Essay | The Psychology behind Medea

Medea, a main character from Euripides's Medea, is a passionate, prideful woman who has conflicts in her relationships with people. However, Medea's true conflicts lie within her, concerning how her idealized image of honor and power contrasts with her actual self. Her conflicts cause her to have reactions to her idealized image, such as a search for glory, "shoulds," claims, neurotic pride, and ultimately, self-hate. Medea's self-hate causes her to develop an aggressive-expansive solution.

Medea's aggressive-expansive solution develops to try to work out her inner conflicts against her idealized image. In Medea's case, her idealized image is to be honored and respected. She wants to be all-powerful and feared by others for her powers. She also wishes to achieve fame and have others recognize her as physically attractive, especially by Jason. However, this is not who she really is. Medea's real self...
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