Zachary Waskowicz

"I changed my shirt...the walls thin and uninsulated, peeling...at the seams.  Made me feel like manny could see me before I even stepped outside.  I wondered if Medea felt this way before she...[met] Jason for the first time.  Like a hard wind...set her to shaking" (7).

      This quote is the first time mention of Medea is introduced to the narrative.  Esch is struck with the same kind of sudden anamourment that Medea felt after cupids arrow hit her.  They both share a level of unfamiliarity with the person who their affections are directed at.  Both the caracters who have Esch's and Medea's affections share the same manliness.  The parralels in the begining are very solid. The first quote sets the tone for the rest of the times when Medea is mentioned, making "The Quest of the Golden Fleece" a template for those events.  Both Manny's and Jason's love interests betray their respective partners around the time of conceiving or bearing a child.  Both Esch and Medea attack their lovers due to their rage.  At one point Medea kills her two children, which gives her valid revenge on Jason.  Esch considers doing the same thing, but decides not to.  This is when the two stories break off and Esch begins to realize her own strength as a person.  She doesn't let fate or poor luck stop her in the end, wheras fate and the will of the gods influences all Greek myths.

      This painting depicts a love drunk Medea using her powers to make a potion for Jason.  This potion allows Jason to complete the trials set forth by Medea's father.  The painting was created by John William Waterhouse in 1907.

      This picture comes from the last panel of a webcomic I read called Homestuck (written by Andrew Hussie).  This particular character (known as Calliope) shares similarities to Esch in terms of struggle and eventual empowerment.  Esch faces the forces of a her father's abuse, manny's abuse after he realizes she is pregnant, and an oncoming storm.  Esch's motherhood is frowned upon by Manny, and he casts her aside as a weak charater. She finds power to persist through her emotional torment through her brothers.  She acts as a mother figure for her siblings and she recieves respect and emotional support in turn.  This empowers Esch to persist through her tough times and come out a strong female character immune to her torment.

      Calliope faces her brother's abuse which she can never escape.  Her role in Homestuck is that of the Muse, making her (at face value) weak.  She is predetermined to die due to her role in order to insipre the main characters.  This makes fate, which is regared as a force of nature, another struggle she faces.  Her brother Caliborn, who has the most powerful role of Lord within Homestuck, overpowers her and constantly torments her for lacking any strength.  However, she is able to interract with the main characters and watch out for them, warining them about her brother and doing whatever she can to keep him away from them.  The main characters regard her as a helpful and almost motherly figure who gives them adivce and in turn gains their respect.  At the end, despite her fate and the odds of winning, she gains power from the characters she's inspired, and uses that to seal off caliborn for good.  Though entirely different settings, this is similar to Esch's emotional power that is gained from her siblings.  Both characters find strengths within themselves through the people they protect.  Their newfound self-confidence allows them to overcome the abuse and misfortune that they face.