TAKEAWAYS
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Many people let their unfortunate circumstances consume them. But not Medusa. She maintains her pure, warm heart.
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Medusa tries to take all the precautions she can to prevent turning people into stone. If she notices someone before they see her (like the sailor Mikkos), she warns them to leave the island immediately.
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If she accidentally turns someone to stone, she weeps over their loss, takes care of their statue, and prays that they didn’t have a spouse or kids.
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She demonstrates selflessness and self-sacrifice by generously donating money, volunteering, and in the end, volunteering to bind herself to Poseidon just to get him to stop five oncoming hurricanes (that would kill millions and destroy countless homes).
“Since I am an instrument of death, I try to balance my karma by donating money to worthy causes across the globe” (11).
“I’m making friends. I’m keeping myself busy. I’m finding ways to make myself and my money useful -- and I like being useful. I like knowing I’m putting good into the world” (214).
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It’s easy to take things for granted (from legs to a sense of community to in-person shopping).
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“While normal for me for so long was to garden and dust off my statues, I’ve craved what the rest of the world took for granted” (143).
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The stories that we hear about others may be distorted or incomplete.
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The stories that Hermes heard about Medusa didn’t line up with his first encounter with her.
“I’d been warned that you were a monster and that I better keep my distance. That you would slay me at the slightest provocation, and naturally, I believed it, as I could not blame anyone else’s hatred toward my family after what my sister and uncle had done to you. But once Death handed me that first soul and departed, I heard you crying. My curiosity inflamed tenfold. What kind of so-called monster weeps like her heart had shattered and never would be whole again?” (118).
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Hermes is pegged as the god of thieves. While visiting Medusa, he “stole” nuts when he got hungry, but he promised to bring her more on his next visit. He also often gave her gifts (like blankets, books, and furniture).
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Medusa didn’t trust Greek gods after what Poseidon and Athena did to her. But she later realized that not all Greek gods are heartless.
“I loathed and feared [Hermes] at first, convinced he would abuse me like his relatives had, but he is a persistent thing. It took me years -- literally, hundreds of years -- but he chipped at my shell with acts of kindness small and large” (14).
“It took a good couple centuries before I allowed him within ten feet of me, and only after we devised a plan to keep him safe. In those early days, I relied exclusively on scarves (which he brought or had sent to me) to wrap around my eyes and my snakes. It was terrifying, going in blind in the presence of a god who had the ability to transform me or maim me at his whim, but Hermes treated me kindly. Respectfully. After a thousand years, I had to admit that Hermes was someone I could trust” (15-16).
“A god, offering to shake my hand? Have I been wrong about their kind all of these years, despite the examples Hermes showed me time and time again? When my skin meets his, and his sturdy fingers curl around mine for a brief moment our hands clap, my gut twists in shame. I’ve thought them all worse than the monster I was accused of being. Heartless, fickle beings who loved to torment mortals on the turn of a dime. Maybe I’ve judged them all without getting to know them first, just as surely as history has judged me” (105).
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The reason why Athena cursed Medusa so harshly wasn’t just because she defiled Athena’s temple, but because Athena was jealous of Medusa. Athena and Poseidon had a long-going affair, but once Poseidon became obsessed with Medusa, he stopped giving Athena attention. Athena tried to eliminate her competition by turning Medusa into a hideous monster that Poseidon couldn’t even look at. After Zeus forced Athena to remove the curse 2000 years later, she still held onto her grudge, threatening Medusa that nothing was stopping her from cursing Medusa again.
“Why did it enrage Athena so much that, over two thousand years later, she’s still convinced I haven’t served my punishment?” (152).
“All these years, I wracked my mind for reasons why Athena hated me, yet never once considered love was her reason” (246).
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Hades wasn’t the one who pursued Persephone, demanding that she spend six months in the Underworld with him. Persephone pursued Hades. When they become pregnant, Demeter (who wished that Persephone would end up with a different type of man) became furious. Demeter negotiated that Persephone could spend six months with Hades as long as they gave her their child. A few hours after they did so, Demeter informed Persephone and Hades that their child had died (when really, Demeter found a way to bind the child’s divinity and pass her off to mortal parents). This child was Medusa. Medusa would have died a mortal death if Athena’s curse hadn’t unbound her underlying immortality.
