Medea Love Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used Paul Roche's translation.

Quote #1

Nurse: My mistress, Medea, then would never have […] been struck to the heart with love of Jason. (1)

It's important to remember that the root of all Medea's anger is love. She fell for Jason hard back in their Golden Fleece days. This deep affection is the fuel for her almost inhuman need for revenge.

Quote #2

Nurse: Oh, what an enemy [Jason's] proved to those he should have loved!
Tutor: What human being is not? (15-16)

The Tutor here expresses a pretty cynical view of love. The play seems to back this theory of humanity. Everyone from Jason to Medea act only with themselves in mind.

Quote #3

Medea: Love, did you say?
It is a mighty curse. (44)

Love is often depicted as a force of destruction in Euripides's plays. Frequently his characters' passion is the cause of their undoing. Hippolytus is another play where this occurs. In that piece Phaedra falls in love with her stepson, Hippolytus, and tragedy ensues.