The Myth of Perseus

The myth of Perseus and his slaying of the only mortal Gorgon, Medusa has its origins in Greek mythology which portray the ancient Greek societies social values, expectations and punishments. It denotes coming of age, and growing old; beauty and ugliness; the mystery of love and marriage; and indicates the use of alienation as a form of repentance or punishment.

The myth of Medusa is a tale of Perseus, son of Danae, and grandson of Acrisius who was king of Argos. An oracle warned Acrisius that a son born to his daughter Danae would kill him. This led him to proceed in an ogre-like, self-preserving manner by locking his only daughter underground in solitude. Despite his best attempts he could not prevent Zeus from falling in love with her and impregnating her with Perseus through a shower of gold. Upon finding the child, Acrisius intended to have his daughter and grandson killed by placing then in a chest and pushing it into the sea. Sentencing someone to death by indirect methods such as natural forces and drowning was a way to avoiding being contaminated from miasma and serve as a way of avoiding guilt which would be caused by being directly responsible for ones death. The ancient author Simonides describes Danae's experience at sea as she begs Zeus for help in fragment 38. "O father Zeus, send blessed relief! With humble and righteous heart I implore you!" Unexpectedly, Diktys, a fisherman and a relative of the king Polydectes rescued Danae and Perseus. Diktys took them to the island of Seriphos and where he allowed them the live.

The main source of conflict in the myth arises from Polydectes who peruses a romantic relationship with Danae, which is highly opposed by Perseus. Upon Danae's rejection of Polydectes intentions, Polydectes pretended to marry another woman, which entitled him to demand a bride price from all of his people. Full of passion Perseus exaggeratedly and foolishly stated:

"If it meant you'd leave my mother alone, I'd gladly give you anything I owned - which unfortunately is precious little. Horses, chariot, gems, you name it - if I had 'em, they'd be yours. The sweat of my brow, the gain of my strong right arm, whatever. I'd go out and run the marathon if they were holding the Olympics this year. I'd scour the seas for treasure, I'd quest to the ends of the earth. Why, I'd even bring back the head of Medusa herself if I had it in my power."

Perseus only realized the fault in his words after Polydectes had agreed to accept Medusas head as a gift, thinking that he would never return and remove resistance to his advances on Danae. Honoring his word, Perseus now had a great challenge to accomplish. With the help of Hermes, Athena, the Nymphs and the Graiae sisters, he was equipped with a sickle shaped sword, winged sandals, a mirror shield, a special bag, and the cap of Hades that would make him invisible.

Perseus journeyed to the edge of the Ocean where the Gorgon sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa lived. It is believed that the sisters were extremely ugly with serpents for hair, wide tusks and glaring eyes that turned any man who looked at them into stone. Perseus managed to cut the head of Medusa and bring it back to Polydectes who carelessly looked at the head and was turned to stone. On the way back he also rescued and married Andromeda whom he fell in love with. Later