How Power Corrupts Medea To Acts Of Vengeance Essay, Research Paper

How Power Corrupts Medea To Acts Of Vengeance Euripides creates an effective representation of the way power corrupts in his tragedy “Medea”. The main character, Medea is led in the pursuit of power because she is initially powerless, and the oppression within which she lived as the wife of Jason lent itself to her defined need to create her own power. As a result, Medea is able to achieve power, especially against Jason, but not without an exorbitant cost: the lives of her two sons. The pursuit of power not only moves Medea into action, but also turns her from devoted mother and wife to wicked and vindictive murderess, and this transformation is a direct product of her perceived need for control. One of the major underlying reasons that Medea feels powerless in her life is the legal premise set by her society. Though her husband leaves her for the princess of Corinth, she cannot disregard him or his concerns, even in the midst of his desertion. As a result, Medea grows angry and hostile against Jason, not only because of his desertion, but also because of her lot in life. Medea, as a woman, struggles against her male husband, as well as the male-dominated structures of her society, and this conflict is the essential beginning of a chain reaction of her determinations. Medea’s search for a way to gain power drives her to vast acts of cruelty. Though she cannot become a man or take power like a man, she perceives her ability to create crimes like a man might, and seek vengeance with the same kind of forceful determination that a man would pursue an enemy. After Jason leaves, Medea’s first step is to plot a way of venging herself against those who initially crossed her, including the princess and her father, and she sends her two sons with gifts for the princess, poisoned so that they burn the princess and Kreon to death. This initial action, this first time that Medea takes control in a forceful and determined action, Medea feels her first moments of power. Though murder is not the only way in which a person can determine their personal control, it is one way of demonstrating power, and Medea found that this control strengthened her. At the same time, Medea was not completely happy with the way in which her actions affected Jason. Her belief that he did not suffer enough from the loss of his new wife convinces Medea of the need to continue seeking vengeance against him. Her search for vengeance appears to be a combination of her desires and her need to fight the restrictions of convention. Her struggle represents the struggles of most women, who constantly conflict with the roles determined by men. Euripides created the chorus as a means of support for Medea’s actions, though the chorus attempts to direct Medea towards restraint rather than murder. The power she gained from the first murders leads Medea in this route a second time. Medea not only perceives the need to seek continued vengeance against Jason, but also recognizes that her actions, the actions of a woman, could significantly change the course of life for a man. Her belief in her abilities to enact change suggest that she embraces many qualities of manhood, and this is demonstrated in her figurative attempt to be treated like a man. Though she may hope for it, even her most conniving actions could not transition her into a more

appropriate form of revenge. Medea’s choice demonstrates the extent to which power corrupted her, as well as the differing levels of roles she could embrace. Her decision to take the lives of her two sons is one painfully disguised avenue towards revenge. Though at first the reader believes that there is some common ground that can be had between Medea and Jason in regards to their children, Medea’s choices do not demonstrate this. The corruption of power, for Medea, is represented by her actions against her sons. Though few women could perceive of situation that would lead one to kill his own son, Medea finds strength in her perceptions of right and wrong and the need for revenge against Jason. Though her decision seems barbaric and without support, she must do the only thing she can believe will impact Jason’s life. Even in the creation of her own power and the belief in her need to continually invoke control over Jason in the midst of his treachery, Medea is still victimized by the control Jason holds over her life. Until she can break him and effectively create revenge, she is unable to put a stop to her personal feelings of condemnation and anger. Medea somehow believes that the answers to her personal feelings and conflicts will become evident by creating greater conflict and pain for Jason. The murder she commits, though her activities once were based primarily on the needs of her children, contains little concern for their lives, and focuses more consistently on the reactions of Jason. At some point in the work, perhaps in her dialogue with Aegeus, Medea loses sight of her female side, and instead almost transforms herself in her embrace of male characteristics. It is this change, this focus on male behaviors, that allows Medea to kill her children and find solace in the power she enacts against Jason. Though her anger is not dispelled by her actions, Medea herself feels particularly powerful. The conflict that is essential to the downfall of both Jason and Medea is one that is faced by many individuals, the conflict between man and woman. This essential conflict leads Medea to her need for power and her decision that she will do anything to gain control. It is not within Jason’s control to understand Medea’s purpose, though after the death of the princess and Kreon, Jason should have understood the lengths at which Medea would go to protect her interests and her personal power. The control and the power presented by Euripides and embraced by Medea are not related to the type of control that can be expressed within compassionate interactions. Instead, Euripides presents a more insidious side by demonstrating that Medea could not only kill the king and princess, but could find willingness towards action in the murders of her children. Jason, even in his last moments, had no way of comprehending the situational elements that affected Medea’s actions. Her overwhelming need for power, need for control in light of social restraints and her husband’s control, led Medea to the point at which she could perceive murder as an option in revenge. Power, for Medea, is not only the ability to enact change, but the perceptions, made by others, that determined her need for action. By understanding that Jason committed crimes of fidelity that Medea could not justify, Medea was oppressed by the guidelines of society as well as the guidelines of her personal determinations. The same power that led Medea to action against the princess and king and also led to the murder of her sons, was created through Medea’s perceptions of her personal power. Though this power wavered from time to time, it is clear that Medea was corrupted by this same element that once restrained her.