Manipulation In Medea And Confessions By Euripides

Motive Manipulation in Minato’s Confessions and Euripides's play Medea When broken down to the simplest definition, motive could be “a reason for doing something”. This feels too simple as motive has been repeatedly shown to be directly related to manipulation in revenge stories. Motive has been proven to be directly linked to psychological components and said to be, even more generally, “a state of mind”. This idea that motive and manipulation are directly related is shown in Euripides's play Medea and Kanae Minato’s novel Confessions. Medea and Confessions are similar in the way that the avenger uses those around them to their advantage, but differ in their motive and how manipulation is used. Motive and manipulation are directly linked

By taking a more objective view of the play, it becomes apparent that Medea’s actions could be argued to be worse than Jason’s because of the way that she manipulates and uses those around her. Her preliminary manipulations are focused on the King of Corinth after he banishes Medea and her children. Even though the king must know that Medea has spoken ill of his house and has killed before, Medea is still able to convince him to let her and her children remain in Corinth for another day. Medea does this by cunningly using Kreon’s family morals to her advantage, saying, “Pity them – you, too, are a father, / so naturally you would favor children” (344-45) and directly after she says this, the king allows her to stay in Korinth for another day, “Although I see I am making a mistake, woman, / you shall succeed in your request” (350-51). Readers can see how clever Medea is, as Kreon claims at the beginning of their conversation, “You waste words. You will never persuade me,” (325) but fails to realize his mistake as Medea has emotionally manipulated him into giving her enough time to carry out her revenge against Jason and Kreon’s family, making the king apart of the fate of Medea’s children. Kreon tells Medea what he fears she will do if she says, but still allows her to stay against his better judgment, showing how

Aigeus opens up easily to Medea about his desire for children, possibly leading Medea to believe that he will take sympathy for her troubles because he has strong family values, which she exploits in her request for sanctuary in Athens. It seems that Medea uses her emotional turmoil to her advantage as well because Aigeus asks, “But why is your face so gaunt? And your eyes?” (659). This is interesting though because readers know that Medea is capable of being composed because, after all her talk of suicide and a broken heart, she enters scene two with a monologue about the unfair treatment of women in a very calm, composed manner. Medea uses Aigeus’s needs against him and his feelings towards her to her advantage, and he responds, “Woman, I am eager to grant this favor to you for many reasons, and for the gods first of all. Then for your promise of children – on that matter, I am utterly lost” (719-22), and readers can see he almost immediately agrees to help Medea. Medea’s manipulation of the King of Korinth, Aigeus, and her children shows how emotionally manipulative. Medea uses manipulation to seal the fate of her children from the moment she hands them the poisoned