In The Perseid, the second story of the novel Chimera, Barth interweaves gender roles in his postmodern representation of the myth of Perseus. The Perseids, similar to much of ancient Greek mythology, is decidedly male-centric, as the eponymous narrator and his insufferable vanity render women mere opportunities toward his ultimate goal: rejuvenation. With his descent from his glory days, Perseus longs to relive his fame figuratively and literally. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Early in 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 offers him a chance at immortality thanks to her escape clause - the stipulation from his Gorgon that allows him and his true love to ascend in the sky as stars for eternity. . Barth depicts Perseus' mythic heroism as a false pretense – a facade that depends solely on the reciprocity of feminine affection used to mask his insecurities. In order to realize his aspirations for immortality through the New Medusa, Perseus must first repudiate his standards of masculine heroism embodied by his relationship with Andromeda. Perseus' letters serve as a microcosm of his relationship with Andromeda and symbolize ideals of heroism. During his stay in the temple with Calyxa, Perseus recounts the events that led to his estrangement from Andromeda. After an argument over the itinerary of a planned therapeutic getaway, Perseus details the various items he packed in his trunk before leaving. When he mentions her letters, Calyxa immediately pressures him to elaborate, to which he states, “'Fan letters, mostly,' I said. “Crazy mail, conspiracy letters, conference invitations, proposals from women I've never heard of – the kinds of things every mythical hero receives in their daily mail. I swear I didn't save them out of vanity...I almost never answered them” (p. 79). Perseus' image as a hero depends on his "fan" base, namely women he has "never heard of." He claims that his daily fan mail is the norm for "every mythical hero", thereby confusing male heroism with female impressionability. Additionally, his assurance that he didn't save his mail "out of vanity" seems increasingly disingenuous after he claimed he "almost never responded" to mail, making his letters a jumble of correspondence unilateral; rather than a testimony of dialogue and mutual exchange, the letters serve no other purpose than to maintain his selfishness. They serve as a measure of his heroism and personify the hero-woman dynamic described by the relationship between Perseus and Andromeda. Andromeda's arrangement of the letters provokes the unbridled anger of Perseus, leading to his unprecedented response: "Hence my fury when Andromeda, herself dislocated by anger, tore the lid of the chest right next to Hydra and threw to the first. For the first time in our lives, I hit her” (p. 81). Andromeda's destruction of the letters illustrates her rejection of Perseus as a hero. Ironically, Perseus's fame and status as a hero are inextricably linked to Andromeda; Without his necessary rescue, Perseus would not have been able to achieve the status of “golden-skinned” hero. The destruction of his letters and his resulting estrangement from Andromeda denote his transition from hero to human and engender his new identity crisis. Following the significant climatic altercationAt the end of their relationship, Perseus' sexual anxieties, namely his impotence and his worry about the size of his phallus, gradually become significant subjects of consternation in his life. During a discussion of gender parity, Calyxa responds to Perseus' description of her as "sexually dexterous" by saying, "You reminded me once that you are a mythical hero, but you continue to do so. forget it yourself. Have you always been psychosexually weak, or is that because of Andromeda? (p.87). Calyxa's reply pits heroism against sexual impotence, masculinity against ineptitude – heroism is mutually exclusive to psychosexual weakness. His remark alludes to the idea that heroism is indeed incompatible with powerlessness because it is a compensatory construct – a pretension designed precisely to subdue and conceal these masculine insecurities. Without Andromeda, Perseus is unable to maintain his sense of heroism and, furthermore, unable to soothe and mask his feelings of inadequacy. Perseus objects to Calyxa's response by asserting that "no man is a mythical hero to his wife" (p. 87). Perseus' statement is indicative of an underlying commonality among all heroes: a facade. A man's inability to be seen as a mythical hero by his wife suggests that heroism is subjective, that the intimate relationship between man and woman invariably reveals its veil. Perseus and his conformity to the norms of masculine heroism serve to justify gender inequality: that salvation justifies submission. Andromeda challenges the omnipresent concept of justified female submission by alluding to the irony of her heroic rescue: "she owed me nothing, especially since I had freed her from the slavery of my tyrannical vanity, simple bed partner and accessory to my fame: it was simply a matter, according to her, of exchanging chains for shekels, or iron handcuffs for gold” (p. 78). By delegitimizing one of the most consequential events, and arguably the creation of Perseus' hero title, Andromeda denounces