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Electra and Medea

Medea and Electra are two women who become filled with rage when they suffer what they perceive as the ultimate betrayal. In the case of EuripidesÆ Medea, Medea feels betrayed by sacrificing her love to assist her husband JasonÆs ambitions, only to find he abandons their marriage and children to take up with King CreonÆs daughter, Glauce, in order to further his ambitions of power. In the case of SophoclesÆ Electra, Electra feels betrayed that her mother Clytemnestra has killed her beloved father, Agamemnon, and taken up with a lover, Aegisthus. In each of these dramas the themes of love, family relationships, fate and love are illustrated. Both plays are very similar in that the female characters of Medea and Electra are driven to murder or orchestrating murder because of the combined impact of these four themes. Despite the similarities in these themes, the actions of both Medea and Electra are primarily driven by revenge in order to achieve justice for what each view as the injustices done to them and their family.

The theme of love is prevalent in both Medea and Electra. In Medea, Medea is wracked by pain and anguish over JasonÆs betrayal of her love. She has sacrificed her life to help Jason achieve his ambitions, providing him with two children and helping him murder his brother to advance his aims. When she discovers his rejection of her and their children to marry the KingÆs daughter, she suffers the pain of unrequited love, ôAh, me! a wretched suffering woman I! / O would that I could die!ö (Euripides, 431). In Electra, we see that ElectraÆs discovery that her mother killed her father Agamemnon fills her with similar pain and anguish over love. However, her case is different than MedeaÆs. Medea suffers from the anguish of romantic love, while Electra suffers from the anguish of paternal love. Medea is angry at her husband but Electra is angry at one of her parents. As she harshly tells her mother, ...

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Electra and Medea. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:53, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709638.html