It can be argued that Medea seals the certainty of her children's death from her opening cries: after passing through a momentary response of suicidal helplessness (lines 95-96) to Jason's divorce, she immediately wishes the destruction of every remaining trace of their love, including the two boys (lines 110-114). The nurse ominously foreshadows that Medea will not relinquish her rage until it upsets the balance of the city, and Creon admits to banishing her simply out of fear for the possible consequences of her negative mood. Euripides also carefully reveals the elements of Medea's past that demonstrate her readiness to sacrifice family to pursue her intractable will; Jason and Medea's original tryst, for example, required that she kill her own brother. While it can be argued the children's deaths are fated from the beginning, it nevertheless remains true that such a fate represents the triumph of perverse forces within human behavior. To reach the point of infanticide, Medea's basic human nature has to be transformed, ushering in conflict of some type. Consequently, Medea's eventual indecision and motivational conflicts manifest the warping of natural sentiments. For example, Medea considers a natural, common sense course of action when she debates fleeing with her children to Athens, where they can renew their lives with guaranteed protection. Such a life would probably provide the most happiness out of the possible alternatives Medea contemplates, yet her decision-making process has left behind debating over personal profit and loss. Her only loyalty is to her "anger"(1076), which has sprung out of her love and needs to vindicate itself through revenge. Abandoning her plan to punish Jason as severely as possible would be equivalent to denying the seriousness of her emotions and the offense they have suffered. From the beginning of the play the seeds of this cruel revenge have been planted, but the natural obstacles of a mother's love still had to be surmounted.
