![]() Euripides introduced psychological realism into ancient Greek drama through characters like Medea, whose motives are confused, complex, and ultimately driven by passion. However, her need for revenge overpowers her love for her children, and she ruthlessly kills diem. A chorus of Corinuhian women sympathize with Medea but attempt to dissuade her from acting on her anger. In one of literature’s most intensely emotional scenes, Medea debates with herself whether to spare her children for her own love’s sake or to kill them in order to punish her husband completely. ![]() Euripides takes the myth into a new direction by having Medea purposely stab her children to death in order to deprive Jason of all he loved (as well as heirs that would carry on his name). One variation of the myth says that Medea then accidentally kills her two sons by Jason while trying to make them immortal. Medea takes revenge by killing the new bride and her father, the King of Corinth. ![]() There Jason falls in love with the local princess, whose status in the city will bring Jason financial security. In the myth, after retrieving the golden fleece Jason brings his foreign wife to settle in Corinth. ![]() ![]() Euripides’s Medea (431 B.C.) adds a note of horror to the myth of Jason and Medea. ![]()
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