Medeas understanding of justice seems rational up until the part where she murders her children just to emotionally hurt Jason. This justice seems too immoral even if readers sympathize with her because of the pain Jason brought to her.