Medea and Ramayana - Book Report/Review Example

It is a Hindu’s mythology of love between Rama and his wife Sita. Rama is a son of a king and also the preserver and avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu hence he is a powerful man who holds a very high and respected position in his society. The two works even though they have the same themes of love are quite different in their teachings and what they portray as important in these two different regions of the world and also the two different periods they were developed. Ramayana for example is centered more on culture and religion of the Hindu and what his ideal role in this ideal society as a man is.

Medea on the other hand revolves about the theme of love and betrayal which is what was common during this period in Greek where everything revolved around heroism, accompanied with lengthy periods of love and later most ended with betrayal. Religion plays an important role in the two literal works in discussion. Both involve mythologies of gods who are seen as great leaders of the society and who deserve respect and hence anyone affiliated to the gods is also a great person in society with respect.

Medea for example even after killing her husband Jason and before fleeing, no one dares to arrest her because of her affiliation with god of the sun. Rama also has respect in his society as he is also affiliated to the god in his avatar position (Menon, 43). Political power is also of importance in the two books and hence people are willing to betray for political power. Jason for example who was a war hero and married to Medea, quickly betrayed that when he was offered by the King his daughter Glauce.

This is because this was an opportunity to become the ruler just by marriage and hence holding political power over the whole land. Rama on the other hand who was the prince and destined to be the future king was betrayed by his step mother who threatened to kill him because she wanted her son to hold that high political position and Jason had no alternative but to flee with his wife Sita. Their mythic contents and functions in their cultures' mythology. The gods and their powers in these two cultures (Greek and Hindu) are mythical depictions in this works which serve the purpose of representing extraordinary power and honor.

Being affiliated to these powerful mythical leaders was therefore an honor and the individual was deemed untouchable. This is why in Medea, Medea killed her husband Jason and managed to flee and get married in another part of Greece without any form of legal action being taken on her. This was because of her affiliation with the god of the sun whose wrath would make the area drought due to the scotching sun; hence no one tried to anger the god by arresting his granddaughter Medea, in fact the grandfather sent a chariot of dragons to flee Medea after committing the atrocities (Dowden and Livingstone, 345).

Rama’s and Sita’s lives are protected by their affiliation with the gods and goddesses and hence escaped to the forest unhurt by Rama’s stepmother who wanted to kill Rama in order to prevent him from becoming a king and not her son. Therefore, other than the role of the gods and goddesses being that of power, they also played the role of protectors to those affiliated with them including even their servants and workers- since avatars were sort of servants of the