In Euripides’ tragedy Medea, Medea’s children are a symbol that represents the love between Jason and Medea, and when Jason marries someone else, he breaks his promise, which leads to the destruction of their love. Since Jason destroyed their love, Medea destroyed the symbol that represented their love, which was her children. Medea’s goal was to erase her memories and past with Jason and not Jason because she loved him too much.
Medea is shown as a person that has lost everything that mattered to her in life because she lost Jason, and she can neither win Jason’s love back, nor will she kill Jason. When the Nurse says, “Lying without food, she gives her body up to pain, and has been wearing down the nights and days with tears…”(24-25). This quote implies the love that Medea had for Jason. She did not eat food, was in so much pain, and was crying day and night for days because of her love for Jason. Also, Jason says, “when I conveyed you from your home in a barbarian land to my household in Greece-already then a powerful evil, traitor to your father and the country that nurtured you. The gods have sprung on me the demon of revenge that came with you, because you killed your brother at the hearth, and then embarked upon the Argo’s glorious deck.”(1330-1335). This quote shows what she sacrificed for Jason and his quest. These quotes show the extent of Medea’s love for Jason. It says that Medea does not have the heart to kill Jason because she loves him too much.
Medea hated her children after Jason married someone else because the symbol of love between Jason and Medea did not exist anymore. The Nurse says, “I’ve seen her cast a savage look at them, as though she’s contemplating doing something to them…”(93-94). This quote foreshadows that she will eventually hurt the children and shows that she hates them as they are a symbol that represents the love between Jason and Medea, which does not exist anymore. Whenever she looks at them, they remind her of the love between her and Jason. Medea only hated her children because they symbolized the love between Medea and Jason, but she still loved them as people. She takes her children with her to give them burials, and when the time comes to kill her children, she hesitates and has an internal conflict. She wishes that she could see them grow up and get married, have children, and take care of her when she grows older. She still loves her children as a mother but hates the children because of what the children symbolize as Medea and Jason’s children. She kills them to destroy her memories of Jason and the symbol of love between them.
Once Jason broke his promise to Medea, the symbol of love between them was destroyed, which meant that the children did not serve any purpose to Medea anymore. They were useless to her after Jason married the king’s daughter. Medea says, “For nothing, children, have I nurtured you, for nothing have I gone through labor, and been raked with pain, enduring the sharp agonies of giving birth”(1029-1031). Here, Medea is telling her children that she suffered the pain of giving birth and cared for her children for nothing. Jason broke his promise and destroyed the love between them, which was represented as the children to Medea. Since he broke the promise, she killed her children.
Medea probably had more than one reason to kill her children, but this is one of the most important reasons. The goal was to get rid of all of her memories of Jason, and she succeeded in doing this. She eliminated all her memories and her past with Jason completely.
Hate is as strong an emotion as love. Betrayal and despair can drive a person insane to the point of clouding their judgement. Well made argument.
Love is not just between a man and a woman. It’s also between a mother and a child, the purest ever. Killing her children is insane.