Perseus and Medusa - Feb 28

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. So, let us talk about Medusa for a change.

Why? She is a fad. Let us begin.

Medusa’s origins are vaguer than you might think. In the modern version, she was a human transformed into a monster by Athena. Originally, she was never human, but some sort of a supernatural entity who was slain by Perseus in exchange for his mother’s freedom. Expanding further, we learn that Perseus was a son of Zeus. His mortal grandfather, Acrisius, put both him and his mother into a chest and set them adrift, for the oracle foretold that his grandson – i.e. Perseus – would end him. Acrisius tried to defy fate, but failed ultimately; this part of Perseus’ story is often left out, so let us put it aside for later. What next?

…Danae and Perseus ended on the island of Seriphos, whose king, Polydectes, wanted to marry Danae, but she refused. Since this myth is really a Bronze Age fairy tale, Danae managed to defy the king until Perseus became of age. Therefore, king Polydectes declared that he is marrying someone else and that everyone should bring them a present. Danae and Perseus were poor, so Perseus could not afford one, so the king sent him after Medusa’s head. The rest is known well, except for the death of Acrisius: he was the king of Argos, so when he heard that his demigod grandson was coming to visit, he fled, and lived in hiding for many years, until there were some proto-Olympian games. Acrisius attended them in disguise. Perseus was participating in discus throwing, and threw his discus so hard that it hit the audience stands, killing Acrisius. Therefore, Perseus had to purify himself, and leave Argos for several years – but that is another story. Back to Medusa?

Her role in the story is quite passive, in fact. Whatever her backstory is, when Perseus arrives, she is just there, confident that her deadly gaze will protect her. Since Perseus arrives fully equipped, (in the original, antique versions anyhow), she is slain instead, and – wait.

In the modern versions, Perseus uses Medusa’s head as an ultimate weapon, but originally – he did not. When it came to Andromeda, Perseus killed both the sea monster and her original suitor the old-fashioned way – wait. No, he didn’t… but what original groom?

After slaying the sea monster, (without using the head), Perseus and Andromeda have their wedding, and on the feast in walks Andromeda’s former suitor with a small army. He tries to force Perseus to back down, but Perseus stands is ground, and proceeds to slaughter a lot of enemy warriors, before he does have enough and uses Medusa’s head to petrify all those who remain, including the original suitor. (His name was Phineas, supposedly). Pause. You do not usually see this part of the myth in the modern interpretations either. However, what about Medusa?

In fact, she is a fad. Originally, she was the embodiment of death, a death goddess, the female counterpart to Thanatos, perhaps. Unlike modern depictions of her as a snake-woman, originally she had both arms and legs as well as a pair of wings, so she was quite mobile and could even fly. It goes for Thanatos too, but Medusa did conflict with the Olympian pantheon, especially Athena, and was destroyed; her head is carried either by Athena or by Zeus himself, perhaps signifying that the Olympians are immortal and are greater than death itself. Of Medusa there is just the Perseus’ myth, of Thanatos – slightly more, but not much. Pause.

…If one treats Medusa as a fallen deity that became a mortal monster, then her story does become more interesting rather than just a mortal woman physically mutated into a monster; as a story of victim abuse, Medusa’s modern story is tragic, of course, but also limited; there’s nothing new, no divergence…

Natalie Haynes’ novel ‘Stone Blind’ is just another retelling of the same old story, with some new details, but the focus is mostly on Medusa and her backstory, (here she’s the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, at least); plus, in this novel the female characters are mostly positive, while the male are mostly negative – must be politically progressive, of course.

Bernard Evslin’s ‘Medusa’ book was written in the late 20^th century, quite earlier than ‘Stone Blind’ was, and this book, while quite slimmer than ‘Stone Blind’ is, manages to make Medusa a tragic character, while keeping Perseus the protagonist, and giving the entire Medusa-Danae-Perseus-Andromeda story an original twist – but Mr. Evslin wasn’t concerned with socio-politics unlike Ms. Haynes is, but we talked about her several times before, and let’s not start again.

So, in conclusion, Medusa’s story became quite limited, as is Perseus’; they are depicted in CGI online, but it is the same story, and as such, it risks to become unfashionable and forgotten; guess that the Olympians are having the last laugh over the gorgons’ after all. However, this is real life. It sucks.

…This is it for now. See you all soon.