Medea Character Analysis in Circe

Medea is Aeëtes’s daughter and Circe’s niece. She is also a witch, which Aeëtes resents, as he fears that she will eventually arm her husband with magic. Medea falls fiercely in love with Jason and uses her magic to help him get the golden fleece. As they are escaping from Aeëtes, Medea knows that they will be caught and tortured by her father unless she does something drastic. She then kills her brother—who is also Aeëtes’s favorite son—and dismembers him, throwing his limbs into the ocean. She knows that Aeëtes must stop and collect all the pieces to give him a proper burial, which slows him down and allows Medea and Jason to escape. It is a heartless and selfish act, but Medea does so anyway, which shows not only how she is like her callous father, but also how she feels like she must exploit others in order to survive. Circe tries to persuade Medea to stay with her on Aiaia, where Medea will be safe and Circe can teach her witchcraft. But Medea refuses; she is too in love with Jason. Circe warns her that Jason will leave her—he is already shrinking from her powers—but Medea refuses to listen. Circe finds out years later that Jason does leave Medea for another woman. In retaliation, Medea burns the new wife alive and then kills her own children so that Jason cannot have them. Circe is not surprised, but she is nonetheless saddened to hear that Medea turns out to be just like her cruel father, Aeëtes.

Medea Quotes in Circe

The Circe quotes below are all either spoken by Medea or refer to Medea. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Power, Fear, and Self-Preservation Theme Icon

“I am no child to him. I was his to dispose of, like his seed-warriors or his fire-breathing bulls. Like my mother, whom he dispatched as soon as she bore him an heir. Perhaps it might have been different if I’d had no witchcraft. But by the time I was ten I could tame adders from their nests, I could kill lambs with a word and bring them back with another. He punished me for it. He said it made me unmarketable, but in truth, he did not want me taking his secrets to my husband.”

Related Characters: Medea (speaker), Circe, Aeëtes

Page Number and Citation: 170

Explanation and Analysis:

Medea Character Timeline in Circe

The timeline below shows where the character Medea appears in Circe. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Two people disembark from the ship: a young man and, to Circe’s astonishment, a woman . The woman speaks first, asking Circe for help and saying that they have committed... (full context)

Circe leads the couple to her house, noticing that the woman , who keeps her face hidden, walks more steadily than the young man, even as... (full context)

...not classically beautiful, has “a fervency” that grabs one’s attention. Circe learns that she is Medea, Aeëtes’s daughter. Medea explains that she couldn’t risk Circe’s recognizing her, in case Aeëtes had... (full context)

Circe invites them to eat, and she watches Medea lovingly serve the young man before she serves herself. The man introduces himself as Jason,... (full context)

When Circe assumes that they somehow cheated, Jason looks irritated, and Medea quickly assures Circe that Jason hadn’t wanted help, but that she, frightened for him, begged... (full context)

Jason leaps back into his story, which culminates in him escaping with the fleece and Medea, whom he suggests he rescued from her father. Circe can see that Jason already imagines... (full context)

Circe then asks them to explain their request for katharsis. Medea cautiously tells her of their attempt to outsail Aeëtes, who used his superior powers to... (full context)

Jason looks sickened as Medea finishes the tale. She then fills his goblet of wine, and Circe sees her slip... (full context)

When Circe asks Medea whether she regrets her actions, she shrugs off the question, saying that her brother, as... (full context)

Circe insists that Aeëtes wouldn’t hurt his own child, which Medea sneers at. She tells Circe that Aeëtes despises her, all the more so since learning... (full context)

Aeëtes’s one hope for Medea was to trade her for poisons from another sorcerer. But the only other is Perses,... (full context)

Medea stands up and tells Circe that she and Jason must leave for Iolcos, where she... (full context)

Circe offers Medea an alternative: a life on Aiaia, where Circe will teach her. Medea is quiet for... (full context)

Wounded, Circe retaliates, telling Medea that Jason already despises and fears her. To Jason, Medea is only the means to... (full context)

...is thinking of how sweet he was a child. He orders her to hand over Medea, whom he knows stopped by. When Circe informs him that Medea has already left, he... (full context)

Circe can’t get Medea’s words out of her mind and is haunted by her own loneliness. One day, Circe’s... (full context)

Mortality, Fragility, and Fulfillment Theme Icon

...mentions that her mortal niece was a witch, Penelope asks whether she is speaking of Medea. (full context)

Circe requests that Penelope tell what she knows of Medea, and Penelope obliges. She tells Circe how Jason, scared of his wife’s magic, abandoned Medea... (full context)

Medea Character Analysis

Medea Quotes in Circe

Chapter 13 Quotes

Medea Character Timeline in Circe