"This wrath new-born
Shall make mad workings ere it die.
..."See in text(The Medea)
Notice that the nurse characterizes Medea’s rage as a “new-born;” Medea’s murderous revenge is a personified separate entity from the sorceress, as if it were her child. The term “new-born” also means new infant. In this way, Medea’s rage supplants her actual children. The nurse predicts that this rage will cause disaster before it disappears and once again foreshadows that the story will have a tragic ending.
The house was a main component of oikos. The family, its house, and all of the relatives, pets, and slaves who lived in the house were under the family’s protection. Here the house is personified as being able to see “grief” and “joy” and create “love” within the chorus leader. The house becomes the central location of the family and a physical embodiment of their bond. There being “no house” means the family itself, and its oikos, has been destroyed.