and effectively invalidates Perseus' heroism. The paradoxical nature of his "emancipation" from the vanity of Perseus' tyrant further illuminates Barth's commentary on the norms of heroism by raising the question: does salvation without personal freedom really deserve the title "hero" ? As evidenced by her outspokenness, Andromeda does not think so. Andromeda's determination to establish independence and parity in her relationship with Perseus is subversive to the patriarchal power structure of mythic heroism, thereby undermining Perseus' image as a hero. During one of his usual post-coital conversations with Calyxa, Perseus, in a moment of introspection, reveals that he had learned from Andromeda "what few men knew, fewer heroes and no gods: that a woman is a person in her own right, that she is independent, that she is a person in her own right. respected for this purpose by the most golden hero in heaven” (p. 76). Male heroism is intrinsically misogynistic: there is an assumption of subordination of women to their saviors. This feeling of inferiority increases proportionally to one's ascension in the social hierarchy of ancient Greece; “few men” shifts to “fewer heroes” and transforms into total unanimity against female individuality within the Greek pantheon. The upper echelons of ancient Greek mythology view basic respect for women as an iconoclastic view. Such an attitude is representative of a woman's role in male heroism as an object to be saved and a means of satisfying her savior's sexual desires and need for external affection. Perseus understands the implications of the point of viewcontroversial of Andromeda when he declares: “the more she became her own woman, the less mine” (p. 85). With Andromeda's increasing status as "his own wife", Perseus' reputation and self-esteem as a hero diminish. His autonomy transgresses the ideals of mythic heroism and divinity, thus rendering Perseus's roles as husband and hero incompatible. Old Medusa's posthumous veneration of Perseus, in conjunction with her passive position in the hero-woman dynamic, is an example of her alignment with the precepts of masculine heroism. During Perseus's intimate, but brief, residence with New Medusa after his rescue, Medusa reveals her feelings toward their mythologized past: "Although I had killed her, she still loved me and had lived, during her death, for those moments when I lifted her by the hair and she withered my enemies with a single look” (p.105). Old Medusa, or rather her head, embodies the objectification of women in the text; she is a simple possession of his “hero” Perseus, acting according to his will and providing him with unconditional love (although unbeknownst to him at the time). Another norm of traditional heroism is the bifurcation of gender into two polar capacities: men assuming power. the active role and women adopting the passive role. While retrospectively discussing her transformation into a Gorgon and her subsequent decapitation, Medusa confides her relationship problems to Perseus: "She decided that if she ever wanted to have a lover, she would have to pretend in the cave which wouldn't work. was not an excuse in the temple. : not knowing that he was approaching” (p.90). Old Medusa's banishment to Hyperborea and subsequent waiting for suitors in her cave are symbolic of her acceptance of passivity and thus her agreement with the capacities of gender roles immanent in heroism. Perseus, the hero, is tasked with the perilous journey of locating and killing Medusa – an active role. However, for Perseus to realize his aspirations of rejuvenation and immortality during his second cycle, he must defy the conventions of mythological gender roles. Perseus' failure to respect the normative behaviors of heroes illustrates his partial rejection of the established mythological canon. Contrary to his position as a young hero, Perseus – under the instruction of Athena – is faced with the challenge of assuming a passive disposition to succeed in his second venture for Medusa: “No detours, circumlocutions, reflections or tricks – on the other hand, rather passive than active: beyond a certain point, I must allow things to come to me instead of venturing into them” (p. 94). By adopting an atypical “direct passivity”, Perseus moves away from the status of hero and adopts a more effeminate role; Although unorthodox, Perseus' decision to maintain passive behavior does not entirely constitute a rejection of the norms of masculine heroism, as the intentions of his effort remain to reacquire the nominal title of "hero." The inconsistency between Perseus' means and his ends is addressed. by Calyxa when she asks, "How can being Perseus again be your goal, when you have to be Perseus to achieve it?" I was recovered twice, by the servant and by Calyxa's question” (p. 100). Perseus' response that he was "recovered twice" is perhaps a reference to his two cycles of heroism, both of which proved unsuccessful. The nebulous distinction Calyxa raises between being and doing draws attention to the unattainability of Perseus's goal, to the fact that the paradox of his pursuit is perpetual in nature – a Sisyphean task. New Medusa, Perseus' savior, reverses the established status quo of male heroism and therefore serves as a foil to Old Medusa and Andromeda..”