A popular concept in love is betrayal and abandonment that leaves the other lost, confused and heartbroken. Of course that also means the lovers aren’t privy to when that affection stops and their lover decides to leave the relationship often coming as a shock and leaving the other broken and alone. Two pieces of work that really highlight this concept are Euripedes Medea and Taylor Swift’s I knew you were trouble, which both highlight women who have been left and scorned by men. In Medea she is not native to Greece and therefore does not have the same rights as a Greek citizen, since she followed Jason there after she helped him Aquire the Golden Fleece. In the play Jason has abandoned her for another woman which leads to her being possibly exiled from the Greek kingdom she currently resides in. Similarly in Taylor Swifts sings of being flown to places she’s never been then being left on the cold hard ground. Just like how Medea was taken to Greece then left with nowhere to go. This shows the almost naive lover who will follow a man when they are in love with no thought of consequence of their actions or any thought that their lover may betray and leave them. This leaves the lover alone and broken in a foreign place after sacrificing so much in the name of love.
However differently than Taylor Swifts trouble she does not attempt to seek revenge on her lover singing that she herself is at fault since she knew he was trouble when he walked in. There are also no promises that were seemed to be made to Taylor by her lover leading to no expectations that were not followed through and betrayal on that front. In Medea, Jason has broken his promise to Madea, which she often brings up through the play, especially after all she has helped him with.
My lady,
Madea, would never have sailed to Iolkos’ towers,
Her spirit struck senseless with love of Jason.
Sh wouldn’t have persuaded Pelias’ daughters to kill
Their father, she wouldn’t have settled her in Corinth,
With her husband and children. Sh tried to please
The people to whose land she had come, an exile,
And for her part to fit in with Jason in everything.
This, to my mind, is a woman’s greatest safety:
Not to take the opposite side from her husband.
But now – everything’s against her, her love is sick.
Jason betrayed his children and my mistress
(Euripides Medea lines 6-17)