Stone is a recurring motif that’s touched upon at numerous points throughout the speaker’s commentary. The stone acts as something immutable and insurmountable in contrast to the unstable state of the object of the poem. While truth, deception, and perception are all presented as fluid things, stone encompasses everything about Medusa that is unchanging. The object of the poem (the “you” figure) also comes to embody this immutability through their “pedestal” feet, suggesting that stone also symbolises a feeling of constriction and restraint.