Stone Blind delivers exactly the kind of retelling I have been craving, inexplicably rich, lyrical, and wound up in tragedy. Natalie Haynes transforms the Medusa story we’ve been fed into a layered history of the women at its center and the monster we’ve all been taught to fear. With quests and complicated deals at play, limiting the scope of her power may be impossible when divine intervention reigns supreme and women are mere tools for the beings above. Resigned to never harm a living thing, she retreats to a life of solitude, until a quest blinded by arrogance places the hero Perseus on her shores. Armed with a head full of snakes and a piercing gaze that can turn any viewer to stone, Medusa becomes a proper Gorgon. When the sea god Poseidon enacts a violence against her in the Temple of Athene, Athene takes her revenge, transforming Medusa from a young woman into a monster. Residing with her sisters in their windswept cave by the sea, she and the Gorgons are fully at the mercy of the whims and desires of the gods. Delving into the origins of this mythic tale, Haynes revitalizes and reconstructs Medusa's story with her passion and fierce wit, offering a timely retelling of this classic myth that speaks to us today.Īs the only mortal of the Gorgons, Medusa knows true weakness. In Stone Blind, classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes turns our understanding of this legendary myth on its head, bringing empathy and nuance to one of the earliest stories in which a woman-injured by a powerful man-is blamed, punished, and monstered for the assault. Until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon. Cursed with the power to destroy all she loves with one look, Medusa condemns herself to a life of solitude. Writhing snakes replace her hair and her gaze will turn any living creature to stone.

Punished for Poseidon's actions, Medusa is forever transformed. Furious by the violation of her sacred space, Athene takes revenge-on the young woman.

When the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene's temple, the goddess is enraged. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. Unlike her siblings, Medusa grows older, experiences change, feels weakness. The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. They will fear you and flee you and call you a monster. A fresh take on the story of Medusa, the original monstered woman.

Stone blind natalie haynes