n the play Medea by Euripides we are presented with a woman who is about to go into exile with her two children. Her husband has left her for another and now Medea wants revenge. She does this by way of gifts and their destructiveness is conveyed through the fact that she destroys everything that ties her to Jason except Jason himself. The biggest sacrifice Medea had to make was killing her children. She knew that she would not be able to win Gluace over on her side if she was to present the gifts, but her children would be much more appealing as they are a symbol of a new relationship due to their inability of causing harm. By sacrificing her children she is giving away the only thing they had in common. Medea speaks to her children before sending them off and tells them "your father took away your chance of happiness. We see that Medea knows that this will hurt Jason and reflect how much he hurt her. Moreover, it conjures up the idea that she is getting rid of all ties with Jason as she tells him, "you were never going to shame our bed and lead a pleasant life and laugh at me so he can be left to hurt on his own just like he left Medea. …show more content…
That is what makes Medea's gift even more destructive. Her gifts were supposed to be acts of kindness and appreciation as well as cultural norms. Medea even stresses the point of reciprocation by stating that "to save my children from exile I would give up not only gold but my life Medea's indifference about losing her children and defying cultural norms shows how extreme the gifts she gave were.
There is no doubt that the gifts Medea gave were of high value and worth. This is because not only are the gifts very luxurious, Medea is the daughter of the king in Colchis and is