Medea: A Woman Scorned
Lucius Annaeus Seneca authored the play Medea. A Roman philosopher and statesman, he was also known as Seneca the Younger. Seneca was born to wealthy parents in Corduba, Spain in c. 4 bce. His father, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Lucius the Elder) was a famous Roman teacher of rhetoric, and his mother, Helvia, was known for her character and education. As a young boy in Rome, Lucius the Younger trained as an orator, and was educated in philosophy. He was known as one of Rome’s most intellectual figures, developing a career in both politics and law. Seneca the Younger died in 65ce while in Rome, Italy. This particular play written by Seneca the Younger, is a melodramatic tragedy which takes place in a single day. It is written about Medea, a woman scorned by her husband, Jason the Argonaut. Jason is about to take a new bride, named Creusa, who happens to be the daughter of Creon, the King of Corinth. On this tragic day, Medea, feeling abandoned, is brooding about the upcoming nuptials between Jason and Creusa, and vows revenge.
Medea curses Jason and begins to plot the most painful of attacks on him. She plans an act of ultimate revenge upon Jason for his lack of faithfulness
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She begins by offering the first son as a sacrifice. Jason reaches the home and finds her on the roof with both the slain son and the living. He begs Medea to spare the life of the other child saying, “And yet, I pray thee, let one sacrifice atone.”(526) Medea answers him swiftly and immediately by killing the other son. A chariot pulled by dragons appears from the heavens. In a last act of defiance, Medea hurls the bodies of their children down toward Jason, and escapes in the chariot. Jason then concludes that wherever Medea was whisked away to, there simply cannot be any gods present. Leaving Jason devastated, Medea has at last unleashed her final assault on him, revenge was