Character Analysis | Medea
MEDEA
JASON
CHILDREN
CHORUS
CREON
GLAUCE
AEGEUS
MESSENGER
NURSE
TUTOR
- Protagonist of the play.
- A sorceress and a princess.
- Medea's homeland is Colchis, an island in the Black Sea, which the Greeks considered the edge of the earth, a territory of barbarians.
- The play pens with Jason having divorced Medea and taken up with a new family.
- The play charts Medea's emotional transformation, a progression from suicidal despair to sadistic fury.
- She eventually avenges Jason's betrayal with a series of murders, concluding with the deaths of her own children.
- Famously, the pleasure of watching Jason suffer their loss outweighed her own remorse at killing them.
JASON
- Can be considered the play's villain, though his evil stems more from weakness than strength.
- A former adventurer.
- He abandons his wife, Medea, in order to marry Glauce, the beautiful young daughter of Creon, King of Corinth. He does this as he hopes to advance his station through this second marriage.
- Jason is a tactless self-interest and whiny character, whose rationalisations of his own actions make him a weak and an unsympathetic character.
CHILDREN
- The offspring of Jason and Medea.
- They are presented as naïve and oblivious to the intrigue that surrounds them.
- Medea uses them as pawns in the murder of Glauce and Creon, and then kills them in the play's culminating horror.
- Their innocent deaths provide the greatest element of pathos, the tragic emotion of pity in the play.
CHORUS
- Composed of the women of Corinth.
- They chiefly serves as commentators to the action, although they occasionally engage directly in the dialogue.
- The chorus members fully sympathize with Medea's plight, accepting her eventual decision to murder her own children.
CREON
- The King of Corinth.
- Creon banishes Medea from the city.
- Although a minor character, Creon's suicidal embrace of his dying daughter provides one of the play's most dramatic moments.
GLAUCE
- Daughter of Creon, Glauce is the young, beautiful princess for whom Jason abandons Medea.
- Her acceptance of the poisoned coronet and dress as "gifts" leads to the first murder of the play.
- Although she never utters a word, Glauce's presence is constantly felt as an object of Medea's jealousy.
AEGEUS
- The King of Athens.
- He passes through Corinth after having visited the Oracle at Delphi, where he sought a cure for his sterility. Medea offers him some fertility-inducing drugs in exchange for sanctuary in Athens.
- His appearance marks a turning point in the play, for Medea moves from being a passive victim to an aggressor after she secures his promise of sanctuary.
MESSENGER
- The messenger appears only once in the play.
- He relates in gruesome, vivid detail the death scenes of Glauce and Creon, which occurs offstage.
NURSE
- Caretaker of the house, the nurse of the children serves as Medea's confidant.
- Her presence is mainly felt in the play's opening lament and in a few speeches addressing diverse subjects not entirely related to the action of the play.
TUTOR
- A very minor character, the tutor of the children mainly acts as a messenger, as well as the person responsible for shuffling the children around from place to place.