In the Greek tragedy Medea, Euripides shows standards set by society on how Medea should act as a mother and a wife. We also see how Jason should act as a husband and a father. At this point in time, a difference exists between the roles of men and the women. Women are expected to stay in the house and care for the children, while the male provides for the family and participates in other social events such as politics. Women were considered possessions of their fathers or husbands. During this time women were expected to be submissive to their husbands and accept all their decisions and actions. Medea defies the restraints forced on her by society through acts of hatred towards Jason.
Medea, because of her hatred towards Jason, hates the sight of he children. The nurse says, "But she hates her children and feels no joy in seeing them"(line 36-7). This line causes us to believe that Medea hates her children as well as Jason. Later in the story, it is seen that this is not true. Medea names her enemies by saying, "a day in which I shall make all three of my enemies corpses, the father, the daughter, and my husband" (line 374-376). These are the people she directly hates and wants dead, primarily Jason. She never mentions her children on that line, meaning that she does not hate them directly. Medea, before killing her children, says, "go forward to where life's pain begins" (line 1245). The notes say that "where life's pain begins" is a "Greek metaphor of the post which marked both the start and the finish of a running race" (page 178 line 1245). When applying this to Euripides" Medea it means, "the child murder is both an end (of the children's lives) and a beginning (of Medea's grief for them" (page 178 line 1245). If Medea says she will grieve over the loss of here children, it means that she did not hate her children directly. She hates her children because they are sons of Jason, which the hatred is directed at.
