My mother always told me that two wrongs don't make a right, and in this case I couldn't agree more. I feel that Medea's reasoning and actions were completely erroneous and unethical. We all have had the feeling for revenge at one point or another, but whether we actually act upon it, and to what degree becomes the issue. Medea was obviously overwhelmed and devastated by Jason marrying another women, but I don't believe that this is reason enough to justify her killings, especially the slaying of her children. .
At first I agreed with book and Medea's acknowledgement of it being Jason's fault, "Jason neglects his children for the new bride." Then the chorus along with the tutor continue to say, "You are in the right, Medea, in paying your husband back." Obviously, Jason was at fault, but is that reason enough for the course of Medea's actions? Maybe if she had just killed the princess and vanished into exile with her children, she would have been justified. Though I believe she went too far. The only thing that she concerned herself with was to make Jason feel the same pain and suffering she has, and even more so. Medea states that by killing her children it "is the best way to wound my husband," and that "no compromise is possible." Her first decision is to kill her children, but then when she is faced with them she decides to fall back on it. Medea says at this point, " Why should I hurt their father with the pain they feel, and suffer twice as much pain myself?" Though after she hears the news of the deaths of the king and princess, she realizes that because of this she has put her children in danger anyway. "To suffer my children to be slain by another hand less kindly to them. Force every way will have it they must die, and since this must be so, then I, their mother, shall kill them." Her initial justifications for killing her children are not valid, which I believe she somewhat realized when she renounced her plans at first.
