Justice in the West Traditions Discussion
Read Medea http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/medea.html
ASSIGNMENT: How important is it that Medea is an exile from her home city-state and an immigrant in her current land? How are you made aware of her “alien” status? Does this reflect competing definitions of justice, and if so, are both sides equally valued? Gender: Medea is female and a mother, and she murders her children to prevent them being harmed by her husband. Is she pursuing her own version of justice, or are her actions solely driven by vengeance? Is revenge just? Are mothers inherently more subject to acts of injustice because they are made vulnerable through their children? Are women also more inherently subject to injustice? If Medea had been submissive, like Abraham, and given up her children to Jason and his new wife, would she have behaved in a just way? Now take the perspective of the children, as Leonard Cohen did for Isaac: did Medea behave justly?