Freudian theory believes that extreme suffering removes own from the tamed state which each individual resides within civilization, "Just as satisfaction of instinct spells happiness for us, so severe suffering caused us if the external world lets us starve, if it refuses to state our needs," (Freud 28). Medea is so affected by her suffering that she removes herself from everyday life, "She lies without food and gives herself up to suffering," (Euripides 2). In order to deal with her extreme pain, Medea chose to take back the authority which Jason and the King had originally stolen from her. Rather than fade away into exile, she took action in her own life to regain control, an act which is also seen in Freud's theories, "One may therefore hope to be freed from a part of one's sufferings by influencing the instinctual impulses," (Freud 28). She let loose her aggression and desire for destruction as a way to regain control over her destroyed life. After she murdered Jason's new bride out of sheer aggression and jealousy, she, in her own mind, was forced to save her children from suffering the consequences of her actions. She knew that they would have suffered just as much, if not greater than her, if they were to live through this disastrous mess. Getting into the psychological reasons for this shows how she did not necessarily hate her children. She loved the very much so. She murdered them to satisfy two concerns she had with the external world. First, she wanted to save them from the suffering she herself could not handle. She also wanted to ensure that Jason would be a ruin man for the rest of his life, "While you, as right, will die without distinction, / Struck on the head by a piece of the Argo's timber, / and you will have seen the bitter end of my love," (Euripides 45). Without children to carry on his lineage, or a wife to bear him more children, Jason's legend would die with...

This was the ultimate disaster for a Greek hero. This theme comes up in various Greek myths, and shows exactly how much importance was placed in Greek culture on the family and future bloodlines.
Essentially, this play also represents the unspoken desires of betrayed women. This work is in itself a myth, and according to Riitta Sirola "Similar to a dream, a myth is viewed as an enigma; it may contain hidden wishes; its magic circle may turn events into their opposites and it can change its object by wrapping it in disguise," (Sirola 94). Although not to the scale described in Medea, many Greek women who would have seen this play had at one point in their lies been betrayed by a lover or spouse. This became a release for their inner aggression towards whoever had spurned their love. So they were allowed a healthy release of their aggression, rather than falling apart like Medea and turning to a murderous rampage. Medea then also becomes "a description, which was sung collectively, of the achievements and difficulties of the development of a pre-oedipal girl," (95).

The tragedy of Medea is not just a tale of gore and murder. It is a complex look at the psyche of a women scorned and how that natural aggression found in all of us takes over civilized life to save what is left of the conscious mind. Medea does what she does as both an act of defense, as well as revenge. It is an interesting look into the misery of a failed life, "Life, as we find it, is too hard for us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible tasks," (Freud 23).

Works Cited

Euripides. Medea. Dover Publications. New York. 1993.

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Norton & Company. New York.

Sirola, Riitta. "The Myth of Medea from the Point-of-View of Psychoanalysis."

Scandinavian Psychoanalytic…