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and his daughter, through her gifts of the poisoned robe and chaplet (the
device which also appears in The Trachiniae of Sophocles), and by slaying
her own children, Medea renders Jason abjectly desolate. The depth
of her passion for vengeance is intensified when pathetically overwhelmed
by love for her children she momentarily weakens in her resolve to kill
them. Her final act therefore is presented with redoubled force.
Critics have been troubled by the dramatic function of the scene in
which Aegeus appears and offers an ultimate refuge for Medea. The scene
may be more integral to the play than these critics have suspected because
in it the childlessness of Aegeus seems to suggest to Medea that her
revenge take the form of killing her children, in order that Jason may
suffer in like fashion. The playwright has also been censured because he
permits Medea to escape in the dragon-chariot at the end. Perhaps an
answer may lie in the fact that, horrible though Medea's acts are, still
she commands a modicum of sympathy, for Jason's injustice to her has
driven her to these extremes, and by allowing her to escape the poet partially
justifies her deeds. Furthermore, Euripides may have been influenced
by the existence of a cult of Medea's children at Corinth, and may
have resolved his play so that it would accord with the traditions of the
cult. Whatever may be the explanation of these supposed flaws, the play
itself does display almost unrivalled psychological and emotional power.
Ultimately, the abortive alliance between Jason and Medea has destroyed
them both.