According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a character, usually of high birth, who is neither totally good nor totally evil, and whose downfall is brought about by a tragic weakness or error in judgment. The traditional tragic hero must have an anagnorisis, catharsis, and peripeteia.
The plays begins with Medea weeping and in rage because, her husband, Jason, is divorcing her to marry the princess of Corinth. It is at this moment that Medea is determined to get revenge on Jason, and there is no turning back. Medea's tragic flaw, jealousy, will be the cause of her tragic act, the killing of Jason's new bride and her children. Her anagnorisis is before she kills her children, "why hurt them in trying to hurt their father?" (375). Medea realizes that what she is doing is wrong, but her tragic flaw overcomes her, so she needs to act upon it. Medea does experience peripeteia, reversal of roles, because we see her in the begining of the play weeping and being exiled from her home with no where to go and, in the end of the play she has a home in Athens and is in the clouds with her children (above Jason). Lastly, her catharsis moment is in the end when she is in the clouds because even though she has lost her children and her husband, she has accomplished her revenge on Jason, since he is left with nothing, whereas she has renewed herself. Therefore, I think Medea is the tragic hero in this play.
I can definitely see your thinking here, Maryam, and am glad you brought this question back up. Keep in mind, though, that catharsis is usually thought of as an emotional purging for the audience, rather than the main character. Would you say the audience feels a release of emotions and/or as though "justice" has been served?
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