Topic > Theme of irony in Medea - 1327

A Greek tragedy full of irony is Euripides' Medea. It is ironic that Jason remarried Glauce to improve his status but instead ended up with nothing at the end of the game, and although King Aegeus was barren, Medea was able to create and execute a clearly productive ploy while staying in her building. Euripides uses verbal irony when Medea feigns compassion towards Jason and Glauce, but actually intends to maintain her original plans to kill her children. There is dramatic irony in the fact that everyone is aware of Medea's plan to poison Glauce, but Jason unquestioningly and unknowingly delivers the poisoned objects to his wife while thinking that Medea has truly come to her senses. Situational irony is seen in the ambivalent emotions that Medea displays throughout the play: she is incredibly vindictive and determined to get revenge on Jason, but she also struggles with remorse and uncertainty about the prospect of killing her children to get back at him. Finally, when the refrain says that the will of the gods is inexplicable, it is ironic to modern readers that, as brilliant as the ancient Greeks were, they used many deities to explain the outcome of human action.