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True friendship helps keep us going.
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Medusa was regularly visited on her island by two friends: Mikkos (after he became blind) and Hermes (who fought for her curse to be removed).
“I find the courage to ask, ‘Why are you willing to risk your brethren’s wrath, Hermes?’ ‘You’re worth it,’ is all he tells me” (24-25).
“Love makes every misery, every struggle, every moment of life worth it” (220).
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True love surpasses lust and it requires mutual respect.
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Hermes fell in love with Medusa’s personality rather than her looks (even though he was undoubtedly attracted to her after the curse was lifted). He wants the best for her simply because he wants her to be happy.
“I didn’t do this [get the curse reversed] for your gratitude or to wish to hold you in some kind of debt. I did it because it was the right thing to do” (58).
Hermes never forced himself on Medusa (like Poseidon did, even though Hermes was also more powerful than her). Rather, he took the time to develop a friendship. Once he made his feelings known to her, he assured her that once gods fall in love, they don’t sway easily (so gods thus pursue a forever love once they meet their soulmate). Hermes further assures her that if she doesn’t love him back, he will respectfully give her space.
Unfortunately, since Poseidon’s feelings for Medusa also aren’t easily swayed, he convinces himself that Medusa belongs to him (since he “claimed” her many years ago). Love doesn’t work like that.
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Common reactions to trauma are self-pity and temptation to blame others. Rather, we should focus on acceptance while learning how to move forward. Finding support in others in the same boat can help.
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“Isn’t it always easier to blame somebody else for our actions? But no, that’s not fair, because it was my responsibility to be more careful” (18).
“Time doesn’t heal; or at least, it hasn’t healed such wounds for me, no matter what I told [Hermes] earlier. Time is just another captor of mine” (22).
“Pity is the last thing I need right now. I’ve had millenia of pity. What I need right now is strength” (84).
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Aphrodite encourages Medusa to embrace a snake-like dress.
“Dusa, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing. The truth is, you were… altered for many years. But I think the worst thing you could do is pretend like it never happened. It did. Sometimes, terrible, awful things happen to people, things you can’t predict or wish for differently that happen just the same. But you can’t let them consume you. You can’t wish it away. All you can do is pray you’ve learned from it, that it’s made you stronger, and that you will move on. I bought this dress because it’s beautiful, but also because it’s you. I feel like if you wore it, embraced who you are and what you’ve been and done… it will help you move on” (142).
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Medusa joins a support group of assault victims.
“Women, men, children, old, young, straight, gay… violence is not picky when it comes to it victims. And it’s distressing, thinking of these other people, faceless yet dear to me. We are part of a group no sane person wants to join, and yet we are members anyway. We come from different walks of life, of every race and religion. There is no way to exit the group once we’ve joined; all we can do is try not to let it define us. I’ve tried to put two thousand years between me and what happened, yet it’s still here” (208).
“I need to be strong enough to finally confront what Poseidon did to me. Truly confront it and own that it happened to me. And then I have to be strong enough to finally move past it” (208).
Medusa later demonstrates her willingness to fight back against Athena and Poseidon with all her strength (which improved from her self-defense class).
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Some people and things deserve second chances.
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Medusa opens herself up to a relationship with Hermes (despite having been abused by Poseidon).
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Medusa lovingly takes care of a blind cat (Matia), which would have otherwise been put down (since not many people are willing to adopt blind animals).
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Medusa begs Persephone not to punish her handmaiden (Kore), who didn’t warn her that Athena was hiding in a dressing room at Kore’s sister’s boutique. At the moment, Kore felt trapped, and even though she could have done more, Medusa didn’t listen to Kore’s nervous suggestions to buy the clothes without trying them on.
“As a person who has been punished by the gods, it’s not something I would ever wish on my worst enemy” (153).
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