I wouldn’t say Medea is my favorite play, as ‘favorite’ is not quite the right word to use regarding a story about a mother killing her own children, however it is one of the most compelling plays I have ever read and that I have thought about in depth for decades. Men kill their children so frequently that we have a term for it: family annihilator. When it happens it usually makes the news but is a ripple; sometimes it doesn’t even make national news. What makes it seem so much more shocking and evil when mothers do it, even when we know it is due to a psychotic break? It truly seems like such an epic, cataclysmic breach against nature itself when a mother kills her children

Also when considering this play, one must understand that the causitive factor leading to the children’s death was the insult to injury Jason did to Medea. No, the truly cutting, devastating wound to her wasn’t that he ditched her for the young princess. She probably would have gotten her revenge for that in some way, sure. BUT she would not have gone so low as to murder their children. She did that because she felt she had to repay the wound he did to her beyond the cheating and the leaving: He underestimated her. This is one of the worst things you can do to somebody. If they are of the revengeful type, understand, they WILL get their revenge on you because their psyche cannot rest with that grave wound on it. It feels to them as hurtful and as real as if you ran them over with a truck. When they feel recovered enough, they will run over you back. 

Which leads to the question that I kept ruminating about over the years: WHY did Jason underestimate her? He of all people knew Medea was not somebody you can play with or trifle over. Her own father and brother learned that firsthand, her brother paid with his life for underestimating her. Medea killed her brother (or lured him into a trap where Jason killed him, depending on different versions of the story) and cut his body into pieces. She threw the pieces into the ocean so her father would be forced to stop and gather his son’s remains for a proper burial. This gave Medea and Jason time to escape.

Somebody that can do that to their own parent, their own brother, what on earth do you think they’re going to do to you?? Jason really thought he was going to get away with what he did to her. Anyway, I have seen many iterations of this play and though there were many great performances, I think Maria Callas portrayed Medea the best.