The Sanctity Of Oaths In Medea :: essays research papers

MedeaThe Sanctity of Oaths           by the play Medea, Euripides shows us the importance of keeping a promise given. At the beginning of the story, we see the plays two opposing soak ups of promise keeping equal by the Nurse and the Tutor. As she stands outside of Medeas house and laments the way Jason has slighted Medea by taking another wife, the Nurse speaks of the eternal promise Jason and Medea made to each other on their wedding day (17-21). The Nurse wishes Jason were dead for the way he has cast away his wife and children, so strongly does she feel vows should not be disordered (83).           When the Tutor enters the scene, he expresses a much more(prenominal) cynical view regarding Jasons decision to leave his wife. He asks the nurse, Have you only just discovered / That everyone loves himself more than his neighbor? / Some feel good reason, others get something out of it. / So Jason ne glects his children for the raw(a) bride (85-88). The Tutor feels that Jasons leaving Medea is only a part of life, as Old ties give place to new ones. Jason "No longer has a feeling for his family with Medea, so he leaves her to marry the princess who will bring him greater power (76-77).     Medea is appal that she sacrificed so much to help Jason, only to have him revoke his arrangement to her for his own selfish gain. She asks him whether he thinks the gods whose names he swore by have ceased to rule, thereby allowing him to break his promise to her. Medea vows to avenge her suffering by destroying Jasons new family and his children. When Jason curses his wife for her murdering at the end of the play, she says to him, What heavenly power lends an ear / To a breaker of oaths, a deceiver?