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Mary Claire Brown
Dr. Joan Kennedy
English 2332
14 April 2009
Selfishness Masked as Selflessness
The Greek playwright Euripides explores in his tragic drama Medea the story of a
woman scorned by her husband Jason, who leaves her for another woman. However,
the woman for whom he leaves her happens to be the King of Corinth’s daughter.
Medea cannot accept the betrayal that Jason has bestowed upon her, and the
aftermath of his abandonment begins to take its toll on her. As the story unfolds, we see
the emotional roller coaster that Medea experiences as she realizes that not only is she
left alone with her two boys, but she is to be banished from Corinth. We see the
interaction between Medea and Jason, and it becomes clear that they are both very
egocentric beings. However, they both tend to disguise their selfishness with
selflessness, which becomes evident throughout the play.
The first example of Medea’s selfishness emerges at the beginning of the play.
Medea is basking in pity as she mourns the loss of her husband. Although it is assumed
that she is not the only one who is sad (her boys and the ladies will surely be affected,
as well), she makes the abandonment all about her. She says, “Ah, I have suffered what
should be wept for bitterly. I hate you, children of a hateful mother. I curse you and your
father. Let the whole house crash” (111-114). She directs her anger and despair toward
anyone who will listen. Even Medea’s nursemaid notices her instability and challenges
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her on the absurd claim when she states: “How can your children share in their father’s
wickedness? Why do you hate them?...tempers are terrible, always having their own
way, seldom checked, dangerous they shift from mood to mood” (116-121). Although
Medea is clearly selfish by making everything all about her and casting the blame, she
is quick to turn things around to paint herself in a selfless light. When Kreon (King of
Corinth) comes to tell her that she is to leave and be banished, she uses her boys to
beg for mercy. She begs Kreon, “Have pity on them! You have children of your own. It is
natural for you to look kindly on them. For myself I do not mind if I go into exile. It is the
children being in trouble that I mind” (341-344). We soon learn that she is not really
looking out for the boys’ best interests, so it is obvious that she is using the children to
get what she wants.
Jason is also an extremely selfish being who tries to play himself off as selfsacrificing. When he comes to visit Medea he tells her that he comes “to make some
provision…so that [Medea] and the children may not be penniless or in need of anything
in exile. Certainly exile brings many troubles with it. And even if [Medea] hates [Jason],
[he] cannot think badly of [her]” (449-453). He later goes on to say to Medea: “I call the
gods to witness that I wish to help you and the children in every way, but you refuse
what is good for you. Obstinately you push away your friends” (607-610). Jason acts as
though he is doing Medea a favor by “helping” her in exile, while it is obvious that he is
simply looking to boost his own ego, while he selfishly leaves his family for another
woman and power. He is not a benevolent man.
Medea is constantly reminding Jason how she saved his life, and every Greek
knows it (464). Even the chorus sings that Medea “sailed away from [her] father’s home”
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(420). Medea cries out in despair: “Oh, my father! Oh, my country! In what dishonor I
left you, killing my own brother for it” (164-165). Although she had saved Jason’s life
and given up much to do so, Medea seems to brag about it and seek credit for her
“noble” acts. Likewise, Jason later goes on to claim that he passed over many better
Greek women in order to marry Medea (1314-1316). However, he probably only married
her because she was able to save his life. They both want credit for their “selfless” acts
in the past, but it seems as though they both did them for selfish reasons.
Medea asks Jason to come back to her home in order to make amends and plea
one last time for mercy. She asks for forgiveness for her actions (845) and also sends
her two sons back with Jason to the Corinth kingdom in order to beg Kreon’s daughter
one last time not to banish them. She gives her boys her beautiful, golden garments,
which were passed down to her from the god Helios (930-931). She acts as if she is
being extremely generous in giving away her most valued possession, but we later find
out that the garments are poisoned. Therefore, her intentions are selfish. Once Kreon’s
daughter receives the garments, she is poisoned to death (1165-1177). Medea only
pretends to make peace in order to make Jason, Kreon, and the Kingdom of Corinth
suffer.
When Jason comes back to see Medea before returning to the kingdom, he
pretends to forgive her and sympathize with her for a second. He acts as if she is doing
the right thing by wanting what is “best for the boys,” and he thanks her for sending gifts
to the kingdom. Jason says: “…I cannot blame you even for what you said before. It is
natural for a woman to be wild with her husband when he goes in for secret love. But
now your mind has turned to better reasoning” (884-888). He seems happy with Medea
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for a moment, but he really just wants her off his back so that he can reign over his new
kingdom with his new bride.
Finally, Medea does the most selfish act of all – she kills her own two children.
The chorus sings: “Vain waste, your care of children; was it in vain you bore the babes
you loved, after you passed the inhospitable strait between the dark blue rocks,
Symplegades? O wretched one, how has it come, the anger on your heart, this cruel
bloody mind?” (1235-1241). Medea tells Jason: “The children are dead. I say this to
make you suffer” (1345). She then says: “I loved [the children], you did not” (1373).
Medea tries to justify her wretched murder by claiming she wants Jason to suffer. By not
“wasting time, to suffer [her] children” (1211), Medea almost thinks she is doing the
boys a courtesy by killing them quickly with the sword and not letting them suffer and
slowly die. Medea’s thoughts are sick and twisted, yet she tries to turn all of her selfish
actions into “selfless” deeds.
Medea is a tragic story of two lovers who cannot live with each other and cannot
live without each other. Unfortunately, other people suffer at the expense of their selfish
actions. Medea and Jason both demonstrate throughout the play that they are
egocentric people, and they both act selfishly on multiple occasions. However, neither
of them seem to see that they are selfish and continue to build themselves up as selfsacrificing. The end of the story demonstrates that they are both tragically wrong.
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Works Cited
Euripides. Medea. Trans. Rex Warner. The Norton Anthology of World Literature.
Ed. Maynard Mack et al. 2nd ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2002.
3 Vols. 693-725. Print.