Similarities Between Jason And Medea

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Both Jason and Medea are selfish, looking to further their own desires using any means at their disposal; Jason breaks his oath and abandons Medea, while Medea embarks on a brutal revenge. Initially, Jason seems rational; exercising a calm manner in presenting his case to Medea, however unlike Medea Jason lacks the ability to foresee how others will behave. Contrastingly, Medea appears to be savage in nature, overpowered by her emotions. However she is shown to be clever and cunning, capable of manipulating others to serve her interests. Although her underlying motive is passionate revenge, she proves to be highly skilled and calculating in executing her vicious plan. Thus it is inaccurate to portray Medea as totally irrational; Medea encapsulates …show more content…

The chorus commends him “Jason, you have set your case forth very plausibly” when he tries to justify his motives. Jason claims that he was “not swayed by passion”, but rather driven by care and concern for Medea and their children. Yet it seems that Jason is motivated by hubris in abandoning Medea for a ‘royal bed’ and indeed he underestimates her violent reaction. Moreover, Jason reveals that he is insensitive to Medea’s feelings, ironically urging her to “be more sensible”. Jason is blind to Medea’s vengeful nature, failing to learn from past experience. HERE. He wrongly assumes that Medea will “change [her] mind” and learn to accept Jason’s marriage. Jason’s gullibility is apparent when he believes Medea’s insincere apology without questioning Medea’s intentions. Jason would like to believe Medea has “had wiser thoughts” revealing his naiveté. This failure to evaluate Medea’s intentions and outrage is what makes Jason a less reasonable character than he first appears to …show more content…

Medea, similarly to Jason is selfish; more interested in fulfilling her own desires than the well-being of her children. Her hubris inspires her to kill in order to avoid being ‘laughed at’ by her ‘enemies’, Medea says that ‘the laughter of my enemies I will not endure’, choosing passionate revenge instead of her love for her children. Medea is quick to compose herself; instantly transforming from a miserable victim to confident with full intent of seeking vengeance. Medea unlike Jason has foresight and is able to see how things will turn out, when planning her revenge she covers all the possibilities by arranging for one more day to exact her revenge, a method of escape and sanctuary in Athens. Medea does this by cleverly manipulating the three male characters in the play, Jason, Creon and Aegeus. Medea bases her motivations on passion rather than reason; however her plan is well executed and cleverly thought out, Medea is an intelligent character which unlike Jason is capable of accurate

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