Okay, so as a class we pretty much agreed that Medea doesn't really contain peripeteia (reversal of fortune). However, the plot does seem to turn in a cycle, as a few people have already alluded to in their posts.
For example, at the end of the play, we once more see Medea fleeing a country after committing murder. The first time, she is fleeing Colchis, her homeland, and has killed her brother. The second time, she is fleeing her new home, Corinth, after killing King Kreon, Glauce, and her two children. But wait! There's more!
In my research on Medea and Jason, I came across some interesting facts. After flying off on her magical sun chariot, Medea gets to Athens and actually ends up marrying King Aegeus (the guy who made an oath to shelter her in Athens if she could get to Athens without his help). She releases him of his childbearing worries when they have a son named Medus. Then, Theseus, Aegeus' long-lost son, comes along; although Theseus and Aegeus don't recognize each other, Medea realizes who Theseus is. Feeling threatened, she attempts to poison him, but her plan is foiled at the last second by Aegeus, and Medea and her son Medus have to escape from Athens.
So, not only does Medea not receive retribution for her crimes in Corinth, she actually repeats her story.
Step 1: Kill family members, flee
Step 2: Find a guy to marry, have kids
Step 3: Feel provoked/betrayed/threatened
Step 4: Kill or attempt to kill husband's kid (in Corinth, her own children as well; in Athens, what amounts to her stepson)
Step 5: Flee
Hey, at least this time she didn't kill her own child again!
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The idea of cycles is definitely present in the story Medea, and when thinking about cycles I immediately think back to One Hundred Years of Solitude, which makes for an interesting comparison. The way Medea's actions seem to repeat as a result of her character seems similar to how the Buendias seem fated to take some of their own actions. Also, in thinking about this comparison, one thing that comes to mind is Melquiadez's texts that tell the story of the Buendias in a sort of prophecy reminiscent of the prophecy from Oedipus. Much like with Oedipus, the story of the Buendias is already written down, do they have control over their own actions? At some points in the novel, there is a feeling that they aren't really and that their fates are already determined by their family history and historical circumstances. While the Greek tragedies are obviously very different from the Marquez novel and the cyclical nature of the world or people's actions is a very broad theme, I still think it's interesting to compare these works.
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