History Theatre / Medea

* YourCheatingHeart: All the madness starts with Jason's ill-fated idea of marrying Corinthian princess Glauce and keeping his MagicalGirlfriend Medea and the mother of his children as a mere .[[TheMistress concubine]].

%%* FateWorseThanDeath

%%* InMediasRes

%%* LoveHurts

%%* MurderTheHypotenuse

%%* WhatTheHellHero: Medea gives one to Jason.
%%* WomanScorned
%%* {{Yandere}}: Medea, according to modern interpretations, and therefore, [[UrExample the original]].
%%* YourCheatingHeart

[[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/medee2_7343.jpg Sarah Bernhardt in the role of Medea in the Catulle Mendès's eponymous play, drawn by Alphonse Mucha]]

* [[InMediasRes In]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Medea]] [[InMediasRes Res]]

* BlackMagicianGirl: Medea.

* CharacterTitle

* DownerEnding
* FateWorseThanDeath
* GreekChorus

* LoveHurts

* MurderTheHypotenuse

* SecondHandStorytelling

* WhatTheHellHero: Medea gives one to Jason.
* WomanScorned
* {{Yandere}}: Medea, according to modern interpretations, and therefore, [[UrExample the original]].
* YourCheatingHeart

MostWritersAreMale, and what male cannot understand the hardship and dangers of dealing with a jealous and angry ex-girlfriend? What makes {{Euripides}}' play so interesting is that the protagonist is not TheHero but the PsychoExGirlfriend--and she's {{justified|Trope}}.

And yes, ''FateStayNight'' fans. THIS is the real origin story of [[spoiler:Caster]].

* GoryDiscretionShot

[[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/medee2_7343.jpg Sarah Bernhardt in the role of Medea in the Catulle Mendès's eponymous play , drawn by Alphonse Mucha]]

[[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/medee2_7343.jpg]]

WhatAnIdiot! Jason has created the original WomanScorned, and for the GreekChorus, it's only a question of whom she intends to kill--herself, or Jason. Neither. Medea [[MurderTheHypotenuse kills the new girl]] and Glauce's father (King Creon, not be confused with Creon of the Thebes tetralogy), who arranged the marriage, but decides simply killing Jason would be too good for him. A conversation with the as-yet-childless Aegeus teaches her the cruelest, most painful, most unbearable punishment to inflict on a man--the death of his children. She takes their two children off-stage and kills them... but she struggles with it a bit first.

* BlackMagicianGirl - Medea.
* [[{{Bowdlerise}} Bowdlerization]] - Apparently, there are versions where it wasn't her killing her kids, it was angry townsfolk, who later bribed the guy who wrote the play. After that it wasn't okay to sacrifice children to gods anymore. [[http://www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/medeahyposcholia.shtml Here]] are some infobits.

* DeusExMachina / DeusExitMachina - Medea carries the bodies of her sons away with her in a flying chariot drawn by golden dragons given to her by the Sun God Helios, her grandfather.

* DontYouDarePityMe - Medea would rather have revenge instead.

* [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen God Save Us from the Princess!]] - Not likely since the gods think she's right.

* HorseOfADifferentColor - Dragon chariot! [[SpecialEffectsFailure Gotta wonder how performances represent that]].
* IGaveMyWord - Not that Jason keeps it. Medea points out throughout the play that he has broken his marriage oath to her.

* KarmaHoudini - While contextually, Medea was justified, she still killed four people, two of whom were [[MoralEventHorizon her own]] [[OffingTheOffspring children]] and hurt her husband horribly, and in the end flies away in a magical chariot with no consequences for her actions other than her own guilt.

* LoveMartyr - In Medea's backstory; she sacrificed ''everything'' so she could be with Jason, which is why his betrayal of her is so awful.
* MagicalGirlfriend - Deconstructed, showing just what happens when she gets mad.
* MamaBear - Medea can't see any way to protect her children other than killing them... so that's what she does.
* MercyKill - It tends to get lost due to ValuesDissonance, but this is one reason Medea kills her own children, since as a foreign-born woman her children lost their Greek citizenship, and therefore their inheritance, when Jason remarries. It's also very likely that they would have been sold into slavery.

