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Comparison and Contrast of Characters
In the tragic play, “Medea” the main character Medea goes through many tragedies in life, where she is neglected by the one she made sacrifices for and loved. Medea is driven by a passion and love for her husband, and does many things including killing her own brother to have him free. She was betrayed by her husband, Jason, who went ahead to marry another women. The play focuses on her quest to seek vengeance on her husband that portrays her for what she is. On the other hand, Dido is in similar situation, though her reaction is different from Medea, where she ends up committing suicide. She is also faced by betrayal after she is in love with her husband who betrays her. The two women have similar character traits as well as differences in terms of how they choose to deal with their problems.
Some of their characters that are similar include love. Medea so many atrocities in order to have her husband by her side. She loved him more than he loved her. The narrator says that she only came to Greece to follow Jason. She has done too much for Jason, including helping him win the Golden Fleece. This is showed when she is lamenting, saying she cheated her father, tamed the fire-breathing bull, saved his life from danger, killed for him amongst other thing, and finally says her intelligence and wisdom has only served him. Dido is a similar situation where she loves her Aeneas so much that she ends up committing suicide. When Aeneas comes after they are blown to the shore, Dido takes care of him and opens her heart to him despite knowing her words will bring shame to her. When Aeneeas decides to leave back for Italy, Dido does everything in her power to convince him to stay. However, Aeneas says it is not his will but the will of the gods.
Both of these women are quite knowledgeable and clever. Medea manages to trick people using her wisdom and knowledge. All she does is well calculated, and nothing has she planned to do and failed. She is bright enough to trick her father, as well as Jason so that the children could be allowed into the palace. This way she could be in a position to fulfill her revenge. In addition, she uses her knowledge to trick the daughters of the rival king Pelias into killing him. On the other hand, Dido is a bright intelligent woman, who is the queen of Carthage, which she rules with great intelligence. She is able to maintain her focus on ruling the city with wisdom.
Medea is revealed as a woman full of revenge when she plots killing her husband for betraying her. When she first plans to kill her husband, she then realizes that this will not make him feel the same pain as she did. She decides to kill the woman he married and her father. However, she manages to kill Glauce and Creon through poisoning them with magic fire where they suffer a great deal before they die. Realizing this is not enough to make Jason learn his lesson; she decides to kill their two sons. She kills them with a sword in the house, and flees together with the two dead boys in a dragon chariot just before Jason could even tough the boys. She is finally able to get her revenge. On the other hand, Dido takes a different cause from Medea, where she chooses to commit suicide because she could not bear the thought of being left by the man she loved. As Aeneas is leaving, she only curses him as she goes ahead to impale herself on his sword before she dies.
In each of the stories, there is a man who these women are attached to so closely by love that drives them to do the unimaginable. Medea does everything for Jason, her husband who then betrays her. On the other hand, Dido commits suicide because of the strong love she had for Aeneas, who could not stay back to love her, and had to go back to Italy. These men do not give much concern to what the women who love them feel, and go ahead with their personal issues without stopping for a moment to consider their feelings.
Jason and Aeneas also have their similarities and differences shown in their different roles they take. Both Jason and Aeneas are ambitious and will do just anything for honor and fame. Jason uses Medea to gain everything he has gained including the Golden Fleece. Aeneas also loves honor as Dido says that she loves a man who loves fame than a woman. In addition, he leaves for Italy despite Dido’s plea. Both of these men have little value for the love they are given by their women, who love them more than anything else does.
Despite having same characteristics, they have different ways of doing things as well as reasons. Jason does everything just for self-gain, where he uses Medea to gain tittles and even to eliminate his enemies. He goes ahead to marry the princess for his own self-gain. On the other hand, Aeneas does this because of his title, and because the gods are telling him to do so. He is loyal to his people, and follows the destiny chosen for him by the gods. This brings out another difference between the two men, where Aeneas does this not out of will but because of prophecy and destiny chosen for him, while Jason chooses his own destiny out of his own selfish interests.
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