Outside Medea’s house in the ancient city of Corinth, the Nurse explains Medea’s situation. She wishes that Medea’s ex-husband Jason and his famous ship, the Argo, had never sailed to Medea’s homeland of Colchis to secure the Golden Fleece. A witch, Medea used her magic to help Jason in his adventures. From there the couple returned to Jason’s kingdom of Iolcus, where Medea orchestrated the death of Jason’s uncle Pelias, the usurper of Jason’s throne. Exiled from both Colchis and Iolcus, Jason, Medea, and their two sons now live in Corinth.

Medea, the Nurse says, is “a refugee who’s won respect, admired—stable, / domestic—supporting her husband as she should,” but Jason decided to suddenly divorce her and marry a local Corinthian princess, the daughter of King Creon (11-12). After this betrayal, Medea vacillates between absolute rage and numbing grief. She recounts the vows Jason made to her and emphasizes, before the gods, that she has upheld her end of the bargain, both as Jason’s comrade and as his wife (14-22). She has come to loathe her children by Jason, and the Nurse fears what she might do to them. Medea is “fueled,” she describes, “by her vengeful temper […] She is dangerous” (34-35).