Playwrighting/narrative devices: tone words, symbols, images, characterisation of Jason,
Learn the adjectives and use also with quotes from Jason
Patronising; condescending; smug; haughty; disdainful; arrogant; belligerent; ; contemptuous of her (unctuous, chauvinistic and misogynistic)
85. Jason arrogantly refers to Medea as an “abomination” and a “lioness”. He angrily/dismissively states that she: “destroyed them (the children) because I chose to leave your bed”.
Euripides characterises Jason as cold-hearted (heartless, indifferent, detached, calculated and cool/ phlegmatic) and who patronises Medea as a foreigner of no worth. (She is often referred to in dehumanising terms. For example, she is “no woman, but a tiger”. She is an “abomination” and a “lioness”). The animal imagery recalls an irrational savage, who is governed by rage.
Jason sees Medea as a women suffering from sexual jealousy.
Jason uses “seamanship” imagery to suggest that he must become the “seasoned helmsman” and “trim the edges of my sail” in order to navigate or weather Medea’s emotional storm or tempestuous and “noisy protestations”.
According to Jason, he must become “like a seasoned helmsman”. He must “trim the edges of my sail to run before the tempest of your noisy protestations”. (64/525)
He contemptuously, (scornfully, patronisingly, condescendingly) downplays/ belittles her role in his success and believes that she “got more than you gave”. He attributes his success to Aphrodite; this enables him to distance himself from her and to show that he was not dependent upon a woman for his victory.
Jason’s attitude towards Medea and towards women:
The audience does not sympathise with Jason. He is cold-hearted and calculating. He downplays Medea’s sacrifice and rejects her in favour for a relationship that will bring royal status.
Views and values: – his attitude tramples upon people’s rights; exacerbates the differences between them; shows no respect for people’s rights; divides – leads to conflict and tension and promotes anger and resentment.
Euripides suggests that Jason is typical of those who are so self-conceited that they fail to anticipate the danger that lurks near them. His lack of perception and his lack of emotions lead to a catastrophic downfall.
Euripides suggests that a system that rejects emotions and human feelings cannot survive. Jason is presented as hypocritical because he is just as irrational and just as intransigent (fixed/unwilling to compromise) as Medea.
Euripides characterises Jason as a cold-hearted and condescending husband, who callously betrays Medea in order to gain royal favours. He pompously perpetuates (continues) the patriarchal system that gives priority to male choices and behaviour. He later agrees that Glauce ought to listen to him: “If my wife values me at all she will yield to me (965/ 46). “If I count for anything in my wife’s eyes, she will prefer me to wealth, I have no doubt” (75)
Whereas the Nurse is sympathetic towards Medea because of her grief, Jason focuses on her passionate side to belittle her and refers to “seamanship” imagery to suggest that he must navigate and weather Medea’s emotional storm. “I’ll furl all but an inch Of sail and ride it out.”
He praises Medea when she appears to change her mind for the better and have a change of heart: “This is how a sensible woman should behave” (74/44) He also reinforces the stereotypes relating to a scorned woman: “It is natural for a woman to feel angry against a husband when he deals in contraband” (74/44)
Jason criticises Medea: Whilst Medea appeals to the “women of Corinth” on matters relating to the intolerable status of women, Jason seeks to narrow the debate and focus on her personal grievances and sexual jealousy.
Even in his final comments, he, typically, continues to downplay the enormity of her pain: “You thought that reason enough to murder them, that I No longer slept with you” (59). As a result, he condemns her as an evil “savage”: “There is not one woman “In all Hellas” “who could have done it”.
Whilst he audaciously typecasts Medea as a traitor, he overlooks the fact that she compromised/sacrificed her family and her honour for Jason’s reward.
So supercilious is Jason, that he fails to anticipate the grisly deed, even though he shows an acute awareness of the fact that she is steeped in blood and that the origin of their relationship is marked by the sacrifice of family members. In this regard, Jason appears short-sighted. 1333 “When you boarded my fine ship Argo, had you not first shed your own brother’s blood in the home you shared? That was how your career began.” He refers to her as a “lioness” . Jason’s accusations reinforce the Nurse’s regret at the very beginning of the play that Medea did indeed sail on the Argo because of her love for Jason: “never would she have persuaded Pelias’ daughters to kill their husband and children”.
Not only does he appear cold-hearted and ruthless (and ambitious). He is also presented as hypocritical . When he says that he has brought Medea the boon of civilised “justice” the claim is compromised by the fact that he has broken oaths made to the gods. As the chorus points out, “the grace of sworn oaths is gone/Honour remains no more/In the wide Greek world but is flown to the sky”).
Narrative devices/ Symbols/ Quotes:
Jason smugly tells her, “you got far more Than you gave”.
Jason sees Medea as a women suffering from sexual jealousy. According to him, she suffers from ungovernable rage; she is intolerable and unreasonable because she does not realise the benefits to her and the sons of the marriage. He uses words to draw attention to Medea’s irrational and passionate outbursts, which do in part, reinforce the Nurse’s depiction of Medea at the beginning of the play. But whereas the Nurse is sympathetic towards Medea, Jason focuses on her passionate side to belittle her.
