One of the prominent figures of Greek mythology, who is still discussed till date as the innocent woman who once lost her charm and alluring beauty to attain the façade of a hideous and fearsome figure under the hands of power, has been a symbol of several wide ideas, perceptions, beliefs and questions revolving around social, psychological and mythological sphere.
Commonly, Medusa is known as the mortal Goddess whose home lay at the entrance to the underworld. Also, she was worshipped as the serpent Goddess by the Libyan Amazons.
According to the Greek Mythology, Medusa was the daughter of Phorkys and Keto, the children of Gaia (Earth) and Okeanos (Ocean). She and her two sisters (Sthenno and Euryale) were known as the Gorgons, out of which Medusa was the only mortal. Her beauty was enthralling, which was further intensified by her long luscious hair, which created no dearth of suitors for her. Her beauty in fact rivaled that of Aphrodite’s.
However, her vanity was burnt down to ashes, the day she turned up at the temple of Athena (The Goddess of Wisdom) where she was believed to be a priestess; Poseidon (The God of the Sea) ravished her in turn, committing sacrilege at the temple. Out of severe outrage, Athena turned Medusa into a beastly form, giving her the destructive power to turn anyone who looked directly at her into stone. Though the thought of it seems like a grant of power to Medusa, but it was believed to be a curse on her as Athena found Medusa equally at fault for her actions.
Medusa’s altered self was said to be extremely unsightly, with her beautiful tresses cursed and transformed into deadly snakes, her protruding black tongue too long for her mouth, and her wings in the form of serpents, made even the thought of her to be frightening for any being.
She was known as the “Mistress of the West Gate of Death” since her place of rest lay on the side of the Western Ocean, at the entrance of the underworld.
Her death was marked by Perseus (a Greek mythic hero), who had to undertake a life threatening venture of retrieving Medusa’s head in order to rescue his mother Danaë from King Polydectes, who was in love with her. With the help of Athena and Hermes (the great messenger of the Gods and a guide to the underworld), he went to behead Medusa by using a pair of magic winged sandals, a cap, a pouch and a mirror-like shield. He beheaded her and killed her by viewing her image in the mirror of his shield rather than looking at her directly, in order to avoid turning into a stone himself. On decapitating her head, emerged her offspring, the winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor (a giant winged boar), who became the King of Iberia.
The chief connotation being the fall of vanity to beastliness, can be considered either tragic or as an act of revelation towards the age old belief of man being supreme and to showcase the violent and oppressive male oriented culture.
Athena turned Medusa into a beastly figure that every man feared. The snakes on her head are also a symbol of castration, a negative connotation with respect to an individual’s manhood. Men feared Medusa; she was an embodiment of unmatched power and destruction. Hence, this particular instance brings out the hidden desire of liberating a woman’s powerful self from the age old confinement. It also carries certain extremely feminist connotations under the same light.
According to modern beliefs, Medusa’s ugly and monstrous face is nothing but a symbol of Nihilism (negation from meaningful aspects of life.). The idea of turning into a stone after looking at Medusa’s face represents the superficially depressing reality that the universe is meaningless.
Medusa’s fascinating tale also revolves around the world of psychoanalysis where eminent writers like Sigmund Freud have presented their own interpretations of Medusa’s beheaded self. It is believed to focus on the sexual behavior of men, also known as “Castration Complex”. In other words, it signifies how the snakes on Medusa’s head represent male endowments; and her decapitated self is nothing but a symbol of threat of losing the very gift of manhood. Moreover, the powerful virgin Goddess Athena keeps Medusa’s head close to herself after Pursues hands it over to her when he finally rescues his mother. The head, being a symbol of castration, a symbol of horror, makes Athena unapproachable, and repels all sexual desire.
Alas! What we come across from this Greek mythology is not only an intriguing fable, but also the tryst to explore wider forms of social and psychological possibilities. A step taken ages back in order to confront several limitations, in order to liberate an equal form of being. It also provides a rich texture of Greek history and how it’s linked to several other regions, as Medusa is known as Anath (the destroyer aspect of the triple God) in North Africa and Crete; Medha in Sanskrit and Maat in Egyption, both stand for “sovereign female wisdom”.
Therefore, it isn’t just a tragic story of a damsel in distress. Its way deeper as it allows itself to sync into your mind in several forms, pouring light on the life of the dark mistress. Let her in your mind astray…
