It is well known, that in Greek thought, the heroic ideal was an extremely powerful concept. Obviously the Gods were the most significant characters in life, but closely following them, were heroes. Jason becomes a national hero as he defeats the ancient creature and captures the Golden Fleece, however in the play Medea, it is clear that he is no longer the great hero of the Argonaut legend. Both Medea and Jason are flawed characters in their heroic aspects, however, small instances in the play, make the audience believe that Medea is further flawed than Jason.

It was believed that through his glorious actions, not only could a hero gain fame, but he could also gain a sense of partial immortality. The Greek afterlife was not very positive and was feared by many, as it was essentially a realm of shadows inhabited by spirits who wished to roam the earth again. Thus, the form of heroic immortality bestowed by heroic action was the highest aim of the hero. One important aspect of the heroic code, was the idea of ‘doing good to one’s friends, and harm to one’s enemies. However, here the word friend

It is safe to say that both characters are flawed. Medea with her spiteful revenge, and Jason with his arrogance, and somewhat humorous death, are both far from total heroic characters. However, I feel that Medea is further away, as she broke the heroes code “doing good to one’s friends”. She abandons the usual female character, and becomes a murderous woman, intent on revenge.

Jason on the other hand is also a flawed character. He is not there to serve as a contrast, meaning the character of moral integrity as the foil against Medea’s perfidious nature. He too is a character that is somewhat seen as a villain, as he leaves Medea to marry Glauce and then trivialises her love for him, as he uses ‘sex jealousy’ to dismiss her pain, whilst rationalising his actions. It is cruel and insulting and severely must be a significant factor in swaying Medea towards revenge. This must be seen by the audience as evidence of Jason’s moral weakness. Euripides avoids a fairly controversial technique; the juxtaposition between good and evil, here both the characters are evil. Jason’s speech “You have had wiser thoughts…” is as pompous as it is patronising, but of course to the audience, the irony of his words simply emphasises the gormless nature of this man. Jason’s final words underline Euripides’ disparaging view of Jason, his grief is al

Some topics in this essay:
Glauce King, Medea Jason, Obviously Gods, Golden Fleece, Discuss” Greek, , greek heroic ideal, one’s friends”, harm one’s enemies, medea jason flawed, jason flawed, harm one’s, murder children, one’s enemies, seen audience, heroic code, aspect heroic, enemies laugh, perfidious nature,