Step 2: Turn on highlighting and mark your strongest points. You can highlight single words, phrases, whole sentences, whole sentence clusters. Focus on capturing the most essential words that advance your argument

1. Dear Jason,<br /> I hope this letter finds you in ill health. This was all your fault for crossing me. I am a proud woman and I kill those who offend me. If people think me weak, they will find themselves mistaken. Medea is strong and deserves respect and proper treatment. <br /> You seduced me and caused me to defy my father, kill my brother and King Pelias. These actions, instead of bringing us prosperity, made us outcasts. Then you burdened us with children as I withered away my prime. Now, with no home, you abandon me for a younger wife, and then have the audacity to say to me that you are doing it for my benefit. It infuriates me that you think me so stupid and gullible as to believe your obvious lies. You’re nothing but a coward, a liar, and a cheat. For all your intentional misdeeds you deserve to suffer.<br /> My problem was that if I killed you, you would not suffer long enough. I wanted you to suffer for a long time, so instead I killed your loved ones. King Creon’s death means nothing to you. I killed him, not to punish you, but because he threatened me with exile, and no one threatens me and gets away with it. He was collateral damage. Killing the princess gave me joy. She had it coming. No one steals Medea’s man and gets away with it. I knew it would hurt you some, but not enough. You are a philanderer and could easily forget your affections for Cruesa and move on to your next female conquest, whom you would most likely do harm to because of your callous nature. <br /> I had to hurt the one thing I knew you loved in all this world -- your children. They were, alas, the only cudgel I had with which to beat you. Short of killing you, killing your children was the only way I could hurt you deeply enough to satisfy my desire for revenge.<br /> Had your deeds been tried before the Goddess Hecate of the night and Helios the Sun God, they would have ordered a similar punishment. Uranus imprisoned his children for life. Cronus devoured his children. I do not feel they would be disturbed by my bloody deed. It is how the gods themselves behave. Thus, my actions were just. May you live long and suffer dearly.<br />Your ex-wife, Medea<br />Dear Medea,<br />Your letter finds me a broken man. There is no joy or light in my life. I suffer every waking moment for the loss of my dear boys. You have succeeded in your desire to make me suffer. I hope you are satisfied.<br /> Your attempt to justify your actions and blame me, however, is full of holes. Logic and truth prove that you are the culprit deserving pain. First off is your claim to have helped me retrieve the Golden Fleece. It was Hera who helped me, and Aphrodite who sent Eros to enchant you with love for me. You succumbed to their spell and did evil to your father and brother because of your own uncontrollable passions. You did not have to kill your brother. You could have left the Argonauts to their fate. If King Aeëtes’ ships had caught up with ours, we would have fought them man to man, and may the best army win. I did not ask you to intercede by killing your brother. You did that on your own.<br /> You killed King Pelias also without consulting me. I could have predicted that the people of Iolcus would turn on you, even though Pelias was a brutal ruler. He was their brutal ruler, and you a sorceress from a foreign land. Had we worked together, we could have found a more peaceful way to obtain my rightful place on the throne. It is because of you that we became exiles.<br /> Though we shared two beautiful children and many happy years together, I had finally had enough of your constant bad temper. You have left too much death and bloodshed in your wake. You scare me. You are murderous. I fear for the welfare of people I associate with. I never know when you’re going to take offense and kill again. I fear for my own life. I believe your hatred to be stronger than your love.<br /> Your passions have control over your reason. This allows you to justify all the evil you did. The gods and their illusory existence be damned, the mortal truth which civilized people live by is that a mother’s bond with her children is sacred. Under no circumstances must a mother abandon her offspring. It is not in our mortal nature. Revenge because of pride, anger, and envy, is not a just cause to break that bond. <br />