Foundations: Who is Medea?
To understand Medea’s power and position as an outsider, we must first explore her origins. Medea was a princess of Colchis, a region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea of what is now east Georgia, and a formidable priestess of Hekate, the goddess of magic. Her magical prowess was unparalleled, and it was through her aid that Jason and the Argonauts overcame impossible trials in their quest for the Golden Fleece:
The Fire-Breathing Oxen: Jason was tasked with yoking the fiery oxen to plow a field. Medea’s magic shielded him from their flames, ensuring his success.
The Sleepless Dragon: The Golden Fleece was guarded by a dragon that never slept. As a way to circumvent the creature, Medea crafted a poison that sent the dragon into a deep slumber, allowing Jason to seize the prize.
The Bronze Giant Talos: After visiting Circe’s island, they travel to Crete, where the Argonauts face the indomitable Talos. Medea used her magic to immobilize the giant, enabling the crew to remove the pin that sustained his life.
These feats, however, were just the beginning. Medea’s magic, once a source of aid, would later become a weapon of vengeance. In the next section, we’ll examine how betrayal and anger turned Medea into a legendary figure of revenge.
Medea’s Acts of Revenge:
Returning from exile on their perilous journey on the sea, Medea, Jason, and the Argonauts arrive at Thessaly of Iolcus with the Golden Fleece. Jason, with Golden Fleece in hand, expecting to take his rightful place on the throne, is met with Pelias, old and frail, who is resistant to giving up his place of power. Within his resistance, Jason also learns that while he was away, Pelias killed his parents and his infant brother. Medea swears to exact revenge. With Pelias in a state of weakness, Medea - vexed by the sitting King’s refusal to accept his fate and the harm he inflicted upon Jason and his family - saw the perfect opportunity to use her magic again to position Jason for success.
What happens next clearly shows Medea’s willingness to journey into darkness, touching the realm of madness in her devotion to Jason.
With Pelias’ old age as a point of enticement, Medea uses his insecurity as the tipping point to take control of the kingdom.
The Magic Herb:
By the perceived blessings of Artemis, Medea promises his daughters that she can restore their father’s body with youth and vitality by completing a spell—all she needs in return is trust in her magic.
To convince the sisters and Pelias, Medea uses an old sheep to give proof that the transformation spell is possible, with the assistance of a magical herb, the missing element to alter the sands of time from old age to youth.
To illustrate the validation of her powers, she performs a trial ritual by cutting an older sheep into pieces. Dropping the flesh into the cauldron from her pocket, she places a drop of a magic herb into the cauldron, and - through sleight of hand, a young lamb is released from a container, restoring the impression of youth. The new lamb walks away, and the sisters and sitting king, awed by Medea’s powers, believe and agree on the ritual to be performed on their king.
The trust, now established between Medea and the daughters, Medea asks that they conduct the transformation ritual on their father by replicating what they witnessed with the sheep. The sisters, the agents of Pelias’ change, cut their father’s body into tiny pieces, placing the portions in the cauldron. With the deed done, Medea revealed she did not have the magic herb to restore their father to health and now back to life. As a result of Medea’s heinous crime, Jason’s throne was taken from him yet again, and the two were exiled from Thessaly, Iolcus, the throne given to Pelias’ son Acastus.
Exiled, with no kingdom of their own, Jason and Medea find themselves in Corinth, where they live for 10 years. Medea, still an outsider in a foreign land, is left vulnerable as she depends on her husband’s protection and status within Greece. Jason, faced with the loss of the throne, his birth rite, is given a second chance at the prospect of royalty as he, who is not married to Medea, makes a deal with the King of Corinth to marry his daughter. As a result, Medea is to be cast out of Corinth, where she and their children are exiled, which she hears by third-party gossip.
The exiling of her children is a three-part betrayal: Jason’s disloyalty to their relationship, the strategic unraveling of their partnership after all that she has accomplished for him, and the exiling of their children, potentially taking away any chance of rulership from their destiny.
Within the mental state of this fury, from the crushing pain of another emotional/spiritual exile, as well as the fear of what is to come for her and her children, she is motivated to commit the most profound acts:
2. The murder of Glauce:
Exile, now permeating her everyday existence, she is threatened as King Creon warns her once more of her exile and Jason’s impending marriage to his daughter. Craftily, Medea gives the perception of her willingness to acquiesce to her husband’s choice by presenting a beautiful gold-laced dress as a wedding gift, a token of peace between the two families. The facilitators of this treaty are her sons.
Upon opening the box, the princess is in awe of its beauty. Having been pleased by Medea’s change of heart, Glauce tries on the dress. A messenger tells Medea a tale depicting the horror of Glauce burning to death in the gifted dress. In an attempt to save her by removing the dress, the King of Corinth also dies, as he, too, is poisoned, along with the whole wedding party. The only one to remain is Jason.
2. The murder of innocence:
Blinded by her rage, Medea, according to Euripides' version, is driven to complete her task of punishing Jason for his treachery and engages in her last and final act - the murder of her two sons. After poisoning them, she flees Corinth, where she flies away in a dragon-driven serpent to meet her escape in Athens.
Through the foundational understanding of Medea and her feats of magic, the duality of light/good and darkness/evil—which weave together in a binding thread between Jason and Medea—has informed the building of the characters within the story Middlegame. Additionally, the idea of the outsider within a societal construct and the concept of betrayal and revenge will be examined in greater depth.
