"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 psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
, is a very short, posthumously published essay on the subject of the
Medusa Myth
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
.
Equating
decapitation
Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...
with
castration
Castration is any action, surgery, surgical, chemical substance, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical cas ...
, Freud maintained that the terror of Medusa was a reflection of the
castration complex 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 reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
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 religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...
. 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 affa ...
by carrying (symbolically) the genitals of the '' mother''.
Protection
Freud argued further that, because displaying the genitals (male and female) can be an
apotropaic 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 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''.
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.
[Julia M. Walker, ''Medusa's Mirrors'' (1998) p. 20]
See also
References
Further reading
*
Sándor Ferenczi, 'On the Symbolism of the Head of Medusa' in ''Further Contributions to the Theory and Technique of Psycho-Analysis'' (London 1926)
*Sándor Ferenczi, 'Nakedness as a Means of Inspiring Terror' in ''Further Contributions to the Theory and Technique of Psycho-Analysis'' (London 1926)
*Freud, S. (1963) Sexuality and the Psychology of Love. NY: Collier. (pp. 212–213). ["Das Medusenhaupt." First published posthumously. Int. Z. Psychoanal. Imago, 25 (1940), 105; reprinted Ges. W., 17,47. The manuscript, dated May 14, 1922, and appears to be a sketch for more extensive work. Trans.: James Strachey, Int. J. Psychoanal.,22 (1941), 69.}
*M. Garber/N. J. Vickers eds., ''The Medusa Reader'' (2013)
{{Sigmund Freud
1922 essays
Essays by Sigmund Freud
Medusa
Essays published posthumously
Decapitation