The Sanctity of Oaths in Medea

Medea The Sanctity of Oaths Through the play Medea, Euripides shows us the importance of keeping a promise given. At the beginning of the story, we see the play’s two opposing views of promise keeping represented by the Nurse and the Tutor. As she stands outside of Medea’s house and laments the way Jason has slighted Medea by taking another wife, the Nurse speaks of the “eternal promise” Jason and Medea made to …

…lends an ear / To a breaker of oaths, a deceiver?” (1366-1367) In this way, Medea lays the blame for all the evil she has done at the feet of Jason, for she never would have done these things if he had not betrayed his promise to her. Euripide’s portrayal of Jason’s destruction as a direct result of the vow he broke is a clear warning against breaking the sanctity of a promise given.