Jason and the Golden Fleece

1. Jason and the Golden Fleece By: Katie Suppa, Kayla Rutledge, Brinda Sarathy, Carly Woodley, Adam Watkins

2. Jason Heroic Qualities • First Hero • Brave • Handsome • Resourceful • Persevering Flaws • Selfish • Never takes blame • Fickle • A bit of a jerk • Greedy

3. The Golden Fleece • A king married a second wife, but he already had two kids. The new queen wanted to kill them. • She created a fake famine, tricking the king into sacrificing his heir. • Before the king could kill the boy, a golden ram came and saved the boy and his sister. His sister fell into the sea and died, but the boy lived. • The boy sacrificed the ram to Zeus when he was safe, and gave the skin to the king of Colchis.

4. The Quest for the Golden Fleece • Jason, a distant relative of the young boy, was the heir of a kingdom. However, Jason's father lost the throne that belonged to Jason to his cousin, Pelias, and Jason fled. • Many years later, Jason came back. Now the king, Pelias was scared of him (he thought Jason would kill him, since he usurped the throne) and made Jason get the Golden Fleece in order to regain his throne, thinking Jason would die trying. However, Jason will return with the fleece and take his rightful throne back, by force • Jason gathered a group of people, called Argonauts, and they sailed off in the ship Argo.

5. The Quest for the Golden Fleece • They landed at Lemnos, an Island of all women. The women gave them food and wine, and then the Argonauts left. • They saved Phineus, an oracle, from the harpies. • In thanks, Phineus helped them get through the Clashing Rocks, which would have crushed them. • They passed the Amazons (warrior women) and managed to sneak by unharmed.

6. Colchis • They landed in the kingdom of Colchis, where the fleece was. King ᴁtes greeted them with food, baths, and a warm place to sleep before he asked them any questions. • The goddess Hera convinced Cupid to make Medea, the princess of Colchis, fall in love with Jason because she was smart and had magical powers. • The king of Colchis didn’t like Jason because he had heard a prophecy about the theft of the Golden Fleece and an eventual betrayal by his own family member, so he gave Jason an impossible task. The task was to plow a field with fiery bulls and then defeat many dragon-teethed men. Jason completed it with the help of Medea, who gave him a cream that made him invincible, showing that Jason could not be successful unless he had the aid of Medea. • The king didn't give him the fleece, so Jason and Medea stole it and fled. Jason also promised to marry Medea.

7. The Return Home • Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts escaped, but Medea's brother pursued them. Medea killed her own brother and chopped him up into pieces to stop the King from coming after them. • They got to Greece and found out Jason's father was dead. Jason's cousin, King Pelias, had told him that Jason was dead and he had killed himself from grief.

8. Jason's Revenge • Medea, using her sorcery, claimed to Pelias' daughters that she could make their father look young by chopping him up into pieces and boiling the pieces in a cauldron of water and magical herbs. She demonstrated this with an old ram that she turned into a lamb. The girls, sliced and diced their father and put him in the cauldron. Medea did not add magical herbs, and Pelias died. • Jason became the King, taking back his throne.

9. The End • Jason and Medea got married and had 2 kids. • Years later, Jason decided he didn’t love Medea anymore, and planned to marry the Princess of Corinth and exile Medea. • Medea went crazy with anger and jealousy. She killed the Princess of Corinth, then she killed her own sons so that they would not be imprisoned as a result of their mother's actions. . Medea then flew away in a chariot, never to be seen again. • Jason blamed all his problems on Medea

10. Motifs and Themes • Rags to Riches:Jason started out as the poor man but then became the king. • Forbidden Love: The Kind of Colchis did not want Jason and Medea to be together and he didn’t want Medea to run away with Jason. • Love conquers all: Although it did not end favorably, Medea's love for Jason won out, as she decided to ruin his future in redemption. • Pride goes before a fall: Jason begins to take Medea for granted, and displays excessive hubris. As a result, anyone he loves or values is killed by Medea, and while we don't see him go through a change in personality, he is left with nothing, and has learned the lesson of not being too prideful.

11. Major Archetypes Scapegoat The young boy (Phrixus) was going to be sacrificed to save the harvest The Hero Jason The Wise Old Man Phineus, the oracle the Argonauts saved The Island Colchis was isolated from everything and was a haven to Phrixus The Sea To the Argonauts it was an endless, open area filled with unknown dangers Divine Intervention Hera and Cupid made Medea fall in love with Jason The Quest Jason had to get the Golden Fleece

12. Story Summation • Jason was narcissistic and didn't really learn anything. He was very noble in the beginning, but as the story progressed, he became selfish and greedy. He also tended to blame other people for his problems. • Medea was originally helpful and kind but later turned jealous and cruel. She originally helped Jason without him asking due to her love, but then he became more selfish and kept asking her for things. Jason did not realize how dependent he was on Medea's powers and took her for granted, and she used her power for evil in the end. • They were both stubborn and unwilling to gain new insights on anything, however, it was not entirely Medea's fault, as she had been struck by Cupid's arrows and forced to love Jason.

13. Lessons or Cultural Values in the Story • Don't let your greed overtake your original values and motives. • Don’t take the people who help and love you for granted. • The Greeks valued smart, attractive, and brave people.