Medusa: Villain or Villainized ?

My name means 'the protector', they say. Yet no one protected me from the fate of my decay.. -Medusa

Medusa, all that comes to our mind after listening to this word is an evil woman with snakes on her head and an ugly face that could turn people into stone. Isn’t it strange, how we judge someone just on the basis of heard stories and descriptions. Medusas story is one of the biggest example of how a rumour can change a person’s perspective towards another person. Even I was shocked when I heard the true story of Medusa.

The rumored or twisted story of medusa, which majority people might know is that she was a beautiful, pretty young lady who was very proud of her beauty. One day, when visiting goddess Athena’s temple, she said, “This is a beautiful temple. It is a shame it was wasted on Athena for I am so much prettier than she is – perhaps someday people will build an even grander temple to my beauty.” Listening to these words, goddess Athena got angry and cursed Medusa with snakes on her head that constantly fought between each other and an ugly face which turned people into stones. And we know how it goes.

Do you know there is a different story of Medusa?

Medusa was a beautiful young woman and was always fascinated by goddess Athena. She wanted to be her priestess for the rest of her life. One requirement to be a priestess for Athena is that the young women should be a virgin and give their life to the goddess. People would come to Athena’s temple to have a glimpse of beautiful Medusa which was not liked by goddess Athena. One day, Poseidon, the God of the Sea and rival to Athena, saw Medusa and was mesmerized by her beauty. Medusa being a loyal priestess to goddess Athena rejected Poseidon. This affected Poseidon’s ego and so if not by Medusa’s wish, Poseidon decided to get her by force, i.e. by raping her. He left Medusa in a vulnerable state in front of goddess Athena’s statue after raping her.

In this modern world where people despite of supporting rape victims, blames them for wearing short clothes or being too beautiful, what do you think would have happened to Medusa in those days? Athena looked down in anger and cursed Medusa for betraying her. Medusa was sent to a faraway island and was cursed so that no man would want her. She was given cracked skin, madness, and her signature snake hair and stone eyes. Medusa was now a monster woman.

She was banished from her civilization and sent on exile. In spite of helping her out, goddess Athena cursed her for being too beautiful and getting attention which goddess Athena should be getting. All of this speaks a lot about Athena’s character. She doesn’t come off as being a big woman’s advocate. It troubles me that this powerful goddess was herself vain and sided with the wrong. I like to believe a modern Athena would have more sympathy for womanhood and would certainly not punish a rape victim.

The scary part of the myth of Medusa is that she’s a rape victim with no support system. It’s a story so powerful and relevant today. We usually tend to judge people unintentionally and are always on toes to tear them down. How many times have you heard the news call a victim an instigator? It’s the people who turn victims into monsters that are responsible for the abuse. But in reality, the real monsters are rapists like Poseidon, abusers like Perseus and victim-blamers like Athena. Actually people are the ones who deliberately choose not to look into the victim’s story in order to avoid being blamed and judged. This is the primary reason why victims of abuse don’t speak up: they are afraid that people will judge them and blame them. It’s a very disturbing trend to blame the victim instead of the perpetrator.

In this world of hatred, lets ignite the fire of unity, love and care !