Medea And Jason Analysis

Of all the various translations of the interaction between Jason and Medea, from the play “Medea”, the translation by Warner most strongly reinforces the harsh and severe mannerism between the two. Jason and Medea are manipulative towards one another and use their condescending tactics to victimize themselves and villainize the other. They are selfish in their fragile relationship in that they turn on the other to get what they want from the relationship. In Medea’s case, she wants her ideology of a husband, since this is what she has been accustomed to her whole life and how society has taught her to believe is normal. Jason however, wants whoever he is currently lusting for, who at this time is not Medea, and he will make her out to be anything

Euripides’ writing of the relationship between Medea and Jason emphasizes the uncertainty the reader has about who of the two is the protagonist versus the antagonist. According to the Warner translation, Medea has “given [Jason] the safety of the light”, amplifying her kindness and portraying Jason as ungracious of her kindly ‘gift’ by giving to him what he needs. The Johnston translation implies that Medea aided him to safety rather than given him safety, as it says Medea “raised the light which rescued [Jason] from death”. This makes it seem as though the light was the one that saved him, and focuses more on the importance of the light as opposed to the importance of Medea. Both of these quotes indicate Jason 's lack of gratefulness to Medea 's kind doings, and portray Jason as lazy and uncaring. This is a clear example of Medea manipulating Json into thinking that she has done everything for him and that without her help he would’ve been in a much worse situation. This tactic was used by Medea in hopes that Jason would further rely on her to ‘save’