Sylvia Plath uses an allusion to the myth of the Gorgon Medusa in the poem “Medusa”. The poem expresses Plath’s thoughts towards her mother through a list of complaints. “Off, off, eely tentacle! There is nothing between us” (Plath, 1962). The text ends with the same tone of disappointment and departure with which it began; the poet finally declares crystal clear that she is cutting off all maternal ties with his mother. The allusion to the Gorgon Medusa is used to reinforce the metaphor: the mother strangles her daughter with her influence, like a monster with tentacles.
Plath addresses to the power of mythical figures to explore complex emotions towards certain people and things. The myth is the basis for the poem, which refers to some of Plath’s feelings for her mother. The image of Medusa is needed in the poem to address several key aspects of her personality that she believes were improperly influenced by her mother throughout her life — physical, spiritual, emotional, and artistic. Medusa is mainly described through intense physical imagery as a set of body parts: mouth, eyes, ears, head, and navel. This whirlwind of imagery highlights the inability of the speaking daughter in the poem to concentrate on the mother as a person. Thus, it is easier for her to identify her mother as a monstrous figure, a destructive entity that seeks to strangle and drown her. Throughout the poem, the daughter repeats her displeasure at being intimately attached to her mother.
For centuries, the mythical Medusa has been seen as a symbol of duality, a supreme paradox, a fusion of opposites: mobility and immobility, woman and monster, beauty and horror. Ironically, Plath uses the poem’s last line to create ambiguity about her vision of the duality. Throughout the poem, she presents mother and daughter as opposites: the mother as a corrupted monster, the daughter as an innocent and virginal victim. However, the poem’s last line, banishes this notion with its explicit suggestion that mother and daughter may not be that different.
Reference
Plath, S. (1962). Medusa. All Poetry. Web.