I mull over the character of Medea. In the myth, Jason of the Argonauts goes to Colchis to retrieve the golden fleece once owned by Zeus a justification for stealing. Medea, the King of Colchis’ daughter, through her knowledge and magic, helps Jason. Her act betrays her father and her country and, as they flee to Greece, she kills her pursuing brother. Jason then uses Medea’s magic to gain power in his kingdom but doesn’t marry her. Later, when he sees an advantage, he marries the daughter of another Greek King.
Remember, this is a Greek story and every myth has a problem. Medea, the rejected woman who supported Jason, betrayed her family, moved to a new country, and produced two heirs, has in turn been betrayed. Think about Cinderella and what happened when her mother died and her father remarried. Medea understands her children have no value once the Queen produces heirs. What would you do to protect your children if you were in the same position? What we forget is to place the myth in context. When rivalry exists over who inherits a kingdom, murder is a common occurrence.
What can you do to protect your children if you can’t take them with you, or if they’re isolated in another part of the palace where you have limited access? Medea chooses options that have the greatest bearing on Jason. Medea, betrayed and filled with rage, enacts revenge, poisons the cloak she gives to her rival. Can anyone in the myth ever be innocent even the Queen? After killing her sons Medea flees. What options did Medea have to protect them? And at what point would you take their lives? When they were young or, capable of recognising their life had ended, as perhaps the two princes in the tower may have? Perhaps the choice she made was the most sympathetic to the situation.
In terms of betrayal, who or what did Medea betray? Her children, Jason, the kingdom that wasn’t hers and would never be as she was a foreigner? Or did she stay true to her values? Her commitment to Jason? And the protection of her children? Perhaps her act is a warning to those like Jason who betray, and the women who usurp another woman’s place, and to those who disrespect someone of another culture.
Is her condemnation through history because she was a sociopath, or because patriarchy expects women to nurture and sacrifice themselves while the men act with impunity? Zeus’ love child, Herakles, kills his wife and five children when the goddess Hera’s jealousy condemns him to madness. As a Greek and not a foreigner, when he wants to commit suicide his friend Theseus dissuades him. Herakles is redeemed through grief and reparation and, his 12 labours. Who supported Medea? We have little of her story for insight as the point of view is Greek but, we do learn of Jason’s ignominious end.
The myth becomes a warning and reveals the extent to which betrayal can devastate, but also remind us that out of context, any story can be misinterpreted.
Burnside Writers Group 