Friday, September 12, 2008

Many people know the sad tale of Jason, mythic hero and leader of the Argonauts. His story dates back to the third century. Jason completes a seemingly impossible mission and retrieves the Golden Fleece for King Pelias. But then after this glory fades, Jason's life gets worse as time goes on. He betrays his wife Medea, who slays their children. And it just keeps getting worse from there.

This myth is pure drama. READ asked our students readers if they thought Jason got what he deserved. And so we thank these fine students who wrote us to say they thought this dude asked for his sorry lot.

I think that Jason did somewhat deserve what happened to him. He left Medea (although she wasn't very nice) for another woman, just for power. He went against his promise to her even after she helped him get the fleece. I think he has what some cultures call Tall Poppy Syndrome. This means that the "tallest poppy", or the person that is overly proud of their achievements, gets "picked off" first because everyone notices it. After getting the Golden Fleece, Jason said, "I wonder what adventure is next?" He felt like a great explorer who could do anything, while Medea's help was the only thing that got him out alive and let him get the fleece. In the end, the plow of the Argo fell on him, the ship that made him who he was and started Jason's great life, ended it. I feel that Jason did somewhat deserve his harsh fate, but maybe to a lesser extent.

-Amy I., Grade 8

I think that the bad things happened to Jason because he abused his power. He worked very hard to gain the power, but then once he had the power, he thought it was okay to be above the law by plotting to murder his brother-in-law. Once he did that, he brought more problems when his wife decided to murder again. All of these actions had consequences that lead to more death and left Jason alone in the end. He also died alone and that was an acceptable punishment considering all of the pain he had caused others during his reign.

-Makenna Basore, Grade 7

Well said, Makenna and Amy!


# (5)#
Alicia    Posted by
Alicia
on 9/12/2008
4:32 PM
10/2/2008 3:12:17 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
Many people think that Jason was a heroic character. He showed many signs of bravery and cunning smarts. Medea helped Jason by giving him a magic potion so he will be able to have unbeatable strength and be indestructible to anybody. Jason was able to get the Golden Fleece only with Medea's help and in return he promised to make her his wife and queen. He returns to his country a hero and gets his rightful throne. He becomes king of his country. Instead of being humble, he was a jerk. He was full of himself and treated Medea like if she was nothing, and left her for some other princess. He broke his promise to Medea. So in return Medea kills the Princess and her father and Jason's children. Jason deserved it, he also deserved his horrible death by getting crushed by the prow. Now if Jason had listened to what the prow had said and lived a humble life and be faithful to Medea maybe things might have turned out differently, and he might have lived a long life. In other words Jason deserved everything he got.
Matthew Branche
10/2/2008 3:13:23 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
I suppose all those bad things happened to Jason because people were testing him to see if he was worthy of receiving what they had to offer him. In the end he proved he was worthy of receiving those things such as the throne. He does not deserve what he got because without being told he still did good things and has great knowledge, like when Hera was disguised as a mortal who needed help crossing a stream and Jason helped.
Taylor
10/2/2008 3:17:54 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
I think that those bad things happened to Jason because Jason abused his powers. The only reason he completed his adventure was because Medea gave him powers to not die. So Jason really didn;t do much. Then when he got the Golden Fleece he tried to marry another women for the power. When he promissed Medea that he would stay with her. Then it just led to murder. Finally Jason was killed from the plow of the Argo, it fell on him. The Argo is what helped so much as well as Medea so Jason somewhat deserved his harsh punishments.

Spencer
10/2/2008 3:19:27 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
I suppose all these bad these happened to Jason because it was his own fault. If he hadn't went to King Aeetes for the golden fleece he would of never had to challenge him or met his daughter Medea. The goddess of love hadn't seen Medea, she would of never fall for the spell Eros cast for her to fall in love with Jason. Also Jason and Medea did a lot slewing after they escaped Medea's father. For example, she killed her half brother with Jason helping her. Eventually Jason was unfaithful to her and gotten a new wife. Medea also killed her and her own sons. Leaving Jason alone and miserable. He searched for the Agro for a long time and found it. Jason begged for his glory back but the rotten piece of the boat fell on him and killed him. So, i would like to call all the bad things Jason gotten is karma.
Mary
10/2/2008 3:21:21 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
I think all the bad stuff started happening to Jason
because he started to abuse his power.
First he had alot of power and then after
using the power for bad purposes bad stuff started
happening to him like arguing and fighting with Madea,
and also getting killed when he went to sit down.
But that is what he deserves.
Its called karma "what goes around comes around".
So pretty much Jason asked for it
because he plotted mean things , abused his power,
and used people like his wife Madea.
Even though she was mean she still helped him to get the fleece
which caused her to disobay her father.
But instead of being grateful for his wife he cheats on her which makes Madea slay the kids.But Jason really does deserve what he got ou tof his outcome.
Sydney
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