psychoanalytic basics- repetition III

The story of Jason and Medea is a much better example of the narcissistic repetition-compulsion.

In the early part of the quest Jason encounters the six armed Gegeines which as a reference to the polyphallic puts the early part of the myth on par with the medusa of Perseus and the hydra of Heracles.


Jason meets the emaciated king Phineas who would stand for the denigrated father before the tasks to obtain the fleece (i.e. a new object-cathexis of the mother with the fleece representing her pubic hair as writers point out and then its renunciation in a new ideal).

Then in the latter part of the myth it is Medea who by magic, knowledge, and cunning helps Jason to perform his 'tasks' to get the Fleece and overcome the dangers on the return to Iolcus. However, once the obstacles are surmounted Jason attempts to marry another and breaks his promise to Medea.


Medea is the one who become deified (becomes an immortal) in this story, not Jason, and clearly she is the one of more power. She would represent the reverse identification repetition in which she chooses Jason to aid and groom only to be left by him as would be experienced by the phallic mother.


This myth seems a better complementary myth to Perseus than the myth of Heracles. The myth of Heracles, like that of Orpheus, seems to relate one aspect of mental bisexuality while Jason and Perseus are a compromise formation of the narcissistic and masochistic.

I will have more to write on this soon.