After finishing “The Discovery of
Guiana,” I was still a bit confused about the author’s purpose in writing this
chapter. Throughout the chapter, Sir Walter Raleigh writes in a style that primarily
resembles a travel journal/log, but he also includes passages about agriculture
(i.e., his discussion of oysters and soil on page forty-six) and cultural
rituals (i.e., the balsam and gold anointing on page fifty-six). Still, I was
most fascinated by Raleigh’s inclusion of classical Graeco-Roman machinery,
such as the Amazons and Medusa. The author claims to have been “very desirous
to understand the truth of those warlike women” and eventually uncovers that
the “nations of these women are on the south side of the river in the provinces
of Topago” (61). If Raliegh genuinely claims to know where the Amazons
live, why does he choose not to visit them (but still include this account in
his chapter)? If I had to guess, I believe that he—despite his narratives of conquering—is
still afraid of the Amazon women. He mentions that the Amazons are “said to be very
cruel and blood-thirsty, especially to such as offer to invade their
territories” (61). Though Raleigh may choose not to see himself as an invader,
this quotation leads me to believe that maybe he subconsciously recognizes his
horrendous actions (but he still chooses to engage in them).
Moreover, Raleigh mentions three important women in Graeco-Roman mythology: Medusa, Lampedo, and Marthesia. Interestingly, he mentions that in “Africa [people] had Medusa for queen” (61). While I was familiar with the myth that drops of Medusa’s blood created the snakes in Libya, I have not heard of anyone or any groups of people claiming to worship Medusa as a queen. While this could be genuine, I wonder if Raleigh is creating his own narrative of the African people to make them appear as “other” to those that will read his travel account. This could be another example of colonization—not in the geographical sense, but as an example of Western society colonizing cultural practices foreign to their own. Finally, Raleigh attempts to gain credibility by mentioning this ancient group of women’s fertility rituals and traditions, and he believes it is necessary to mention that they do not actually “cut of the right dug of the breast” (61). Truthfully, I am not sure what to make of this entire section, but it does feel like a contemporary example of a white man attempting to “mansplain” another culture that is not his own.
Additionally, I was not exceptionally familiar with Lampedo and Marthesia before this reading, but I did a quick Google search and found a nice Medieval manuscript illumination of them. Check it out here: https://www.foliamagazine.it/en/marpesia-and-lampedo/