1. Medea is first portrayed as a victim of fate. She stands by her husband, Jason, when they are exiled to a foreign country, she even kills her own brother in the process. In return for her loyalty to Jason, he deserts her and their two children. He seeks to marry Glauce, the daughter of the King of Corinth, Kreon. Corinthian women sympathized with Medea and admire her and believe she is the avenger of all women, after she tells them her plan for revenge. She devises a plan to kill Jason, Glauce, and Kreon. Medea sends a poisoned dress and corset to Glauce which kills her and then kills Kreon also. Medea shows the beginning of her evilness when she wants details from the messenger on their painful death. As if this wasn’t enough, to add even more pain and suffering to Jason, Medea commits the most unspeakable, unmoral act of killing her own two children. The difference between her character and that of Achilles is that he was a hero and Medea was a hero to villain. Medea was pride driven and took her own blood’s lives for revenge int the end. Achilles was a hero in that he fought for those he loved and for the city. Achilles would never bring harm to his own family, but only harm to those who harmed him. I do no feel that Medea was a hero because in the end she let her own personal revenge lead her to killing her own children.
2. Job was virtuous, he did obey God. When satan and God discussed a plan to prove Job’s faithfulness to God, God allowed satan to cast bad events in Job’s life and Job continued to be faithful. Job’s friends told him that he had probably done something to upset God or did evil things and God was punishing him. When God spoke to Job in a whirlwind Job asked why God had let these bad things happen to him. He asked why good thing happen to bad people and why bad things happen to good people. God told Job that people should not discuss divine justice since God’s power is so great that humans cannot possibly justify his ways. Because of Job’s faithfulness to God, he didn’t need anymore explanation. God blessed him with twice as much as he had had before. He was satisfied because he knew that God gives all of his faith people what they need. I believe that the end of the dialogue is satisfactory because I have faith in the unseen so I can relate to Job’s acceptance of God’s reasoning.
I agree with your viewpoint on Job. However, I disagree that God told Job that people should not discuss the mysteries of God. You could certainly argue that. But I think what God is saying is that in Job’s assessment, based on his understanding of what he had known and seen of God, was putting God at fault for Job’s condition. Job implied that there must be a mistake. God is saying “Think again”. In other words, our wisdom, no matter how developed, cannot possibly penetrate the depths of God because there is so much we cannot see. So we should use caution when speaking about what we barely understand. I think this is earth shattering! There is more out there! God said so, but we can’t see it! I dig that!
Isn’t the murder of Madea’s chrildren very similar to the death of Patroclus? Achilles is largely responsible for the death of his best friend and comrade in battle; possibly not a bond as strong as mother and child, but strong bond none the less.
Achillies in my opinion did not fight for the city, nor for his people. Achilles fought to avenge Patroclus after his death, and in doing so showed the monster that he was when he disgraced Hectors body. Achilles also let so many of his fellow country men die as he watched, simply because of his wounded pride. The similarities of Achilles and Madea are so numerous. The biggest problem we face when deciding if Madea is a hero is that her actions are so morally deplorable, but Achilles is ultimately responsible for so many more deaths. So is Achilles truly that much better than Madea?
I agree with the comparison in Achilles and that he fought for his city. I believe that this anger inside him was maybe fueled by the death of Patroclus but I still think that he fought for his family and his city deep down. He may have done a horrible thing with the body of Hector but I think that he was able to get his stuff right in the end and sort of redeem himself.
I also like your viewpoint on how God is the almighty and puts things in our lives that are way beyond our intellect and ability to comprehend.