Thesis (M.A.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This study provides a reading of a painting, a sculpture, and three poems. Each was created at a different time. It is concerned with analysing the different representations of the Medusa and the changes in its attributes in the selected works. It also focuses on the depiction of the Medusa and the different discourses that utilize the Greek myth but only to speak of the cultural perceptions of the artists and their personal positions. The critical theories, which are used in this thesis, are Simone De Beauvoir{u2019}s 2Myth and Reality3 and Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar{u2019}s 2The Queen{u2019}s Looking Glass3. The study aims at highlighting the difference between men{u2019}s and women{u2019}s writing about the same topic, each using it to back up his or her discourse and perception. The works of art selected for this study are Leonardo Da Vinci's painting Medusa of The Florentine Gallery, Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem On the Medusa of Leonardo Da Vinci, Benvenuto Cellini's sculpture Perseus with the Head of Medusa, Louise Bogan's poem Medusa, and Robert Lowell's poem Near the Ocean

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