History YMMV / Medea

* ValuesResonance: The fact that one of Medea's struggle is being a woman in a male-dominated world that treats her unfairly is still ''extremely'' sympathetic and relatable to a female audience is what revives the play with the feminist movement.

** The fact that Medea kills her children to protect from slavery because she is a foreigner tends to get lost with the modern audience if not mentioned in adaptations.

* MoralEventHorizon: Which of the two principal characters is more justified - and whether one or both cross this line - has been a point of contention for too long to remember.

** Medea: by killing her two children, after she kills his new bride by lighting her on fire with magic poison. Her motivation was a combination of MercyKill and hurting Jason. In mythological canon, Medea committed numerous other atrocities before the play even begins - although these were not all part of her story until after Euripides wrote the play. They include: a) chopping up her younger brother and tossed the pieces into the ocean so that her father would have to delay his pursuit to gather the pieces for a proper burial (this was so awful that Jason's intervention was the only thing keeping the rest of the Argonauts from tossing her overboard too), and b) convincing two kids to cut up their father and put the pieces in boiling water, under the pretense that it will make him younger.
* NightmareFuel: The scene where Medea [[OffingTheOffspring kills her own sons]]! Yes, it is done [[GoryDiscretionShot off-stage]], but that doesn’t make it any less chilling.
* RootingForTheEmpire: Admit it, you have some point rooting for Medea to succeed in her revenge because of how horrible Jason and everyone treating her. That is until she [[MoralEventHorizon kills her children]]... Played straight for adaptations that mention this is the only way for them to not become slaves.
* TearJerker: Medea’s entire situation. She is typically interpreted as [[TragicVillain a victim of]] [[NoWomansLand a man’s world]]. As a foreign-born woman, she has no rights whatsoever, and to make matters worse, her husband deserts her for a Corinthian princess, and his prospective father-in-law wants to send her (Medea) into exile. This, of course, could leave her children vulnerable to slavery. Medea didn’t need to get revenge on Jason, what she needed was his support. But since Jason not only broke his marriage vows, but broke his vows to the gods, [[WomanScorned it’s no wonder things turn out the way they do]].

* VindicatedByHistory: ''Medea'' was a part of a theatrical competition in classical Athens and came in last in the Dionysia festival when it premiered, losing to a play by Sophocles and a play by the son of Aeschylus. ''Guess'' which of the three is best known today...(Although downplayed somewhat, as being selected for the competition was a big achievement in and of itself.) This was not uncommon for Euripides, who was controversial for in his own time.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Admit it, you have some point rooting for Medea to succeed in her revenge because of how horrible Jason and everyone treating her. That is until she [[MoralEventHorizon kills her children]]... Play straight for adaptations that mention this is the only way for them to not become slaves.

* JerkassWoobie: Medea, past her WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds phase.
** Jason is an unapologetic JerkAss for most of the play, but it's hard not to feel sorry for him after he discovers that Medea killed their children and desperately begs her to let him give them a proper burial.

** Medea: by killing her two children, after she kills his new bride by lighting her on fire with magic poison. Her motivation was a combination of MercyKill and hurting Jason.
*** In mythological canon, Medea committed numerous other atrocities before the play even begins - although these were not all part of her story until after Euripides wrote the play. They include: a) chopping up her younger brother and tossed the pieces into the ocean so that her father would have to delay his pursuit to gather the pieces for a proper burial (this was so awful that Jason's intervention was the only thing keeping the rest of the Argonauts from tossing her overboard too), and b) convincing two kids to cut up their father and put the pieces in boiling water, under the pretense that it will make him younger.

* ValuesDissonance: Medea would be a VillainProtagonist to us, if an extremely sympathetic one, but to Euripides and the chorus, she's just tragic. In both cases, her acts (particularly the murder of her children, born of a foreigner or not) would have been unconscionable. This also applies to Jason.

* FairForItsDay: The ''many'' references and stereotypes of Medea as the HystericalWoman are enough to make the modern reader cringe, but remember Medea is one of the few instances in Ancient Greece of a woman being the protagonist in a play (and a rather active one at that) with her name on the title and sympathetic character flaws and motivations.

