The story of Jason and Medea is a classic myth of love and betrayal. Medea, a princess and priestess of Colchis, falls in love with a foreigner, Jason, who has come to steal her country's most sacred religious symbol, a Golden Fleece. Because of her desire for Jason, Medea helps him take the fleece, and in return Jason promises to marry her. As they flee the country, Medea kills her brother and scatters pieces of his corpse behind her, slowing the king down as he and his army chase after her. After they leave Colchis, Jason and Medea go to Iolcus, where Jason was promised the throne by his uncle, King Pelias, if he returned with the Golden Fleece. Pelias breaks his promise, and Jason is refused the throne. Medea goes to see Jason's father, and gives him a potion which restores youth. Pelias' daughters, upon seeing Jason's restored father, ask Medea to give the potion to the king as well. Medea, hoping to help Jason, tricks Pelias' daughters into killing Pelias instead. Jason and Medea are then exiled and flee to Corinth, where Jason, with the excuse of hoping to improve their status, agrees to marry the princess of Corinth. Upon hearing of Jason's betrayal, Medea threatens the lives of both the king and his daughter in her rage. The king, hearing news of this, exiles Medea and her children. Hoping to get her final revenge, Medea poisons a beautiful gown and headdress and sends them with her children as gifts to the princess and requests that she allow the children to stay in Corinth with their father. The princess accepts the gifts and puts them on, which causes her to burst into flames. The king, upon seeing his daughter's body, throws himself on it in anguish, and bursts into flames as well. When the children, who had been sent back to their mother after giving the gifts, return home, Medea stabs each one, killing them as her final revenge on Jason (Euripides, 56-114).
             To analyze Medea's motivation for killing her children would n...