Book IV explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Divine Intervention and Mortal Agency

  Hera actively manipulates events through Iris, Thetis, Hephaestus, and Aiolus to ensure the Argo's safe passage, while Medea's choices are driven by both divine influence and personal fear.

• Love and Fate

  Medea's passion for Jason, instigated by Eros, leads her to betray her family and flee, intertwining love with tragic destiny.

• Exile and Belonging

  Medea's departure from Colchis marks her as an exile, leaving behind her home, mother, and identity, foreshadowing her future alienation.

Characters to notice

• Medea

  Flees Colchis in terror and anguish, leaving behind a lock of hair for her mother.

• Jason

  Leads Medea from Circe's palace and prepares to continue the voyage.

• Hera

  Orchestrates divine aid, sending Iris to summon Thetis and command Hephaestus and Aiolus.

• Thetis

  Summoned by Hera to guide the Argo safely through perilous seas.

• Hephaestus

  Stills his fire-blasts at Hera's command to allow Argo passage.

• Aeolus

  Ordered by Hera to calm all winds except Zephyr for the heroes' journey.

• Peleus

  Thetis' mortal husband; she appears to him privately to relay Hera's instructions.

• Aiêtes

  Sits in council with Kolchian princes, enraged and plotting treachery against the heroes.

Key passages

• “So spake she; and comfortless grief overwhelmed Medea: she cast Her robe o’er her eyes, and she wailed and wailed, till the hero at last By the hand upraised her, and forth of the palace-doors he led, As she quivered with terror: and so from the mansions of Circê they fled.”

  Medea, overcome with grief, wailed and covered her eyes until Jason took her hand and led her trembling from Circe's palace.

  Medea's emotional turmoil and dependence on Jason are highlighted as they flee Circe.

• “And she kissed her bed, and her hands on the walls with loving caress Lingered: she kissed the posts of the doors; and one long tress She severed, and left it her bower within, for her mother to be A memorial of maidenhood’s days, and with passionate voice moaned she:”

  Medea kissed her bed, walls, and doorposts, then cut a lock of her hair as a keepsake for her mother, mourning her lost maidenhood.

  This poignant farewell emphasizes Medea's sacrifice and the permanence of her departure.

• “Even as stealeth forth from the house of a wealthy man A bondmaid, whom fate but newly hath torn from her fatherland-soil, Who never till now hath tasted the lot of bitter toil, But unschooled to misery, shrinking in horror from slavery Under the cruel hands of a mistress, forth doth she flee; Even so from her home forth hasted the lovely maid that day.”

  Like a newly enslaved maid fleeing her homeland in terror of harsh servitude, Medea hastened from her home.

  The simile underscores Medea's fear and the drastic change in her circumstances.