Medea

Creon enters to inform Medea of her and her children’s immediate exile from Corinth. (This is Medea’s third exile; she’s already been banned from her homeland of Colchis and from Jason’s kingdom Iolcus). Creon’s primary motivation is worry. He is concerned that Medea will take out her anger on his daughter, Jason’s new bride (unnamed in the text), “because [Medea’s] nature, clever and vindictive, / thrives on evil and because [she] sting[s] with loss” (304-5).

Medea chafes at her reputation as a clever woman being a downside, but she tries to backtrack and convince Creon she’s not so clever after all (324). When Creon refuses to budge, she formally supplicates him, making him “bound” by her plea (346). Creon argues that his obligations to a supplicant are second to his obligations to “family and home” (347). Finally, Medea convinces Creon that she accepts her exile but simply wants one more day to prepare herself and her sons for departure. Creon, reluctant to seem tyrannical, allows her to stay until dawn the next day, but he is fully convinced he will regret it (369-77).

When Creon leaves, the Chorus laments once again how helpless Medea will be as an exile (378-80).