“There they lie close, the daughter and the old father, dead bodies…” (Line 1220)
This shows that Medea has accomplished a massive sin, whereas, Jason has killed no-one. Jason has sinned against Medea quite badly, an example of this is that Jason turned his back on Medea to go to Glauce; this would have made Medea heartbroken. Knowing this we could gather that this may be one of Medeas motives of killing her children. An example on the topic of Medea killing her children is;
“Force every way will have it they must die, and since this must be so , then I, their mother, shall kill them” (Line 1240-1241)
Moving on from the killing aspect, Medea has also been sinned against. An example of this is that Medea near the start of the play was exiled from Athens by the law of Creon. Although, Creon is king he is a bit cowardly which Medea tries to take advantage of. Although she is partially successful in getting an day their, Creon sticks to his work and Medea is exiled.
“Medea, I order you to leave my territories, an exile…” (Line 272)
After this we notice that Jason actually offers to help Medea with the children by offering her some money. An example of Jason actually trying to help Jason is just after she is exiled;
“I wish to help you and the children in every way, but you refuse what is good for you” (line 620)
Children are a major factor in Medea, they are known as silent characters throughout the play. Medea at the beginning seems a kind mother who cares greatly for her children. Although, nearer the end of the play she kills them but she did still care for them. We can tell Medea still cared for her children before she killed them by this section of lines;
“Just for this one short day be forgetful of your children, afterward weep; for even though you will kill them, they were very dear…” (Lines 1247-1250)
Jason on the other hand is a completely different character in relation to Medea on the topic of children. Although he cares for the children he has had with Medea, he really wants a legitimate heir because Medea is not Athenian therefore, their children aren’t Athenian. But we do have a sign that Jason is still in love with Medea and would have liked to have children with Medea;
“But as I said before, I wished to preserve you and breed a royal progeny to be brothers” ( Line 595-596)
Knowing this we can gather that maybe Jason only turned to Glauce as a way of securing a legitimate heir and that there is no love involved. Next, going back to the point of Medea getting exiled is that when she is cast from the city where can she go. We learn in the earlier part of the story that she killed her father and others just to be with Jason in Athens.
In conclusion the description in mjy own opinion best suits Jason. This is because that although he has committed several sins he has also had many sins against him. On the other hand, Medea has caused many sins such as killing, but has little sins against her. Although there are a few.