* OffingTheOffspring - Arguably the TropeCodifier, at least for women killing their own children.

* OriginalGeneration - Jason and Medea were new characters created for a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover. This play is an OriginalGeneration sequel that drops the crossover characters and focuses on the new characters.

* SmugSnake - Jason is depicted here as being a big one of these. The first thing he says when Medea (lyingly) claims that she has decided he was right all along is 'I am glad, Medea, that you have changed your mind'. That's just [[TemptingFate asking for it.]]
* TooDumbToLive - Oh, Jason, you tosser. Of course, in the end, she decides that death is ''too good'' for him. Glauce and Creon count as well.
* TragicMistake - Jason's pride and machismo lead to his downfall and the deaths of his bride and children.
* TheUnfettered - Medea is willing to kill anyone -- even her own children -- to gain her revenge.
* TheWarOnStraw - There have doubtlessly been many essays written on whether Medea and Jason's representation of each other is accurate or not. On the whole, though, this is actually subverted.
* WhatTheHellHero - Medea gives one to Jason.

* {{Yandere}} - Medea, according to modern interpretations, and therefore, [[UrExample the original]].

->"νῦν δ΄ ἐχθρὰ πάντα͵ καὶ νοσεῖ τὰ φίλτατα." [[labelnote:English]]But now all [of their love] is hostile, and the dearest things are ill[[/labelnote]]

* [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen God Save Us from the Princess!]] - Not likely since the Gods think she's right.

* SmugSnake - Jason is depicted her as being a big one of these. The first thing he says when Medea (lyingly) claims that she has decided he was RightAllAlong is 'I am glad, Medea, that you have changed your mind'. That's just [[TemptingFate asking for it.]]

* [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen God Save Us From The Princess]]

-->"νῦν δ΄ ἐχθρὰ πάντα͵ καὶ νοσεῖ τὰ φίλτατα." [[hottip:*:(But now all [of their love] is hostile, and the dearest things are ill)]]

MostWritersAreMale, and what male cannot understand the hardship and dangers of dealing with a jealous and angry ex-girlfriend? What makes {{Euripides}}' play so interesting is that the protagonist is not TheHero but the PsychoExGirlfriend--and she's [[JustifiedTrope justified]].

Wrong! It's time for Jason to dump the "barbarian" now that he has no more use for her and marry the beautiful princess Glauce. Nothing personal, he says. He's not even marrying her for love but for the money and power, which he'll use to keep Medea and the kids in their gilded cage. He tells Medea to accept this peacefully and be content as the [[TheMistress woman on the side.]]

* MagicalGirlfriend - ''Brutally'' deconstructed, showing just what happens when she gets mad.

The death of her children was justifiable in Ancient Greek culture, as, because Medea was foreign born, neither of them were considered freeborn--so after their father remarried, they would be cut off from all inheritence and at extreme risk of being sold as slaves. Originally the murder doubled as revenge and a mercy-killing, though this is sometimes lost to modern audiences.

* MercyKill - It tends to get lost due to ValuesDissonance, but this is one reason Medea kills her own children, since as a foreign-born woman her children lost their Greek citizenship, and therefore their inheritance, when Jason remarries. It's also very likely that they wound have been sold into slavery.

-->--Euripides, ''Medea'', Line 16

Wrong! It's time for Jason to dump the "barbarian" now that he has no more use for her and marry the beautiful princess Glauce. Nothing personal, he says. He's not even marrying her for love but for the money and power, which he'll use to keep Medea and the kids in their gilded cage. He tells Medea to accept this peacefully and be content as the [[TemporaryLoveInterest woman on the side.]]

* MercyKill - It tends to get lost due to ValuesDissonance, but this is one reason Medea kills her own children, since as a foreign-born woman her children lost their Greek citizenship when Jason remarries.

* MamaBear - Medea can't see any way to protect her children other than killing them... so that's what she does.

!!''{{Medea}}'' provides examples of: