“Jason may not excite the sympathy of the audience as a character but it is he, rather than Medea, who suffers the greatest injustice.” Discuss
In the majority of other circumstances, we would in general feel more sympathetic towards the person who has been treated the more unjustly. It undoubtedly seems right that the person who has suffered the most wrong should in fact be the one to acquire the most sympathy. But in the case of Euripides’ famous Greek tragedy Medea this rule of thumb is not at all apparent. In this extant play, we notice a contradiction to the above rule. No longer are we supporting the character that obviously has suffered the greater pain, but the character who is the main cause of that pain.
Can justice, a term simply implying ‘righteousness’, be measured? How can it truly be decided that one character or person has suffered the greater injustice? It seems that justice is a term loosely based on ones morals and what one thinks is correct. This will ultimately differ slightly from person to person.
Jason in this play does not at all excite the sympathy of the audience. This can be put down to his portrayal (or lack of) by Euripides. For one thing, he does not enter the stage until page 32. This leaves plenty of time for other characters to speak their minds as to what they think of Jason before the audience even gets a peek at the character. Euripides uses this time brilliantly by introducing biased accounts of the events leading up to the present. By reading the first few pages of the play, we already have our mind-set against Jason. We already think that he is an immoral character who deserves all that’s coming to him. All this has been decided on the basis of the testimony of two characters (the nurse and the tutor) who are obviously prejudiced against Jason. “…He is guilty; he has betrayed those near and dear to him” (Nurse P.19).
The Review on Character And Theme Analysis Of Great Expectations
Book Report Themes Great Expectations depicts a young man's search for identity. It is a story revolving around the life of this one man, Phillip Pirrip, known throughout the story as Pip to the reader. It shows the important events in Pip's life from the time he was seven years old until his mid-thirties that shaped who he would become. Along the way, he meets a variety of friends and ...
This line alone fully denounces Jason as culpable. And because we have no other viewpoint to base our judgement on we already see Jason as a felon and a betrayer. Also when he finally does make his debut onto the stage, he is not a very likable character. He is somewhat ignorant of why he is loathed (“…you would approve if you could govern your sex-jealousy”(Jason P.34)) and exceptionally egotistical (“…my action was wise, not swayed by passion.”(Jason P.33)).
How can we be expected so sympathize with such a character?
But the question here is who genuinely suffered the greater injustice? To find the answer we ought to look at the play completely void of emotion, as injustice has nothing to do with the passion invoked in us by the characters.
Medea suffered two major injustices. The first and the main one was being deceived and betrayed by her husband Jason. This is the basis of the whole play. But is this a huge injustice? Was this act not common in the ancient Greek times? The chorus by saying “…the thing is common, why let it anger you?”(Chorus P.22) thinks so. The other so-called injustice was being banished from Corinth. But was that really unjust? Did Medea not plan to kill the daughter of the king of Corinth? And like all fathers, doesn’t Creon have the right to protect his own daughter? So it can be argued that being banished from Corinth was not an unjust act. Rather an act brought about by the hysterics of an irritated woman. Medea begets the banishment onto herself. So in reality the only injustice directed at Medea was the unfaithfulness of her husband, which was in-fact common in those times.
Now onto Jason. What injustice has he suffered? What pain did he have to go through? Firstly Medea poisoned his second wife and father in law! Isn’t murder the worst crime conceivable? Isn’t murder the pit of human morality? Lower than even infidelity? Is there any excuse what so ever for murder? In today’s society, with the exception of insanity, the answer would be no. No excuse is large enough to condone taking another’s life. And if ancient Greek society were as civilised as they made out, then they would have agreed. Finally he had to suffer the death of his children. If we were not sure before, Aegeus’ speech (“…to ask for children; that my seed may become fertile.”(Aegeus P.37)) reveals to us that children, especially boys, were very important to Greeks. Yet Jason outlived his own children due to the selfish anger of his first wife at being abandoned. If murder was bad, then the execution of innocent children must be the most unscrupulous deed possible. As Jason once said he “…(has been) dogged and thwarted by misfortune”(Jason P.33).
The Term Paper on Jason Medea Children One
It seems that the nearly all critics of Medea are unanimous in one prominent feature of the play alone, and that is in their immense abhorrence for Jason. Kit to says 'In him (Jason) it is impossible to find anything that is not mean, while Lucas says 'Jason is utterly selfish, and utterly unconscious of his selfishness'. It is hard to find anything kind about Jason as on face value he is such an ...
Compared to Jason, Medea had it easy.
But his chastisement does not stop there. If Medea were castigated for the crimes she had committed then the pain within Jason would have been milder. But not only did she get away with her heinous crimes, but was also aided by a divine presence, her grandfather, the Sun God. Does this denote that if you have the right associations and bloodline, then you can get away with slaughtering your own children? Some might argue that Medea suffered more from this act than Jason. But Medea brought that suffering onto herself. It was her hand, controlled by her malevolent mind, which sent the sword striking at the defenceless children. She was not required to slay them, but did it willingly to get revenge! Jason on the other hand was not even allowed to bury his own sons. His one wish was denied him as he was forced to watch the bloodied bodies fly away, while his life, his plans and his happiness, disintegrated around him. His unheroic death is even forecast “…You…shall die an unheroic death, your head shattered by a timber from the Argo’s hull”(Medea P.60) to make sure the rest of his life remains hell.
Days before he had committed an act of foolishness by leaving his wife in hope of providing a better life for his children and himself. Days before he had made one simple mistake. But now, his life was over. He had nowhere to go, no place to weep and no friends to stand by him.
The Term Paper on Medea Jason Creon Children
... two sons or not. Although this will hurt Jason, Medea cares more for her children then Jason ever did. The conflicting arguments is if ... of suffering that will end in a pitifully death without any distinction. Medea flees ... Medea boards the chariot of Heli us, drawn by dragons, with the bodies of their children. She once again curses Jason to a life ...
Yes, Jason has suffered the greater injustice! But even the gods cannot sympathise with him.
“…punishment is in itself evil.”
-Jeremy Bentham (1789)
