Perseus's quest to defeat Medusa involves a number of stages. First, the
catalyst for the journey was King Polydectes. Polydectes exploits Perseus's
pride to trick him into offering to go after Medusa. Polydectes wants to marry
Danae, Perseus's mother, but wants Perseus out of the way. One day he mentions
he would love nothing more than to have Medusa's head. Then, at an engagement
party for the couple, Perseus is embarrassed that he has no gift. Rather than
just apologize, he declares he will get Polydectes the thing he wants most: the
head of Medusa. This is exactly why Polydectes wanted to happen, as he is sure
that Perseus will never return.
The journey itself has a number of stages. In nearly each one of them he is helped by an outside entity. In order to find the location of Medusa, he must get information from the Graeae, either two...
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or three women that share one eye. Perseus convinces them to assist by stealing their eye and refusing to give it back until they help him. In Book 4Ovid writes,
Fate had one common eye to both assign'd,
Each saw by turns, and each by turns was blind.
But while one strove to lend her sister sight,
He stretch'd his hand, and stole their mutual light,
And left both eyeless, both involv'd in night.Once he obtains the location of Medusa, he attacks her in a very dishonorable way.
Nor did he, yet affrighted, quit the field,
But in the mirror of his polish'd shield
Reflected saw Medusa slumbers take,
And not one serpent by good chance awake.
Then backward an unerring blow he sped,
And from her body lop'd at once her head.
Rather than challenge her to combat, he attacks Medusa while she sleeps,
easily decapitating her. In some versions of the myth, his hand is guided by
Athena in the moment. Depending on which version of the myth one reads, they
may find that Perseus only went for Medusa's head out of pride—he was assisted
by Athena, who gave him the shield and told him how to use it, and Hermes, who
gave him a sword that could penetrate Medusa's scales and who also told him how
to trick the Graeae and how to find the Hyperboreans, who gave Perseus a bag
that would hold anything, a cap that makes him invisible, and sandals that
allow him to fly—all so he could be invisible and flying when he met Medusa,
who was sleeping, and then as he went to decapitate her, Athena guided his
hand.
The nature of Perseus's quest is one of selfishness and pride. Perseus didn't
go after Medusa to help society; he did it because he was embarrassed and
prideful. He was also little more than a puppet on a string, controlled by the
gods. He didn't do anything for himself when it came to slaying Medusa.
In order to get Perseus out of the way so he could seduce Perseus's mother, King Polydectes gave him the task of killing Medusa and bringing back her head. For most people, this would have been impossible because Medusa was a Gorgon; just one look at her face would cause people to turn to stone. But Perseus was the son of Zeus and was aided by the gods.