Barth's Perseus: From the Young Destroyer to the New Medusa’d Man Emre Toner 12th Grade

In The Perseid, the second novella from the novel Chimera, Barth intertwines gender roles in his postmodern portrayal of the myth of Perseus. The Perseid, akin to much ancient Greek mythology, is unabashedly male-centered as the eponymous narrator and his insufferable conceit render women to be no more than mere opportunities towards his ultimate goal: rejuvenation. With his descent from his glory days, Perseus yearns to both figuratively and literally relive his stardom.

From the beginning of the novella, Perseus is tasked with choosing between Andromeda and Medusa. While Andromeda represents an opportunity for Perseus to restore his status as a hero, Medusa provides him with the chance of immortality through her escape clause— the stipulation of her Gorgonhood which allows for her and her true love to ascend into the sky as stars for eternity. Barth depicts Perseus’ mythic heroism as a false pretense—a façade that is solely dependent on the reciprocity of womanly affection used to mask his insecurities. In order to achieve his aspirations of immortality through New Medusa, Perseus must first repudiate his standards of masculine heroism embodied by his relationship with Andromeda. Perseus’ letters serve as a microcosm for his...