Daniel Levine 

Professor Toohey 

ENG 170-28 

Monsters Research Paper 

7 May 2024 

   The Tragedy of Medusa 

Medusa comes from the Greek pantheon and throughout its vast and rich history is one of, if not the most well-known monster that comes from the pantheon. Her influence throughout history is so impactful that her concept has seeped into every facet of people’s lives. Her story is sad to say the least and her transformation into one of history’s most notorious monsters is one that will be studied for years to come. She is a monster due to her tendency to take pleasure in wrongdoings, but not without reason as she was not always the beast she is shown as. While being a monster, she still is related to some of the most influential beings within her realm, and in most portrayals of her character in the media she is constantly related to other characters from the initial story she is based on. To further extend on this point, her influence in media knows no bounds as she constantly is used as an icon for women around the world in correlation with the feminist movement, character design in video games, movies, and books, as well as design in clothing. What really separates her from her peers is that she is much more cognizant about herself and what she is capable of, which is why she is usually secluded away from everyone and everything as she does not want to intentionally endanger people. She is not a monster at heart and the only reason she is really called one is based on her physical appearance, but in every story any action that would guarantee the title is not without reason as she did not want to become what she ended up being. Overall Medusa is a monster only defined by her inhuman physical attributes, and her actions with malicious intent were not without reason. 

Medusa’s family is complicated to say the least, her family tree is all over the place with some of the most well-known figures in all of Greek mythology. Her parents Phorcys and Ceto were gods in their own right having control over the sea, they created Medusa and her two sisters Stheno and Euryale. “Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, daughters of the sea gods Phorcys and Ceto. The other two Gorgons were named Stheno and Euryale. Medusa was the only one of the three who was not immortal” (Kapach). So due to her mortality she was ostracized at an early age.  Her one and only lover was Poseidon, one of the three core gods of mount olympus along with Zeus and Hades. Her only children were Chrysaor and Pegasus both bearing striking similarities but also important differences. Chrysaor had a humanoid appearance and his history is not as in depth as his brother due to his only important factor being that he was a warrior with a golden sword. However Pegasus was a winged horse that would soon be tamed by the hero Bellerophon where he was cemented as the hero’s steed and would have influence in much of future media. It should also be noted that her offspring were only brought into the world due to her death at the hands of Perseus, where out of her body the two beings sprung out of her neck. After this event her sisters were notified of their sister’s untimely death and tried to avenge her the best they could. But with Perseus being equipped with the cap of invisibility from hades, and Hermes’ winged sandals, they could not catch him. After this they both went their separate ways again and mourned the death of their sister while she was being taken as a trophy. “The Gorgons were awoken by the noise and did their best to avenge the death of her sister, but they could neither see nor catch Perseus, for he was wearing Hades’ Cap of Invisibility and Hermes’ winged sandals” (Greekmythology.com). Overall her family was twisted with many tragic events that shaped the world around them. 

To find the catalyst to Medusa’s rise monstrosity status, her origins of how she came to must be discussed. When she initially was born, she came out as a gorgon or a human snake hybrid. Regardless of her scaly lower half, her beauty was almost unmatched amongst mortals and even gathered the attention of Poseidon himself. After a bit of time Poseidon and Medusa had an affair within Athena’s temple, what Medusa did not realize is that Athena was in a relationship with Poseidon at the time and this action incurred her wrath. “Overwhelmed by his desire for her, Poseidon violated the sanctity of Athena’s temple by seducing Medusa within its sacred walls” (greekmyth.org, snake haired). As a result, Athena cursed Medusa, by changing her beautiful hair to a mane of snakes and distorting her face to resemble more of a boar with tusks, this along with the fact that Medusa now had a petrifying gaze turning anyone that meets her eyes to stone, caused her to be banished. After being thrown away by society she lived in solitude until word of her heinous appearance was caught by many heroes. One by one they would invade her home and try to slay her but to no avail, none of them knew about her gaze and would be immediately killed on sight. Until one hero known as Perseus was tasked by the gods to slay her and take her head, accompanied by his divine gifts he was able to kill the gorgon. Right after her death, her two offspring were sprung into the world known as Pegasus and Chrysaor. Perseus then took her head as a trophy to the one who put the curse on her in the first place, Athena, with her power still residing in her head she was used as a tool by the gods. “With a swift strike, Perseus severed the head of Medusa from her body, claiming victory over the terrifying monster. The moment of her death marked a momentous turning point in her story” (greekmyth.org, Perseus and Medusa). She was punished for something that was not her fault and was transformed into a monster because of it, where she then was cast away to live in isolation where she stayed, until people came to her home trying to kill her for merely existing. This is why the story of her life is a tragedy and should never be misinterpreted. 

