The Myth of Medea and the Murder of Children

Book excerpt: Corti focuses on the meaning and importance of the act of child murder in literary treatments of the ancient myth. She insists on the connection between the structure of tragedy and the psychology of abuse, arguing that the tragedy of Medea dramatizes the violent hostility toward children, which is always potentially present in patriarchal culture despite the conspicuous emphasis on positive descriptions of parental love in officially sanctioned discourse.