Saturday, October 12, 2019

Erinyes and Medea

We have talked about The Furies very briefly in English while discussing Oedipus. So to refresh, The Furies are "infernal goddesses" that punish humans for crimes if there is no earthly justice. There are three of them, Alecto (punisher of moral crimes), Megaera (punisher of liars and infidelity) and Tisiphone (punisher of murderers). They are embodiments of karma and the self-hatred and guilt of committing crimes. Now in reading Oedipus Rex and Medea I couldn't help but wonder why the Furies were not used within the plays. Aeschylus wrote The Oresteia and there's a whole part of the story centered around the Furies torturing Orestes for the crime of matricide. In Oedipus they call upon the Furies to torture the murderer of Laius, not knowing it's Oedipus. However, they never show to enact the supernatural justice because there is no need to. Oedipus just stabs his eyes out and leaves while Jocasta hangs herself so why would they need to write them in. In reading Medea I had an "AHA" moment and did a quick google search. Medea herself basically becomes the Fury Megaera, punishing Jason for his infidelity by killing Glauce and Jasons Children. It wasn't a random act of passion but a very well calculated plan. She didn't just want Jason to suffer but Glauce as well, hence the poison dress and crown. Plus she "accidentally" killed Kreon, so points for efficiency?

Was what Medea did to Jason wrong? debatable.
 Did it get the point across? Yes.
Moral of the story: don't cheat on anyone because they might just poison your spouse and kill your children.

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