Euripides characterises Jason as cold-hearted (heartless, indifferent, detached, calculated and cool) and who patronises Medea as a foreigner of no worth. (She is “no woman, but a tiger”). The animal imagery recalls an irrational savage.
Jason uses “seamanship” imagery to suggest that he, patronisingly, must navigate Medea’s emotional storm
He contemptuously, (scornfully, patronisingly, condescendingly) downplays/ belittles her role in his success and believes that she “got more than you gave”. He attributes his success to Aphrodite; this enables him to distance himself from her and to show that he was not dependent upon a woman for his victory.
PROBLEMS WITH JASON
Jason -as the representative of the civilised world: Euripides constructs Jason in such a way that the audience has little or no sympathy for him at all.
He foolishly underestimates the power of Medea’s sacrifice and so does not foreshadow the terrible deed
He focuses more on materialistic aspects of the relationship and misunderstands Medea’s grievances.
Jason is arrogant, contemptuous, intransigent, blind-sided by the matter of the wife’s duty; he scorns Medea because of her defiance; he smugly clings to the belief that he alone defeated Cyclps and obtained the Golden Fleece; he later agrees that Glauce ought to listen to him: “If my wife values me at all she will yield to me (965/ 46). “If I count for anything in my wife’s eyes, she will prefer me to wealth, I have no doubt” (75)
We are struck by a singular cold-hearted streak in Jason, which Medea accurately recognises. “To me a wicked man who is also eloquent Seems the most guilty of them all.” In particular, he knows “he can dress up murder In handsome words”.
Phillip Vellacott notes in the introduction, “in the character of Jason a concern for civilised values is joined with a calculating coldness and an unscrupulous want of feeling.” He believes that one lesson of the play is that “civilised men ignore at their peril the world of instinct, emotion, and irrational experience”.
Medea abhors above all, Jason’s capacity for deception and his lack of honesty. “If you were honest, you ought first To have won me over, not got married behind my back” (34). And later, “a lying traitor’s gifts carry no luck”.
Whilst Medea has appealed to the “women of Corinth” on matters relating to the intolerable status of women, Jason seeks to narrow the debate and focus on her personal grievances and sexual jealousy. Even in his final comments, he, typically, continues to downplay the enormity of her pain: “You thought that reason enough to murder them, that I No longer slept with you” (59). As a result, he conveniently downplays her thirst for justice and condemns her as an evil “savage”: “There is not one woman “In all Hellas” “who could have done it”.
When he says that he has brought Medea the boon of civilised “justice” the claim is further compromised by the fact that he has broken oaths made to the gods. As the chorus points out, “the grace of sworn oaths is gone/Honour remains no more/In the wide Greek world but is flown to the sky”).
The emotional/irrational Jason : his problems
Euripides characterises Jason as a cold-hearted and condescending husband, who callously betrays Medea in order to gain royal favours. He pompously perpetuates (continues) the patriarchal system that gives priority to male choices and behaviour. He later agrees that Glauce ought to listen to him: “If my wife values me at all she will yield to me (965/ 46). “If I count for anything in my wife’s eyes, she will prefer me to wealth, I have no doubt” (75)
Whereas the Nurse is sympathetic towards Medea because of her grief, Jason focuses on her passionate side to belittle her and refers to “seamanship” imagery to suggest that he must navigate and weather Medea’s emotional storm. “I’ll furl all but an inch Of sail and ride it out.”
He has the audacity to level at Medea the charge of traitor: “When I brought you from your palace in a land of savages into a Greek home – you, a living curse, already A traitor both to your father and your native land”, and conveniently overlooks the fact that she sacrificed her honour for his reward.
His diatribe, in which he unleashes insults and threats at Medea, is testament to this: “polluted fiend, child-murderer”; “The curse of children’s blood be on you!
Avenging justice blast your being!” He marvels at his confounded choice of bride who has become a “Tuscan Scylla” “but more savage”. (58). He selfishly laments his own “childlessness”; which Medea concedes was not important to him prior to the murder.
CREON
Creon, the king, encourages the marriage and coerces Medea into submitting to their wishes, as presented as the law. He also then decides to banish her and her children. He thinks he is doing the right thing by the law.
Creon is contemptuous and harsh towards Medea, abruptly telling her, in no uncertain terms to leave. “Go, you poor wretch, and take all my troubles with you! Go1 (27)
Creon also concedes that she is a “clever woman, skilled in many evil acts”. ”You’re a clever woman,” Creon tells her, and admits that he fears one who is “quiet and clever” over a “woman of hot temper”.
Evidently, Euripides suggest, men distrust superior intelligence in general; they fear and hate it in a woman.
As it turns out, Creon is wary of Medea because she is “a clever women”, while the Chorus points out that “in fact women too have intelligence … not all of us, I admit; but a certain few you might perhaps find, in a large number of women – a few not capable of reflection”.
And indeed Medea outwits the King, begging for an extra day.
Medea appeals to Creon as a “father” and indeed he grants her, despite his best wishes, the extra day to make plans.
He notes: “I’m no tyrant by nature. My soft heart has often Betrayed me and I know it’s foolish of me now”
CONCLUSION As Aristotle states, her deed were done “knowingly and wittingly”.
Return to Medea: Study Page