Metamorphoses Lesson Plan

Consider the character of Medea. How does she stand out in comparison with many other women who appear in Metamorphoses?

The character of Medea is one of the more complex and interesting female characters in the canon of Greek and Roman mythology. She is quite capable and clever, and a good case can be made that Jason and the Argonauts would not have succeeded in their quest for the Golden Fleece without her. However, Jason betrays her for another woman, and she takes revenge in a particularly (to the Greeks' minds) unfeminine way: by killing her own children. Moreover, in her pain and rage, she seems to act with the sanction of the gods: Medea escapes unharmed and...