Medea

Acts

• Prologue

  The Nurse describes Medea's rage: Jason has abandoned her to marry the Corinthian princess. The woman who killed for him, betrayed her family for him, is now cast aside.

  95 lines
• Parodos

  The chorus of Corinthian women hears Medea's screams from within. They come to comfort her but she is beyond comfort — she is calculating.

  119 lines
• First Episode

  Creon banishes Medea. She begs for one day's grace. He grants it — the mistake that will cost him everything.

  198 lines
• First Stasimon

  The chorus reflects on the injustice women suffer: bound to men who can discard them at will.

  28 lines
• Second Episode

  Jason arrives to justify himself. Medea demolishes his arguments one by one — she saved his life, bore his children, destroyed her own family.

  181 lines
• Second Stasimon

  The chorus meditates on love in excess and prays never to be struck by the arrow of desire.

  32 lines
• Third Episode

  Aegeus arrives by chance. Medea secures his oath of sanctuary. Now she has a refuge — and her plan crystallises.

  161 lines
• Third Stasimon

  The chorus celebrates Athens and wonders: how can such a city harbour a child-killer?

  34 lines
• Fourth Episode

  Medea performs a false reconciliation with Jason and sends her children to deliver a poisoned robe and crown to the princess.

  110 lines
• Fourth Stasimon

  The chorus begs Medea to stop. They envision the horror of the children carrying the gifts.

  22 lines
• Fifth Episode

  The Messenger describes the princess's death in graphic detail — the crown fuses to her skull, the robe dissolves her flesh. Creon dies embracing his daughter.

  254 lines
• Fifth Stasimon

  The chorus hears the children's screams. Medea is killing her own sons. They cannot break down the door.

  43 lines
• Exodos

  Medea appears on a dragon-chariot holding the children's bodies. Jason rages below, impotent. She has destroyed everything he valued.

  130 lines