Medea is Not Responsible for her Actions

1.) While she may have gone on a killing spree, she did try to right her wrongs and try to make the life for the children much easier. To Medea, she did the right thing because at least in the end, her children would not have to suffer any more than they already would have. This seems more like a mercy killing for them, rather than someone ruthlessly killing people and children for vengeance or to cause someone else pain or suffering. 2.) Sure, by our standards she may not have been a rational thinking, but who"s to say she herself believed she was going the right thing? Sometimes if someone believes that strongly in something, to them, it is the truth, it is what they honestly believe, and if someone honestly believes they are going the right thing, it is possible for a lie detector test to come out negative, so to speak. To Medea, what she did felt like the right thing to do for her children, not to her children, but for them. 3.) I would agree with you here, but the fact still stands that in ancient Greece, or any city at that point in time, would put those types of guilt on to whatever living, or whatever accessible family member they could get. Sure we believe they are innocent children, but in that time period, they would have been blamed, regardless of what their mother did. The kingdom would not have allowed the case to settle until someone was punished and I"m sad to say that the children would be blamed and would have to suffer the consequences of her actions. Medea knew that, and she wanted to save them from what would happen. 4.) Alright. 5.) No, it may not be an accomplishment in our standards. If one was faced with two bad decisions, would one not pick the lesser of the two evils? They are still both horrible, but one had to be chosen, and to Medea, she felt that her decision was the lesser of the evils she could have chosen. I am not saying it may be an accomplishment, but Medea had to pick something, and to her, even though it was an evil, she felt she picked the lesser of all the evils she could have chosen from. 6.) Every action has an effect on other people, but in this case, sure it may have been a form of punishment to the husband, and while that may have been the intention in the first place, her children turned that thought around. In the end, while it may have hurt the husband, who really shouldn"t even bother with the family who he abandoned by this own choice, Medea"s only intention was to save her children from what they would have to suffer from, and she could not allow what the kingdom, or anyone else for that matter, would do to her children. In the end, it was not Medea"s intention to punish her husband, but if it did, that is not a problem for her because he left them. 7.) The definition of insanity is the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness. It is a mental illness, and should Medea have had suffered from it, she can not be blamed for something she could not control. The signs are there, especially from her acts of killing other people, and had she even suffered from dementia, which can be marked with personality changes and impaired reasoning, could very well be the cause of her actions. These are actual mental illnesses that she could have possibly had, and they most likely had not been cared for. Had she suffered from these, she can not be blamed for her actions because it would mean she was not able to reason properly. I am not saying she did suffer from these illness(es), but I"m also not saying she didn"t. I am just stating that it could be one reason for her actions. 8.) Therefore, Medea is not responsible for her actions.