Research Paper On Medusa

The human-like mythological creature that will be discussed in this paper is Medusa. To the ancient Greeks, Medusa’s appearance was one of the most hideous images of evil; however, she was not always perceived that way. Medusa was once a desirable young virgin and the priestess to the goddess Athena (Greek Mythology). It is believed that Poseidon lusted for Medusa and raped her, causing Athena to curse her for being unclean and no longer suitable for marriage (Greek Mythology). Athena’s curse transformed the once beautiful Medusa into a mortal monster with eyes that brought death to everyone she saw, serpent hair, and fang-like teeth (Greek Mythology). Moreover, Medusa gave birth to twins of Poseidon (Pratt, 1994). It can be expected that the turn of events and trauma she suffered, contributed to her behavior characteristics of aggression,
Upon researching T. Elbert et. al's fMRI studies with traumatized subjects, it becomes evident that activation of the occipital areas of the brain spread to the fronto-temporal locations and activate the amygdala to a large extent (2011). Therefore, it can be hypothesized that if Medusa was not a fictional creature, she would have decreased gray matter volume in the amygdala which would be the explanation for her atypical behaviors that contribute to her hyper-arousal and remoteness. The amygdala plays vital roles in memory, fear, and emotion, all of which Medusa can relate to (Elbert et. al., 2011). Seeing that Medusa was a rape victim who experienced a very traumatic transformation from once being beautiful to transforming into a horrifying creature, it can be predicted that her amygdala was not one of a typical human and caused her to be very emotionally