Medusa: a Weapon of Modernity
"By it's very nature, history is always a one-sided account."
The most well-known version of Medusa’s myth- silences her voice, removes her from her own narrative, and then has her story told by her killer.
According to Ovid’s telling of the myth,
Medusa was a beautiful maiden, a Priestess of Athena, who was sexually assaulted by Poseidon in Athena’s temple. Athena punished Medusa by turning her hair into fearful snakes, capable of turning onlookers to stone. Eventually, Medusa was beheaded whilst pregnant (carrying Poseidon’s offspring, Pegasus and Chrysaor) by Perseus, who took her head and continued to use it as a weapon, turning enemies who looked upon it to stone — until he eventually returned the head to Athena, and went on to marry the princess Andromeda, who just so happened to be the most beautiful woman in the world at that time.
We never hear Medusa's experiences or sufferings recounted in her own voice—rather, the story emphasizes Medusa's role as a prize to be won, a symbol of Perseus' heroic victories, or a weapon to be used against his enemies.
But here’s the thing: Was Medusa’s curse really the short end of the stick or were we just conditioned to think so because of how the story has been written and re-written through the lens of the male gaze over the ages?
According to how the myth goes, after the assault, Medusa prayed to Athena for forgiveness, guidance and mercy on her broken vow of celibacy. Instead, Athena gave her a head full of snakes and a poisonous glare.
“Now, Athena was very much a Goddess in a God’s club at this point. But Athena wouldn’t – couldn’t – blame her priestess Medusa for being raped by her God enemy Poseidon. So, Athena protected Medusa at all costs.”
Medusa isn’t the story of a monster; it’s the story of a wronged woman and the female power against patriarchal forces.
Seen as a sign of safety and female autonomy, Medusa’s head was seen as a gift from Athena, to allow Medusa never to be harmed in that way again.
Most of Greek myths portray woman as shameful, deceitful, manipulative thus necessitating male domination in order to keep women from fragmenting society. Pandora was a plague to society as she released pain and suffering into the world and Aphrodite was considered disgraceful and manipulative for flaunting her beauty.
A woman can either be beautiful, virtuous, passive, kind, so that they can pacify the male gaze and be well behaved in the eyes of patriarchal society; or, she can be assertive, able to defend herself, not pandering to the male gaze’s ideals – in which case they are dangerous, the downfall of men and something to fear.
Even after her death, she was used as a weapon by Perseus, turning enemies who looked at her (decapitated head), into stone. The head was then returned to Athena, to put in on her shield ‘aegis’ as a way of enforcing her power of victory through death and destruction of her enemies.
“For her beauty she was raped, and for her ugliness she was murdered.” - takealookatyourlife on tumblr
If you look at some women’s shelters and safe houses even today, you’ll see Medusa’s head above the door.
Because Medusa wasn’t a monster. She was a woman who fell prey to the archaic society dominated by men and the male gaze.
sources referred:
https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/s1436180_tpg-sites-2020-2021sem1/2021/03/12/medusa/
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/
https://iahmedusa.home.blog/
https://hilo.hawaii.edu/campuscenter/hohonu/volumes/documents/Vol06x11OneWithHerShield.pdf
writer’s note
Special thanks to Vaani (
) for inspiring, helping and giving me enough courage and motivation to publish my written drafts.I wouldn’t have been able to do this without your guidance, thank you.
& to everyone who made it till the end, thank you for setting aside time from your day to read through this article.
I’ll try my best to have updates every other week :)
Love this amazing take !!!
Am amazing piece and so proud of you. The lens of objectivity is clearly seen through the perspective that u give this narrative and bewitching story. Reminds me of the story of 'Lolita'. Keep it up Eva