Many people have heard of Medusa's legend and how she transforms into stone when seen in the eyes, but few people are aware of the story's origins and, even fewer, are aware that there are other versions of the story. The purpose of this article is to introduce one of these versions and to show its case to contemporary society in order to do a gender analysis of how a woman who falls victim to seduction or is classified as a seductress is treated.
Medusa was one of the three Gorgonas, daughters of Forcys and Ceto, sisters of Greas, Echidna, and Ladon, all t and terrifying beasts.
Medusa, a beautiful mortal, was the family's outlier until she suffered Atenea's wrath, whether it was due to her jactance or a disastrous romance with Poseidón.
Medusa is a Greek name that means "guardian or defender."
In general, in mythology, she was a ctonic female monster who turned those who stared at her with their eyes fixed on her into stone.
Perseus decapitated her and used her head as an arma until she surrendered it to the goddess Atenea, who placed it in her escudo, the égida.
The image of Medusa's head has been shown in the artilugio that stands in for the infamous Gorgoneion since antiquity.
But, is it true that Medusa was always a monster? How did I end up in this situation?
In other versions of the legend, Medusa is depicted as a monstrous creature who seduced Poseidon and therefore was cursed. In another version, she was a guardian of Atenea's temple who seduced Poseidón by demonstrating that she was more important, beautiful, and intelligent than the goddess herself; in this situation, Atenea responds indignantly to the profanation of her temple and Medusa's osada, for which the latter is desterrada, and upon learning that she is pregnant, she orders her to be killed. When Perseo's head is cut off, his two sons emerge, and from the drained blood, the escorpions and serpients of the desert are born.
According to the version of the myth we'll look at, Medusa was a member of the Gorgons. Medusa had a distinguishing feature that set her apart from the other gorgonas: she was the only mortal and the most beautiful of her sisters.
Poseidón became so enamored of her that he seduced her at the Temple of Atenea after falling in love with her. In other versions, this is referred to as a violación. As a result, the rivalry between Atenea and Poseidón grew. Atenea's rage was so great that her first reaction was to punish Medusa, turning her into a monster like her two sisters, Esteno and Eurale. Both were monstrosities, with metal hands, affixed collars, and light-emitting eyes, and anyone who looked at them directly became petrified. Atenea saw Medusa's beautiful hair and became enraged, turning her hair into serpents and forcing her to live in the hyperborean lands.
Because of the idilio that existed between Poseidón and Medusa, an embarazo arose, prompting Atenea to order Perseo to kill Medusa, who had to use aladas sandalias that Hermes had given him, Hades' invisibility casco, an espada, and an escudo espejado. I went to see the Grayas to see if they could tell me where the gorgonas' cave was. Perseo completed his mission, waiting for Medusa to fall asleep in her guarida, and flying with his sandals, he was able to position himself in front of her without having to look at her directly, only observing the reflection. Atenea was guiding his hand, and as a result, he cut off his head in a single act. Pegaso and the colossal Crisaor sprang from Medusa's head. Medusa's head was given to Atenea, who used it as an escudo in all of her battles, just as Perseo had done previously to resuscitate Andrómeda and kill Polidectes.
In this version of the legend —which is the most well-known— we see how a woman is punished by another for disclosing her amorous idilio, which reminds us of the sexual repression that still exists among women and how a woman is "sealada" by society and, in particular, by the women of that society when this occurs. In this case, he is punished physically, psychologically, and socially, because after being considered beautiful and thus seductress, he is transformed into a monstrous creature similar to his sisters, whose cabellera is transformed into serpients by the celos, and he is banished to the dungeon, robbing him of the opportunity to form an amorous or sexual relationship in the future.
This brings to mind an incident that occurred in the Puebla Sierra, in which a rumor circulated within a community that a young woman had had sexual relations with a well-known member of the community, and the woman's esposa, upon learning of the rumor, gathered a group of friends to go to the young woman's house, golpe her, and drag her naked to the village plaza. This action had two goals: the first was to "seal" or "evidencia" the "seductora" so that other women would "they will take care of their husbands" so that they would not "fall into their networks," and the second was to serve as an example so that no other woman would commit such an act. However, not only were these goals met, because she was not only "rejected" by the women and her family, but also by the men, who began to regard her as a prostitute or "mujerzuela," robbing her of the opportunity to "form a family" within that society. As a result, she was "privied" of the opportunity to "form a family," and she "had" to leave the community to "escape."
Something worth noting about the myth is that it never mentions the punishment meted out to the man, despite the fact that the story claims Poseidón was the one who seduced him; instead, it seeks out another man, Perseo, who is aided by other men, Hermes and Hades, in order to rectify the wrongdoing. In the case of what happened in Puebla, there was no evidence of a retaliation against the man, nor was there any mention of a confrontation between him and his wife, because the culpable is presumed to be the woman, based on the proverb "the man goes as far as the woman wants" and no one knows if the rumor was true.
Within the myth, Medusa is exiled from society as a punishment for what has occurred, and there are still cases where a woman who "mancills" her honor by having extramarital affairs and becoming pregnant is exiled from her family as a way of "clean the name". The hombre is usually to blame for what has happened, because he may believe that it is her "obligation" to "take care" in order to avoid conceiving, and if this is the case, some men may interpret it as "a way to tie it to the relationship" in which case the appropriate response is to withdraw and leave the woman "with her problem."
This ambiguity about women is clearly reflected here, as if one considers a woman to be seductress, she is classified as negative, bad, or traitorous; on the other hand, if one considers a woman to be submissive, receptive, or difficult to the will of another, she is classified as good. It's also possible to discard the popular notion among men that "there are two types of women: those who divorce and those who marry," thereby minimizing the importance of a woman's personality and dismissing the possibility of a woman being "good" socially while also enjoying her sexuality by displaying sensual or seducing behavior.
The questions that will linger in the air are: how many Medusas are there today?, or how many times have men acted as Poseidon or Perseo? , how many times has a woman been treated as Atenea treated Medusa? In another sense, how many times have we been treated like Medusa?
By definition, a legend is an imagined event that people believe to be true; in this case, we can see how we've brought a legend into everyday life, and it appears that we've been passing it down from generation to generation.
Interesting article. Fascinating!