I.Summary: Perseus and the Gordon Medusa begins when Polydektes falls in love with Perseus’ Mother, Danae. Polydektes realizes that he will not obtain Perseus approval over the courtship, but determined to win Danae’s love “by fair means of foul.” Polydektes comes up with a scheme to take Perseus out of the picture. Polydektes pretends to be in love with Hippodameia, Polydektes goes collecting horses as a gift for his bride. “Perseus, when asked for his donation, boasted that if necessary he would even fetch the head if the Gordon Medusa, so Polydektes took him up on his offer, sure that her could never return alive.” Perseus embarks on his mission, Athene and Hermes offer their divine help. Athene and Hermes counsel him to go and find a nymph who can lend help for his mission, he follows their advice. Perseus obtains: winged sandals, A cap of darkness, A special bag to carry Medusas severed head, and a sickle of adamant. He begins his travels and finds Medusa asleep, Athene assist in the beheading of Medusa by guiding Perseus’ hand that held the sickle. Perseus obtains the head of Medusa and begins his journey home. Upon his arrival home he finds his mother being wrongfully persecuted by Polydektes, Perseus uses the head of Medusa to turn him into stone. Perseus mission successfully completed returned all of his aids back to Hermes and Medusa’s head back to Athene, “She put it in the centre of her breastplate as a threat to her enemies”(March 170-175).
II. Focus the question: Perseus is a hero full of courage and passion. He is an ultimate hero who lives for adventure, which is how he got himself into the predicament of having to behead Medusa. With the knowledge of the difficulty of this mission. Perseus could not back down. What makes Perseus a great hero is his ability to understand that he cannot defeat Medusa without the help of Athene and Hermes. A. What is Athene a representation of throughout this myth? Athene represents the idea of Logic, One cannot go and conquer battles on pure passion and courage alone. Perseus had an abundance of Heroic qualities, but lacked in logical conscious. Without Athene’s council, the reader can assume that Perseus would have lost his battle against Medusa. Perseus is thankful of the help from Athene that he gives Medusa’s head to her as a gift, she then placed the head in her breastplate to scare away her enemies. B. We know that Perseus is a hero but does he show un hero like behavior at times? Perseus may seem to be a ultimate hero, courages ready for any challenge that comes his way. Some of Perseus behavior shows un hero like qualities, such as from the beginning her should not have made the suggestion to behead Medusa. Perseus seems to be seeking out the challenge rather than the challenge occurring organically. This shows the arrogance of Perseus which is not a heroic quality. C. Was is right for Perseus to behead Medusa? Along with questioning his hero behavior, we wonder why does Perseus choose to behead Medusa. From the information the reader has it seems as if Medusa does not cause any conflict between Perseus and herself. The reader knows that Medusa is a hideous monster but is that any reason for our hero to seek out and kill her. Perseus beheading medusa seems un just, Medusa did not provoke any dispute between Perseus and Polydektes. Understandably Medusa is a representation of intimidation and fear, but it is no reason to seek out and kill when there is no reason for her murder. D. Why choose to behead Medusa? Medusa is a symbol of fear, her ability to turn men into stone just from a glance brings terror. She is a symbol of feminine power, during a time where a majority of power was only held by men. E. Did Athene have alternative motives in helping Perseus? from what the reader can gather, Athene and Medusa seem to have quite a past between them. Medusa was said to have been a beautiful woman at one point, one day while she was praying in Athene’s temple Poseidon, the god of the sea, notices her and is overcome by lust toward her. Athene is not pleased to know all this happened in her temple and punishes Medusa for seducing Poseidon. Athene gives council and aid in Perseus mission to kill Medusa. Is it valid to say the Perseus was the one who killed Medusa, Athene was the one who guided the hand of Perseus. Does this count as a heroic act by Perseus when the aid he received from Athene was so grand.
Unpack broad terms. A.The name Perseus is said to derive from the Greek word Pertho, which means to destroy. Perseus really is a destroyer, he seeks out to be the hero, he finds any reason possible to fight and show off his heroism. His drive to become a hero is why the gods Hermes and Athene decided to give him divine council, they were able to see the desire and potential of this young man to handle such an impossible task.
Make Connections A. This story can be related to the readers life, often in life difficult task or situations arise this story shows that with perseverance one can overcome any obstacle set before them. Perseus showed a great amount of self confidence in himself, he believed that he could defeat Medusa therefor by him believing he was able to defeat the monster, it gave him the reassurance in himself. B. Many of us would like to believe that we can handle difficult situations by ourselves, or feel as if we must handle these situation by ourself for pride reasons. Perseus shows that sometimes in situations you must take the council and aid of those who want to help. If Perseus would have refused the aid of Hermes and Athene, Slaying Medusa would have not been possible. Perseus was able to see he was over his head and when offered help instead of being prideful and rejecting help, like many hero stereotypes often do.
