Medea
Medea is an intriguing, ancient, Greek play written by Euripides that revolves around a woman, Medea, who plans to cause anguish to her husband by killing her children and the newlywed bride of Jason, the princess as she mourns for the loss of her husbands love. Fences, a play by August, revolve around a man, Troy, who seems to be dealing with the inner struggles of familial issues as well as known for diving deep in the struggle of African-Americans during the twentieth century. In this paper, I explain on how despite happening in a different time, the similarities in the characterization of the protagonists in the way they make decisions that caused a rift towards their family members mainly because of the dark secrets that they keep from their partners which later on leads them to the realization that betrayal has happened mainly by the imagery of death.
Both Medea and Troy decided to make decisions that were meant to drive them away further from their families. In Medea’s case, she avenged her husband’s decision to marry another woman by killing his children even though Jason was willing to assist the family by any means. In Troy’s case, he decided to tarnish his son’s dream of becoming a professional football player by talking to the coach to remove him from the team. The reasons he did this was because of the past mistakes he endured of not succeeding to be a professional baseball player or even a musician mainly due to racial discrimination that he didn’t desire his son to experience.
In a form of irony, they both decided to keep a dark secret that would antagonize them to the people close to them. For Troy, it was keeping a secret about having an extramarital affair with Alberta. This is first hinted when he reveals it to his best friend. In his defense, the reason he engaged in the affair was as a means of dealing with the stress of the responsibilities of everyday life. Medea plotted secretly about killing their children, Glauce and Creon, and the princess through a poisoned robe out of spite when Jason had a desire to marry the princess.
The difference in the imagery of death as shown in the plays is that in Fences, it is seen as an obstacle whereas, in Medea, it is used as an excuse to cause pain to another person. In the Play Fences, death is known to troy as an obstacle that caused him sadness for many years. It is even seen when troy decides to threaten death when his marriage with a rose was on the brink of collapse. In the play Medea, when the protagonist proceeds to kill the children, it is seen as a means to cause pain to Jason. The death of her children is linked to the pain it will cause her as it is seen when she confronts him.
In brief, the decisions that the protagonist, Medea, and Troy, decide to take caused a strain to their relationship with their spouses, with the former involved in the murder of their children and the latter discouraging his son to take his path as well as being involved in an affair. Along with that, they managed to hide it until it was too late. Lastly, the imagery of death is portrayed differently wherein Fences, it is viewed as an obstacle to the protagonist while in Medea, it is seen as a means of suffering.