Critical Analysis of the Play Medea - Assignment Example

Aristotle’s theory of the Golden Mean elaborates based on the origin, measures, and development of virtues important for the enhancement of happiness, which is considered to be the ultimate goal of human life. This happiness is desired solely for oneself and has nothing to do with material pleasures and possessions. The golden mean even elaborates on the fact that many people think that material possessions can bring ultimate happiness. Observably, Aristotle’s ethics are based strongly on theological as well as practical approaches, which define the well-being of humans as a whole. Continuously acting by the virtues could be observed as a source of happiness that lasts longer and does not just provide short-term happiness.

Ethics is completely centered on the character of a person as it is the most important element that helps in developing virtues. This development of virtues leads to long-lived happiness. Accordingly, it can be justified that ethics helps in developing the human character such that the person will be able to enhance their style of living and draw pleasure and happiness from their life. Moreover, ethics helps to identify the different characteristics that are present in one individual and that help in developing happiness throughout life (Cunningham, 5-15).

Medea. The character was so blind to take revenge on her husband that she was not even conscious of committing infanticide on her children. The character of the lady was not well attributable to the ethics mentioned in Aristotle’s Golden Mean. The lady was so indulged in her revenge that she could not even foresee the future of her children and the pain she is likely to face in the long run (Cunningham, 5-15).

Jason. The character left Medea to marry the king’s daughter and opted for short-term material pleasures. This led him to a tragic end and he lost all his beloved ones. Medea murdered their two children and fled away to take revenge for Jason’s treachery. The king and his daughter were poisoned as a result of the conspiracy of Jason. Finally, to enjoy the short-lived material happiness Jason could not foresee his long-term happiness and lost everything (Cunningham, 5-15).

Creon. The King of Corinth, Creon was so blind to his daughter’s love that he could not judge the correct person for his daughter. Moreover, this misjudgment of the short-lived pleasure that the king opted for his daughter led to spoiling their long-term happiness for them. The daughter was not happy with Jason who wanted to gain his material pleasures. Finally, he conspired against the king as well as his daughter and murdered them. The character of Creon was also not aligned with the Golden Mean of Aristotle (Cunningham, 5-15).

The characters of the play were not at all aligned with the ethics and virtue mentioned in Aristotle’s Golden Mean. The same could be well justified by analyzing the central character, who is so inclined towards material pleasures and hence could not analyze long-term happiness. Moreover, the prime character Medea was so insensible that she only focused on revenge and could not even judge her act of violence. Furthermore, she was also irascible and hence acted unethically with her children and even did not care to kill them only to take revenge on her husband. Jason’s shamelessness also depicted an attitude that was not completely aligned with Aristotle’s Golden Mean, which led to a continued situation of sorrow for the character. Thus, it could be concluded that none of the characters of the play Medea was aligned with ethics suggested under the Golden Mean of Aristotle.