Medea and Revenge- Blog #2

The story of Medea is one of revenge and tragedy. This makes sense, as when revenge is involved, tragedy is the only outcome. This is because revenge is vitriolic in nature, and while the outcome may only be bad for the subject, the implications are still dire.

If I was to be deeply wronged, I would be understandably angry about this. Others may argue that it is simply justice, and that they are playing an eye for an eye. This is shortsighted (pun not intended), as revenge, by its definition, is not justice, and it is certainly ton an eye for an eye. The best example is in Medea itself. Jason leaves Medea for another woman and tries to exile her, where she has no place to go. Medea does not reply to this with equal force, she escalates, killing her and Jason's children. If this was justified, then why did the children have to die? Medea's revenge was not set in justice, nor was it a reply of equal injury. She wrongly killed her children in an effort to escalate the situation and hurt Jason. And to make matters worse, she set a precedent.

When I was five years old, one of my friends told me that playtime was over. I, wishing to continue playing with my legos, told him that I wasn't done playing. He said that the teacher said to stop playing, and so I promptly punched him in the face. While it was not premeditated, it was revenge. I felt that I was wronged, and so I escalated in an effort to hurt the other party. I shot the messenger, humorously enough, and it didn't end well for me, as I got in trouble. What's more, I set a precedent that I was violent and would resort to violence as a means of revenge. This echoed throughout elementary school, and I still deal with setting that precedent for myself to this day. Revenge is not just, it is not fair, and it is not smart. All revenge does is turn a bad situation worse, and set a precedent for reckless and dangerous behavior in the long run.