Deny the usual associations: A. The story of Perseus is filled with strong woman character roles. It is commonly believed that this story may be a little stereotypical toward women, either the woman is a damsel in distress seeking a man to save her, or she is an ugly monster who is prejudice against men. This story is often looked at as Perseus being the hero of this story, but in reality the hero all along is Athene who is in control over Perseus. This represents the power woman hold over men and how behind every successful heroic man is a woman calling the shots. Men are thought to believe they are in control when in reality they are being manipulation by women B. Perseus is his own worst enemy in this story. Although the villain is thought to be Polydektes, it is Perseus who makes the suggestion that he go out and behead Medusa. Perseus instigates his own heroes journey, Polydektes simply goes along with young Perseus sudden whim. The reader never sees the rest of Polydektes’ plan play out, Perseus took all the work out of Polydektes’ plan. If it were not for Perseus trying to prove him self as a hero his mother would have never been wrongly persecuted by Polydektes. Perseus was the cause of his own problem. C. Athene and Hermes has no place getting involved in the Perseus personal affairs, if anything they should have stopped the boy rather then pursue him to go his adventure. D. Athene had her own selfish motives for concealing Perseus, she was not done bringing her wrath down on Medusa for what happened in the past.
Connect to a broader tension A. As the reader proceeds through this story, an expectation of this great warrior hero is built up in the readers head. But the reality may be that Perseus was just an arrogant, pompous , smug guy who was looking for a reason to show off. This is relatable because the odds are everyone knows someone exactly like Perseus. Sometimes we are Perseus, even though we may not want to admit to this, we want Perseus to succeed because we can see part of ourself in Perseus.
Bust up Dualities A. Perseus is a Hero/Antihero? Perseus defeats the monster Medusa, which is looked at as a hero action. Yet he did so because of the wrong reasons, he slew Medusa over his own selfishness not in order to save or protect. B. Athene is the council of good/evil? Athene being a powerful god should have seen the intentions of the young man were not pure and put a stop to what he was about to do. But because of her own history with Medusa she aided him, this makes the reader wonder did she give council of goodness or of evil. C. Medusa is innocent/ Deserving of her fate? The reader knows about the history of Medusa and Athene, and how Athene punished her by turning her into a hideous monster, but can the murder of Medusa be justified? Medusa already received her punishment by being transformed from her original beautiful self into a monster, Athene sought an opportunity for vengeance and took it using Perseus as a tool to do Athene's dirty work for her.
What’s the myth about now? (a tentative exploration) The tale of Perseus and the Gorgon Medusa follows a young boy and his journey to prove himself as a hero to his community of friends and family. Perseus thinks highly of himself so much so that he makes a boastful comment about how he could if necessary retrieve the head of Medusa. He is then challenged on his statement and Perseus sees and opportunity to show off his bravery and courageousness. As Perseus pursues his hero mission, he begins to doubt himself and realize that he may have gotten himself in a bad situation by promising more than he can do. Along the way he is approached by Athene (who is a representation of logic) and Hermes who offer to council him though his mission. Perseus agrees to accept their aid, unaware that he is simply being manipulated by Athene to dispose of her enemy Medusa. Perseus obeys all the council of his mentors. Perseus and his councilors seek out Medusa and Perseus slays her while she is in her sleep. Perseus was only able to behead Medusa because it was Athene who was controlling his sword and it was Athene who told him no to stare directly at her but rather look at her through the reflection of his shield. In theory it was Athene who killed Medusa. Athene lets Perseus believe that he is heroic and he is the one who defeated Medusa. Once Perseus has Medusas head he then begins his journey back home where he then gave the head of Medusa to Athene as a symbol of thanks. Athene then placed the head of Medusa into her breastplate as a trophy of her victory. Athene allows for Perseus to think that he was the one who killed Medusa in order for him to feel as if he was the hero and so he can go back and boast to his friends over his great accomplishment. This way Athene and Perseus get what they truly want in the end, Athene gets her revenge and Perseus gets his heroic moment, and bragging rights. This story shows that anything can be achieved with perseverance, also a certain level of self confidence is needed in order to achieve what is desired. Never be too pride full to accept the help of others who offer, those who reject help because of pride may not receive the desired outcome. Mythology often mentions a rites of passage, Perseus defeating Medusa is his own personal rite of passage. Perseus knows that he has all the components to become a hero, and needs a act of greatness in order to make his hero status come alive.