Medea 1079: (My) Thumos is Greater

In lieu of the presumption that in line 1079 of the Medea is a genitive of comparison and that, therefore, the line must be read in the sense of A (thumos) is greater than B (bouleumata), the author proposes to begin again by reading the genitive as simply modifying thumos: “the thumos of my plans is greater.” But greater than what? Greater than the thumos of Jason’s plans. Medea’s novel bouleumata, that is, her plans to kill the children, will supplant Jason’s established bouleumata to marry Creusa. This approach, however, leads us back to a new rereading of the presumed comparative grammar of the line: A is greater than B; however, A is no longer Medea’s thumos, but rather the hypostasis of an ironically malevolent, tragi-heroic thumos that transcends the human agency of the scheming from which it arises. It is the song of this dæmonic thumos, which provides for a peculiarly tragic kleos superior to anything a male warrior could accomplish by simply dying courageously in battle, that will be sung by Euripides’ novel Muse of women.