Sympathy in Medea, Aeneid, Metamorphoses, Orlando Furioso, and Hamlet :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Sympathy in Medea, Aeneid, Metamorphoses, Orlando Furioso, and Hamlet Euripedes tugs and pulls at our emotions from every travel throughout The Medea. He compels us to feel sympathy for the events abused by Medea, however still feel sympathy for Medea as well. These conflicting feelings pull in a sense of confusion and anxiety about the unfolding plot. In the beginning, the Nurse reveals the recent background events that have caused Medea so much distortion She herself helped Jason in every way (13) and now he has taken a royal wife to his bed (18). Right away we be fantastic with Jason for breaking his wedding vows, and we are building up sympathy for Medea as the Nurse describes her acts of suffering. When we first see Medea, she speaks passionately to the women of Corinth and convinces them to side with her. She evokes their sympathy by drawing further attention to her suffering and speaking in toll that bring them all to common ground. Aegeus becomes Medeas first victim when he, unknowingly, provides the closing building block in her plan for revenge against Jason. We sympathize for Aegeus in his ignorance. Medea now has confidence in her plan, so she reveals it to the women of Corinth. She is going to send her children to Jasons bride with a poisoned dress that will make her die in agony. We are still compelled to sympathize with Medea at this point because she has justified her reasons for seeking revenge. However, the princess is absorbed to Medeas plot she will accept the gift for its beauty and thence meet an unexpected, agonized death. The image of pain and agony elicits our sympathy as well. Medea presents her most perverse speech when she explains how she will kill her own children then flee Corinth. Alone, these acts provoke pure disgust, precisely Euripides has developed Medeas character as a coercive force we still sympathize with her for her plight, yet we also hate her for her decisions. The women of Corinth try to persuade her aw ay from this morbid choice, but their arguments are ineffective. Euripides employs stichomythia in the exchange between the women and Medea to show Medea breaking pot boundaries between self and other, which prevent sympathy (811-819). Euripedes focuses on suffering, ignorance, and rhetoric to die us torn in our sympathy for every character. Vergil elicits sympathy from readers in the beginning of The Aeneid when characters suffer physically and emotionally.