"Medusa's Head" (''Das Medusenhaupt'', 1922), by

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

, is a very short, posthumously published essay on the subject of the

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

Myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

. Equating

decapitation Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

with

castration Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharm ...

, Freud maintained that the terror of Medusa was a reflection of the

castration complex The castration complex is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud, first presented in 1908, initially as part of his theorisation of the transition in early childhood development from the polymorphous perversity of infantile sexuality to the ‘infant ...

aroused in the young boy when the sight of the female genitals brought home the truth that females have no penis.

Analysis

The hair upon Medusa's head is frequently represented in works of art in the form of

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

s. Freud considered that, as penis symbols derived from the pubic hair, they serve to mitigate the horror of the complex, as a form of overcompensation. This sight of Medusa's head makes the spectator stiff with terror, turns him to stone. Observe that we have here once again the same origin from the castration complex and the same transformation of effect. In the original situation, it offers consolation to the spectator: he is still in possession of a penis, and the stiffening reassures him of the fact. Medusa's head as a symbol of horror was classically worn upon her dress by the virgin goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...

. Freud considered that as a result, she became the unapproachable woman who repels all sexual

desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like " wanting", " wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of ...

by carrying (symbolically) the genitals of the '' mother''.

Protection

Freud argued further that, because displaying the genitals (male and female) can be an

apotropaic Apotropaic magic (from Greek "to ward off") or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superst ...

act - one aimed at intimidating and driving off the spectator - so too was the defensive use of Medusa's head in classical Greece. Representations of her head - the so-called Gorgoneion - were pervasive there, appearing on walls, gates, fortifications, armour, and personal amulets.

Literary references

The heroine of '' Possession: A Romance'' claims to be planning a paper "to do with

Melusina Mélusine () or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a lamia or a mermaid). She is also ...

and Medusa and Freud's idea that the Medusa-head was castration-fantasy, female sexuality, feared, not desired". A set of allusive references to the matters of Freud's essay also helps to organise a central concern with male consciousness and female sexuality in Iris Murdoch's 1961 novel ''

A Severed Head ''A Severed Head'' is a satirical, sometimes farcical 1961 novel by Iris Murdoch. It was Murdoch's fifth published novel. Primary themes include marriage, adultery, and incest within a group of civilised and educated people. Set in and aroun ...

''.

Criticism

*Later analysts have linked the Medusa's effect of petrification to the freezing effect of fear. * Feminist criticism would fault Freud's (brief) essay for being limited to the perspective of the

male gaze In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heteros ...

.Julia M. Walker, ''Medusa's Mirrors'' (1998) p. 20

Analysis

Protection

Literary references

Criticism

See also

References

Further reading