The more I think about it, the more I realize that Andromedaās sacrifice is kinda a metaphor for forced marriage, or at least sexual violence/ servitude in general. I mean this is a story about a young woman whoās forced by her parents to satisfy the hunger of a male entity, sometimes sheās depicted dressed up as a bride while other times sheās fully naked, both humiliating in their own way bc Andromeda doesnāt want to be there. The chorus in Euripides play are young unmarried maidens just like her and theyāre there to provide emotional support and sort of āprepareā her for her āweddingā. Itās only when someone Andromedaās age falls in love with her and she falls in love with him that sheās saved.
So it makes sense that some artists in more recent centuries depict Cetus as a creepy old man trying prey on a young Andromeda as a younger Perseus kills him. Which makes portraying Cetus as a young woman even more absurd.
