does medea go too far?

This is a very difficult question to answer, and I believe much of it is down to how far one regards Medea as a tragic hero, and whether her actions are seen as heroic, selfish or somewhere in between.

In my opinion, I believe that Medea does go too far, by killing her children, in her quest to get revenge on Jason. There is no doubt that the act of killing ones children is vile and horrendous, but how far was it Medeas' choice?

The build up to, and action of the murder is the play, and further to that, without it I don't think Euripides would have been able to make his thematic ideas - about relationships and love in general - as accessable.

So as a dramatic device it is acceptable, but on a human level it is evil beyond contemplation.

:)