Examples Of Insanity In Medea

Insanity. What is the definition of insanity? In Medeaby Euripides, Medea possessmoments of insanity. She is notcompletely insane,but she does kill six people. Prior to this play, she kills her brother, Absyrtus. Along with killing her brother, she indirectly kills Pelias. In Medea, she kills Creon (Creusa’sfather), Creusa, and both of her children.In some of these murders she wasmore involvedthan others. For example, she physically stabbed her two children, but she hadPelias’daughters kill him. Either way murder is murder. It’s the act of deliberately ending another person’slife. However, Medea was blindsided by her love and later hate of Jasonwhich can justify her actions. For starters, Medea killed her brothernot out of rage and hate for

It was not premeditated at all. Along with killing her brother, she indirectly killedPelias. She toldhis daughters that if they were to dismembertheir father’s body while he was sleeping, he would be rejuvenated.However, the daughters soon realizedthat they had just slaughtered their father and he would forever be departedfrom their lives(as stated in the footnotes). Medea also mentions this to Jason when they are talking abouthow Medea helped himtoget the Golden Fleece. She exclaims, “I got your enemy Peliashacked to death byhis own daughters’ hand” (Euripides 98).She did notnecessarilyhave any grudges againstPelias, but Pelias had killed Jason’s father and took the thrown. He also caused Jason’s mother’sdeath through grief. This gave Medea her motive for having Pelias killed. Itwas a moment of insanity because even though she hadPelias killed,she is not in a constant murderous state.She wasjust assistingJasoningettingthe Golden Fleece and she woulddo whatever she hadto to get it. The previous murders were committedbecause of her blind love for Jasonforced upon her by Venus, agoddess. She did not have any premeditated murdersduring this time. She purelykilled them to get what she neededor more so, what Jason needed. It was a solitarymoment of insanity. The next four murders, however, were committedbecause the death of these people would crush Jason emotionally. Euripides used

She really had no reason to kill these people and did not necessarily plan on killing them. Medea knew what she was doing but either loved or loathed Jason so much that she was not thinking properly which resulted insix deaths. She simply had a few moments of insanity over the course of her trying to cope with her emotions. What is considered to be true