* WhatAnIdiot: Jason, for the following reasons:
** When Medea murdered her brother and cut him up into little chunks to save Jason, Jason was so awed by her devotion to him that he swore by the Twelve Gods of Olympus that he would stay with her until the day he died. [[WhatAnIdiot It does not occur to Jason that dumping his devoted wife is thusly a direct insult to the heads of the pantheon, who would find a way to arrange a punishment]];
** Jason's patron goddess is Hera. [[WhatAnIdiot It does not occur to Jason that the goddess of marriage and family with an infamous temper regarding her husband Zeus's infidelity might get angry at him for breaking his marriage vows and leaving his wife for another woman, particularly after all the help she's given him on his quests.]]
** When Medea was influenced to fall in love with Jason, she not only abandoned her family and sacrificed ''everything'' she had but killed some of them to protect Jason from pursuit, and uses trickery and violence to solve nearly every problem he has. [[WhatAnIdiot It does not occur to Jason that dumping his devoted wife will redirect her violent tendencies onto himself]];
** Medea is the granddaughter of a friggin' sun god (from which she had inherited [[EvilEye the power to drive enemies mad with a look]]), a MamaBear, [[TheMedic an incredibly skilled healer]] ''and'' foreign-born, the latter meaning her children would risk being sold into slavery if she's dumped. [[RunningGag It does not occur to Jason that putting her children at risk of a]] FateWorseThanDeath [[WhatAnIdiot would cause her to protect her children the only way she could see and punish him]].
*** This one is shared with the Corinthians in general and their king in particular: they had seen her abilities when she saved them from a famine... [[UngratefulBastard And convinced Jason to dump her]] in spite of knowing well she was incredibly powerful.

* VindicatedByHistory: The play came in last in the Dionysia festival when it premiered. This was not uncommon for Euripides, who was controversial ñ in his own time.

** Jason: by abandoning and betraying Medea after she sacrificed everything to be with him, effectively condemning her two children to a bleak future and possible servitude.

* VindicatedByHistory: The play came in last in the Dionysia festival when it premiered. This was not uncommon for Euripides, who was a controversial BaseBreaker in his own time.

* VindicatedByHistory: The play came in last in the Dionysia festival when it premiered.

* MoralEventHorizon: Medea crossed it by murdering her children or Jason crossed it by leaving her after all she had done for him. Or both. Depends on who you ask.

* MoralEventHorizon: Medea crossed it by murdering her children or Jason crossed it by leaving her after all she had done for him. Depends on who you ask.

* MagnificentBitch: Medea, who effortlessly manipulated everyone around her to take her revenge after deciding that she won't take Jason's betrayal lying down.

* ColbertBump: This play has gotten some modern-generation attention through ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', because of [[spoiler:Medea's presence there as the Caster-class Servant]].

* FairForItsDay: The ''many'' references and stereotypes of Medea as the HystericalWoman are enough to make the modern reader cringe, but remember Medea is one of the few instances in Ancient Greek of a woman being the protagonist in a play (and a rather active one at that) with her name on the title and sympathetic character flaws and motivations.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: People have been arguing over whether Medea was justified or not for over two thousand years, and it doesn't look like it's gonna end any time soon.

* FairForItsDay: The ''many'' references and stereotypes of Medea as the HystericalWoman are enough to make the modern reader cringe, but remember Medea is one of the few instance in Ancient Greek of a woman being the protagonist in a play (and a rather active one as that) with her name on the title and sympathetic character flaws and motivations.

* MagnificentBitch: Medea, who effortlessly manipulated everyone arounds her to take her revenge after deciding that she won't take Jason's betrayal lying down.
* RootingForTheEmpire: Admit it, you have some point rooting for Medea to succeed in her revenge because of how horrible Jason and everyone treating her. That is, until she [[MoralEventHorizon kills her children]]... Play straight for adaptations that mentions this is the only way for them to not become slaves.
* ValuesDissonance: Medea would be a VillainProtagonist to us, if an extremely sympathetic one, but to Euripides and the chorus, she's just tragic. In both cases her acts (particularly the murder of her children, born of a foreigner or not) would have been unconscionable. This also applies to Jason.

* ValuesResonance: The fact that one of Medea's struggle is being a woman in a male-dominated world that treats her unfairly is still ''extremely'' sympathetic and relatable to female audience is what revives the play with the feminist movement.

** Medea is the granddaughter of a friggin' sun god (from which she had inherited [[EvilEye the power to drive enemies mad with a look]]), a MamaBear, [[TheMedic an incredibly skilled healer]] ''and'' foreign born, the latter meaning her children would risk being sold into slavery if she's dumped. [[RunningGag It does not occur to Jason that putting her children at risk of a]] FateWorseThanDeath [[WhatAnIdiot would cause her to protect her children the only way she could see and punish him]].

** Jason's patron goddess is Hera, who routinely assists him throughout his quest for the Golden Fleece. [[WhatAnIdiot It does not occur to Jason that the goddess of marriage and family with an infamous temper regarding her husband Zeus's infidelity might get angry at him for breaking his marriage vows and leaving his wife for another woman, particularly after all the help she's given him on his quests.]]

*** And he ''especially'' pissed off ''Hera''. For the love of Olympus, ''[[WhatAnIdiot don't ever piss off Hera]]''. Because of her, Jason died alone and unhappy, [[DeathByIrony killed by the stern of the rotting Argo falling on him when he was sleeping.]]

** When Medea murdered her brother and cut him up into little chunks to save Jason, Jason was so awed by her devotion to him that he swore by the Twelve Gods of Olympus that he would stay with her forever. [[WhatAnIdiot It does not occur to Jason that dumping his devoted wife is thusly a direct insult to the heads of the pantheon, who would find a way to arrange a punishment]];