Medusa has been prevalent in the media for an extremely long time, and her overall influence has not diminished in the years that followed. Her aura of fear is something that has been sought after by artists to enthrall their audiences into examining the piece of art. The tale that was weaved from her life has affected generations of writers into adapting their stories based on the premise of Medusa’s origin. As a testament to her story, she has become the leading symbol of female power and resilience, where she is often put along with the feminist movement which embodies the power of women who refuse to be oppressed. Her story was also the first example of a man who blames the victim for the rape, which caused her to become a prevalent figure in the MeToo movement. “Modern literary experts also point to the legend as one of the first times in history when men blamed a victim for her rape” (greekgodsandgoddesses, Medusa and Feminism). As a result of all this Medusa especially within the past few years has seen a surge in popularity as the movements have only increased in followers and supporters. Her iconic look as well has been in many forms of media from the likes of movies to video games. One example of this being within the video game Dungeons and Dragons where she is one of the most feared monsters within the game. The Percy Jackson series has also aided in the spike in popularity for Medusa as within the book series, tv shows, and movies, she is always towards the beginning of each media signifying Perseus’s story beginning and his legend waiting to unfold. Her most noticeable feature in her head has been used throughout fashion as a logo for one of the industry’s most impactful and important companies with Versace. The creator of the Versace chose to use her head as he wanted a symbol with power, beauty, and a small bit of danger, which allowed for Versace to become one of the most recognizable and sought after brands in the world.” Gianni Versace chose the Medusa head logo after remembering seeing it in ancient ruins he and his siblings played in as children. Gianni pulled this image from his childhood memory, like the myth, unable to look away from Medusa for too long” (Layne). Throughout the media she symbolizes the power, anger, and beauty of women all around the world with her story. 

Medusa is well known for her story, snake hair, and petrifying gaze, but throughout her iterations multiple other symbols have risen that are related to her and also come with deeper meanings. The first and most popular of the many symbols is the gorgon’s head which is used as a symbol for the power of fear and the underlying aspect of turning a burden or curse into something more. Another one of her symbols is the mirror and reflection, this is more correlated with her relationship with perseus as he used a mirror to slay Medusa in her story. It was said that medusa tried her stare on Perseus and through the use of his shield given to him by Athena, Medusa looked at herself and she became stone. This suggests themes of learning to deal with the potentially dangerous truth and facing one’s fears indirectly. In some depictions Medusa has wings which represents the want for freedom from her past while also showing the dichotomy between her original unparalleled beauty and her new horrific visage. Blood which Medusa symbolizes through her two sons emerging from her neck post death is reminiscent of life and creation as she is springing life from her death. And the last symbol which is the most recent one, is female empowerment, her story resonates with the themes of feminism and the metoo movement. This shows the amount of things she has inspired throughout her short time alive and how it will live on for years to come.  

Medusa’s various interpretations add on to the fact that she is a monster based on how she is an enemy of someone in every story and that in each iteration she has a monstrous appearance. In the version of the story written by Greek author Athenaeus, the gorgons were beasts with long hair and that it wasn’t a curse that caused them to kill their prey, but their sheer image. “According to Athenaeus, a Greek author who lived during the late second and early third centuries CE, the Gorgons were long-haired beasts, so terrifying that all who looked upon them were paralyzed and killed” (Kapach). Other authors thought that instead of the three sisters and their snake-like appearance, they were an entire ancient race of hairy women that were wiped out by Heracles after he traveled through Libya. The most important thing about these various versions of the stories, is that in each one the gorgons or more importantly Medusa never meant to harm people and also did not do any actions to provoke anger from other people. She is a monster based on her appearance and that alone, due to societal implications of relating inhuman like physical attributes to monstrous creatures. As a result Medusa was realistically never given a chance to actually do any good, she was forced into an affair by Poseidon and when Athena found out she punished Medusa instead of Poseidon, when she didn’t want to be with her in the first place. Which relates back to how the story of Medusa has serious undertones of rape and predator like behavior from the gods that she worshiped. Overall regardless of how someone views the story of Medusa she will always have that title hanging over her head as a reminder of the wrong that was done to her, and yet she still gets blame for her actions which only fuels her anger which she hides away along with herself from the populus. 

Medusa’s intimal introduction into Greek mythology has inspired thousands of people all over the globe to dig deeper into the rich history that surrounds her. Her tragedy ridden story is one that so influenced the people that read it, to the point where Medusa is now a symbol or more closely an icon for feminism and other related women empowering movements. Her title as Greek mythology’s greatest monster is only accurate due to her physical appearance post the curse being set upon her. At the core of her being, she is not a monster and should be established as a misunderstood poorly represented person within Greek history. Her iconic appearance has inspired companies to use her likeness as their logo like with Versace, as well as many other forms of media from tv shows to movies, adapting her character or likeness into their own respective mediums. Medusa’s awareness of the legend that soon surrounded her caused her to go into hiding and try to isolate herself to prevent others from dying by her hands, be it directly or indirectly. The other monsters in the pantheon that share that title differ vastly from Medusa as she is confined within the status of a beast, with comparisons drawn to creatures much more heinous and monstrous than Medusa ever was. When one thinks of a monster, usually the first characteristic is the monster being evil, with malice in their heart, and enjoys doing unspeakable acts whenever they please. But this does not match Medusa whatsoever, her story dictates that she was innocent through and through, she did not seduce Poseidon and intentionally anger Athena, it was Poseidon’s fault, and she was the one who took the blame. This sparked massive inspiration and provided a symbol for women all around the world who have been in similar situations that include rape and other sexual assault based crimes. Also this goes to show how much people like to pick and choose what aspects of characters they will acknowledge as for most of the main Greek pantheon which includes Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and many others, the majority of them are horrible people and should be perceived by their actions and by the symbols they represent as there image does not correlate with their actions whatsoever.  Overall Medusa is a misunderstood character that through her story portrays intricate problems that were way ahead of the time with how Medusa was raped and that she was persecuted regardless and is a shining symbol of power and intensity for women around the world who have been cast aside without anyone caring about them or the problems that they face.

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