You are a clever woman, versed in evil arts I hear that you are threatening, so they tell me, to do something against my daughter and Jason and me, too"" (10), he unquestionably underestimates her power to fatally damage his family and country. His pity towards Medea eventually overpowers his suspicion. Creon's surrender to Medea's plea due to his mistaken belief that nothing much can be done in one day causes him great ruin, "for in it you can do none of the things I fear"" (12), yet Medea benefits from Creon's mercy and does everything he fears in that one day. Part of Medea's status as a pariah is due to her superiority in knowledge of witchcraft and drugs, and ironically, this intelligence of hers contradicts the Greeks' definition of a barbarian.
Medea's logical mind allows her to solely focus on revenge and prevents her severe rage from interfering her plan so she can achieve her destructive goal. Upon seeing her disloyal husband, Medea can no longer contain her fury and bitterness. She even goes on cursing, or in a way prophesying this new wedding, "But perhaps "with the help of God, you will make the kind of marriage that you will regret." For an irrational moment Medea almost seems unable to constrain herself. Medea is only able to conceal her wrath after inevitably expressing her anger toward Jason, "I shall never accept the favors of friends of yours, nor take a thing from you, so you need not offer it. There is no benefit in the gifts of a bad man" (20). Nonetheless she promptly regains her reasoning and exemplifies her intelligence through her false submission to Jason and even begs for forgiveness, "Jason, I beg you to be forgiving toward me for what I said; I have talked with myself about this and I have reproached myself. Why am I set against those who have planned wisely?"" (28). Doing so, Medea appears to be very obedient and less threatening as she actually is.
