Microfiction: Medusa's Curse

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Medusa Mirror of Memory by Incantata

Hint Fiction (25 Words)

Though others thought her to be cursed, Medusa's appearance was a blessing to protect herself against men, so as to never suffer being raped again.

Drabble (100 Words)

When Athena found poor Medusa lying naked on her temple, she knew she had been badly hurt. Medusa wept, begging for the goddess's help, but there was little to be done. Athena could not avenge her, as she could not challenge the sea god, Poseidon, but she could ensure that she would never be hurt in that way. She turned the maiden's hair into serpents and gave her eyes the power to turn any living thing to stone. Now, for as long as Medusa lived, no man would lay eyes upon her, nor touch her without her consent ever again.






Story source: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000).

Author's Note: I took this opportunity to do both my storytelling assignment and a microfiction lab activity. In the original story, Medusa was a beautiful maiden that had sexual relations with Poseidon in Athena's sacred temple. Different versions differ on whether the relations were consensual or not, though most people agree that she was raped. Athena was furious at this disrespect, thus she turned Medusa into a Gorgon with serpents for hair and whose eyes turned everything to stone. I have always disliked that Athena took actions against Medusa rather than Poseidon, so I decided to have her sympathize with her instead. My version of the story is therefore about female empowerment and women helping women; instead of Medusa's appearance being a curse, I decided to make it into a gift from Athena, so that Medusa could protect herself and never be raped again. 



Comentarios

  1. Rhys Switzer8 de febrero de 2020, 19:00

    Hola Anto!
    Tu narracion es muy bueno! Yo por lo general preferito narracion mas larga, pero tu narracion es perfecto tal como es. La narracion de Medusa es una de mis narraciones favoritos, y creo tu version es muy creativa. Pido disculpas por mi espanol, es muy malo. Hablare ingles.
    I apologize for my terrible Spanish! (Have to get some practice in at some point or I'll never get any better!) Really, I enjoyed your retelling of Medusa's story! I definitely liked the way that you turned Athena from being vindictive and cruel (kind of kicking Medusa while she was down) to being helpful and compassionate. Your explanation for Medusa's change was really creative. Turning a curse into a gift was a bold choice and I think it really worked out well. While explicit detail wasn't really included in the 100 word version, enough is there that you can easily infer the rest of the story. Great job!

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  2. WilkeADubb11 de febrero de 2020, 10:49

    Hi Anto!

    It was nice to see a microfiction and then a slight expansion. It helped guide the microfiction to the specific story. Since microfictions are so short, they can apply to a wide range of topics or stories. Because of that, it is difficult to know the true meaning without extra detail or an authors note.

    I enjoyed your version of this story as it's focus is on women helping women. Many ancient myths make women out to be jealous monsters who fight each other... when usually the man has made the mistake. I thought this was a fun story and a good twist of morals from the classic story. Looking forward to reading more of your stories!

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  3. Brett Drake13 de febrero de 2020, 9:31

    Hey Anto,

    I really liked the twist that you put on Medusa's tale. It really is a sad story and one that highlights a very problematic theme with Greek myths that place blame on female victims over male perpetrators. Flipping it on its head and granting Medusa reprieve instead of inflicting punishment on her is a nice change that completely shifts the tone of the character into something much more sympathetic.

    I wonder how this change would affect Medusa's eventual meeting with Perseus? Would he still see her as a monster to be slain? Maybe Athena might refuse to help Perseus in order to continue protecting the poor woman from men with plans to hurt her. Regardless, we don't get many classical stories that give us insight into the female point of view, so it was nice to see mortal women being portrayed as people rather than simple plot devices.

    Great job on these stories! They were very entertaining to read.

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