Medusa Mythology Essay

A. A myth that I was told as a child is one version of the myth of Medusa and Athena. There was a beautiful maiden named Medusa who lived in Athens, Greece. She was very proud of her beauty, it was all she ever spoke or thought about. Medusa would also admire herself in a mirror for quite a long time. One day, she visited the largest temple of the goddess Athena, named the Parthenon. The temple was filled with statues and paintings of Athena. Medusa then told her friends that the sculptures and paintings should have been of her since she was prettier than Athena. Medusa was admiring her reflection from the large bronze doors, when suddenly, she was looking at Athena instead of herself. Athena was furious with Medusa, she then tells

The story has more than one purpose, it teaches readers moral lessons, but also tells us a bit about how Medusa came to be a monster who turns people into stone. The genre of the story is children’s Greek Mythology. Things such as her hair, transforming into snakes and the fact that Medusa had the ability to turn people into stone is mythical. There are some cultural values that we learn about in this story. It was unacceptable to disrespect a god or goddess in their own territory and to boast endlessly, it was not a respectable trait and still is not to this day. I believe that the myth is true in terms of the teachings and it is also partially true to the Greek culture. Medusa is indeed an actual monster with snakes on top of her head as hair in all versions of the myth. The story is, in fact, completely unrealistic. We would never encounter a monster, gorgon or even a goddess in

In addition to the earlier lessons I have mentioned, there are slightly less obvious teachings in the story. For one, be grateful and humble about what you have. Eventually when you are not grateful for what you have, it will be taken away from you. You will realize that you are no longer happy, and realize how much it meant to you. Also, no one will love you if all you care about it is the physical appearance. Medusa was obviously a very lonely woman, and will never find love, especially now, since she can no longer look a man in the eye without turning him to stone. There is much more to life than beauty alone. Beauty eventually fades. Instead of boasting about your beauty, you could be learning new skills, meeting new people or even starting a family. Medusa herself symbolizes how quickly youthfulness and beauty can fade away. She is thought of to be a part of an ancient early ritual, her image was on an amphora on the site of the Eleusinian mysteries in Greece. The story induces emotions such as fear and pride. For one, people were scared when Medusa said she thought she was prettier than Athena because they thought the goddess would overhear. Secondly, Medusa clearly had a lot of pride, which was the most obvious emotion displayed in the story. By the means of Medusa displaying her pride, it also displays unacceptable behaviour. We see that there are consequences to acting like she