Medea is Not Responsible for her Actions

1.) You say "for no logical reason" but to Medea, making it so the children"s father can never insult or torture them ever again, especially without someone to protect them, is logical reason enough is it not? Medea went through a lot of thinking and to her, even by not killing herself and being exiled to a far away land, it still leaves the children vulnerable. To Medea, it is not premeditated murder. To her, it is the only way to protect her children from her enemies, and suffering. 2.) What Medea"s husband did is not something that can be written off as being something she did not agree on. Those words make the matter seem trivial, and the lives of two children, her own two children, is not trivial in the least. What happened was Jason, Medea"s husband, left her and their two children to marry King Creon"s daughter because of the hospitality of the king for allowing Jason, Medea and their children live in their kingdom. After that, Medea felt betrayed. The children"s father had abandoned them, had left them there to fend for their own, as well as Medea. How could Medea leave the children by themselves, letting them believe their father may come back for them? Medea wanted to hurt Jason, but even then, she still wanted what was best for her children, and leaving them was not the best option in her mind. 3.) Just because one has children, and wanted to see them grow up and get married and live a happy life, does not stop them from having suicidal thoughts. One does not just have suicidal thoughts just because one thing happened, or not have them because they have children. Many things happen in a persons life, and contrary to what many may believe, having children does not make them their parents whole life. The parent still has their own life, and problems. 4.) To Medea, it is not about whether someone should live or die, it is about what the children"s life would be like without either parents, or with a father who left them to marry the daughter of a king. To Medea, these children may not be old enough to understand what is/had happened. To her, their mother, these children should not have to live a life where they are hurt again, with or without them knowing, and to leave them alone is much worse than bringing them with her into the afterlife where they can no longer be harmed by those who are supposed to love them. 5.) Whether Medea is fit to make these decisions is not going to change anything. Just because she is not "fit" or "qualified" to make these decisions does not stop her from trying to figure out the best possible decision she can make for the good of everyone. To even think about the other decisions instead of just killing them and then herself means she may be more qualified than one thinks. In a time where one feels betrayed by the very person she gave her all for, they would be filled with rage, depression, sadness, betrayal, all these emotions, and to still think about every possible decision means she really wants to make the best one, and it just so happens that leaving the children alive is worse than killing them with her own hands. 6.) Medea may be "a woman scorned" but that does not mean she is trying to play God. All Medea wants is the best possible outcome for her children and to her, no matter what path she could have chose, whether to bring them to live with her in exile, living on the run, leaving them with their father who could potentially hurt them again, leaving them on their own, all these things would have put the lives of her children in danger by the enemy, which is not only the father, but the kingdom as well. Medea poisoned the king and his daughter, and by doing so, put her life, as well as her children"s life in danger. She could not "leave these children for [her] enemies to insult and torture!" To Medea, after all that has happened, her best option was to kill herself and her children. 7.) You ask who would be responsible if not her, than what about Jason? Had he just stayed with Medea and their two children in the new kingdom, none of this would have happened. Had Jason not went away to marry the King"s daughter, Medea would not have to think about killing herself or her children. They could have lived a life where Medea gave all she could for Jason and he did the same.