Jealousy is a construct closely related to the issue of love. When feelings run deeply within a person, the ending of a relationship may have drastic effects on the person left behind. In Euripides’ Medea, we see how extreme a scorned lover can be, in this case driven so mad by the actions of the man she thought loved her that Medea resorts to killing her own children. In this instance, Medea’s ruined love for Jason has overshadowed her maternal love so far that she kills her children and flees instead of letting go of her new hatred for Jason. In Placebo’s song the subject also becomes consumed by their need for revenge against a lover, ignoring the apology they have been given. It’s interesting that in both pieces being given an apology causes the woman to feel more wronged, taking the apology as another insult.
Both Placebo’s song and Medea highlight the danger of scorning a loved one to an extreme degree. Love and the choices we make surrounding it can have deadly consequences, especially when someone feels they have been wronged or cheated out of what is theres.
“I moan for the kind of task that I must proceed to accomplish. For I shall put the children to death-
My Children. No one will save them from me.
When I have utterly ruined all Jason’s house…”
Euripides’ Medea- lines 791-794