I don’t think I could sympathize with Medea because she makes such rash and radical decisions. Her husband did leave her for another women but she was a barbarian woman. He left for material reasons and still offered to provide support to her, however, that is his karma not hers. He may not have made the right decisions but she let her jealousy over power her. It is unfair for her to murder her children because of her husband's actions. She should love them wholeheartedly and want to protect them from any further loss.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Sympathy for Medea?
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5 comments:
I don’t sympathize with Medea at all either. Even though her husband betrays her after she has devoted her life to him, her violent, erratic behavior is unforgivable. Jason's transgressions against his wife may justify some degree of revenge against him, but they leave no excuse for her to kill her children. That element causes me to despise her and not sympathize with her in the least bit. That act of violence is inexpicable and completely irrational.
I agree with you both, but there is still a part of me that feels a small amount of sympathy for her. At the start of the drama, I couldnt help but feel bad for Medea because she had done so much to be with Jason, but that ended up being all for nothing. So, I do feel the slightest bit of sympathy for her but as the drama unfolds her radical decisions make her seem like a character who got what she deserved.
I hardly feel sympathetic towards Medea because her goal is to destroy her husband at any cost. She aims to break Jason's heart and accomplishes this by killing the one thing that he truly loves, his children. However, there is a small glimmer of sympathy for her, only because her heart was broken first. She gave everything up to be with Jason, only for him to divorce her.
I find that it is much easier to sympathize with Jason than with Medea simply because Medea doesn't fit the form of a tragic hero. Yes, her state is lamentable, but she takes revenge against her husband. It is difficult for me to feel sympathy for anybody who carries out an act of revenge. Ultimately, Medea has learned nothing, and she accepts the sacrifice she makes. However, Jason has experienced recognition and reversal. He has lost everything and learned the error of his ways, so the reader can readily sympathize with him.
Irrational characters are not intended to pull strong emotions from an audience. For this basic reason, I do not pity Medea in the least. As the play progresses, the audience can take note of her change in character. She betrayed her family for the unselfish desire out of passionate love. But the more her sense of being wronged increases, the more Medea develops madness in thought which she then shows through action. And ultimately, her actions are so beyond normal standards of human reasoning and logic that the audience should not feel pity for her. She has become a selfish character, taking pride in her success at conflicting pain in revenege through such drastic matters.
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