Medea a Tragic Hero Term Paper

Medea relates a story about the power of love, which induces sacrifice as well as jealousy and feelings of revenge aroused by betrayal. Medea, the principal character, is a woman, who is so smitten by her love for Jason that she forsakes her family, country and people to live in "...the land of Corinth with her husband and children, where her exile found favour with the citizens to whose land she had come...."

Medea never even realizes the value of maintaining a strong bond with family and country till she is betrayed by Jason's marrying the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth: "...and softly to herself bemoans her father dear, her country and her home, which she gave up to come hither with the man who now holds her in dishonour. She, poor lady, hath by sad experience learnt how good a thing it is never to quit one's native land."

Medea realizes her plight in a foreign land since the option of returning to the comfort of her own family and country is also closed to her: "O my father, my country, that I have left to my shame, after slaying my own brother." In these agonized words of Medea, one sees the extent of her passion for Jason, a passion that drove her to not just leave her own family and country but to murder that brought shame both on herself and her family. Quite obviously, therefore, unlike many women who always have the option of returning to the refuge of their parental home, Medea is left to fend for herself when her husband betrays her: "...but I am destitute, without a city, and therefore scorned by my husband, a captive I from a foreign shore, with no mother, brother, or kinsman in whom to find a new haven of refuge from this calamity."

The implications of Medea's plight goes beyond the fact that her own home is no longer an option that she can turn to. Firstly, the manner of her forsaking her own family, people and country implies a loss in status as a loved and protected daughter and sister. The loss in status and reputation is, in fact, far deeper when one considers the shame of her slaying her own brother and further beguiling "...the daughters of Pelias to slay their father and come here to live in the land of Corinth...The second way that Medea loses class status is the shame and humiliation she undergoes when Jason forsakes her for the daughter of Creon: "From the house I have come forth, Corinthian ladies, for fear lest you be blaming me.... Of all things that have life and sense we women are the most hapless creatures.... For divorce is not honorable to women...."On a third level, she faces a further loss in status with Creon's banishment of….....