The Journey Of Persephone

Together, the two patriarchal figures conspire to kidnap and force Persephone to marry Hades. This is done behind Demeter’s back, intentionally removing her from her role as mother. Their actions directly diminish or outright remove the will of Demeter, a symbol of women in Greek culture (The Homeric Hymn to Demeter 29-30). This theme of a removal of female autonomy is mirrored later in the text when Hades tricks Persephone into eating pomegranate seeds. This action is a deliberate attempt to remove Persephone’s ability to choose for herself, condemning her to spend the winter months in the underworld with him. Not only does this subjugate Persephone to Hades’ will, but it also lends justification to the subjugation of women by men (372-400). By removing the sovereignty of the female mind, the myth promotes male authority.

In the Demeter and Persephone myth, Demeter is represented as a quite powerful goddess of nature, she possess the ability to bring down her full wrath and vengeance among mankind when she threats Zeus to get her daughter back. The Greeks recognized women’s ultimate connection to the earth and the power that arose from it however they also display significant amounts of an inferiority complex towards women. While the Greeks exemplify their fear towards the powerful Demeter they turn the tables and force their controlling views onto Persephone and she then becomes a rag doll and taken against her will. Persephone represents the beauty of nature and how the Greeks saw nature as two sided, both good and bad. Hades represented death and decay while Persephone represented vitality and life. However, they were threatened by woman’s connection nature and the power to create new life, similarly to Demeter’s connection with growing new crops both represent birth and regeneration. Even though Demeter did have control over whether or not mankind would starve it would not make a difference since Persephone still ate that pomegranate seed and was forced to go back to the underworld. This poses the idea that men had to control women as men had to control nature, similarly to the Norse Mythology. However the Greeks unlike the Norse recognized women’s power but are

Her sadness was shown to Helios and he told her the truth of her daughter. She was furious and said that zeus would be angry aswell but actually zeus agreed to the union from the start. She Then told zeus she would never again give harvest to people until she got her daughter. Zeus the became worried he didn't want his people to starve I f they did they wouldn't worship him anymore. He then sent Hermes to sort things out for him. But once he got there he saw Persephone Hades sitting on a couch and by then Persephone began to fall for Hades as well. Then he saw Persephone eat six pomegranate seeds and then he realized he was too late. Hermes then persuaded Hades to let her go but Hades said for six months of every year she was to be with him and the other six she could be with her mother. It was agreed and now every spring Persephone is with Demeter and during winter she is with Hades. So now today when fall comes and the weather becomes colder Persephone is in the underworld while Demeter is on earth alone. And when spring comes Persephone is home with her mother to bring us

     Hades is one of the brothers of Zeus. He is the unlucky one who got to rule the underworld. He is cruel and unforgiving. Only two have ever gone to Hades domain and returned, Hercules and Odysseus. Hades fell in love with Zeus’s daughter and devised a plan to abduct her. With Zeus’s help they succeeded in the capture of Persephone. Her mother Demeter was so enraged she cursed the Earth. She continued the curse even after she was released. It was only after her mother Rhea was allowed to see her that she let the Earth prosper (message).

If you met a man named Orpheus who had a girlfriend, would you assume her name was Eurydice? Many people would, because the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is from “many, many thousand years ago” and is still passed on today, verbally and through works of literature. In his 1959 film Black Orpheus, Marcel Camus interprets this well-known myth, making changes to the story to make it more dramatic and interesting. Black Orpheus is substantially different from the original myth because Orpheus has a girlfriend before meeting Eurydice, Hermes plays a different role, Orpheus kills Eurydice, Orpheus cannot bring Eurydice back from the underworld, and Orpheus’ death

In the myth “Persephone”, as retold by Anne Terry White, Hades falls instantly in love with the Goddess of harvest and takes her to the underworld with him. Have is all the sudden alarmed by the heaven, fire breathing beasts that had been buried underground, so he comes up to the land. Anthradite, Goddess of love, spots Hades and commands her son, Eros, to shoot with an arrow of love, hoping it would make Hades release the beasts kindly. Hades suddenly gets shot and his heart slowly begins to soften. Suddenly, in the distance, Hades sees Persephone, goddess of harvest, gracefully working in the meadows and he instantly falls in love with her. As a result, he decides to practically kidnap he and takes her down to the underworld with him.

Orpheus was the Beethoven of the Greek world, everybody loved his music. Everywhere he went, people listened to his music and loved it. Eurydice was Orpheus’ number one stalker/fan. They fell in love but Eurydice died one day, from a snake bite. Orpheus’ mad love for Eurydice ended up sending him to Tartarus and all he had to do was to bring Eurydice out of the underworld without looking at her. However, he was filled with doubt and he turned to look at her, losing her forever.

Innocence, desire, and obsession are all facets in the story of Persephone and Hades. The arranged abduction broke a divine mother’s heart enough to affect the course of life on Earth forever. Persephone, or commonly called Kore meaning “the maiden,” was sought after by Hades, ruler of the underworld (Persephone 1). Hades enlisted Zeus’s help to abduct his daughter with Demeter, Persephone. Those events would become known as The Abduction of Persephone. This myth would become one of the most iconic and widely known in Greek history because it would explain one of earth’s most important cycles, reinforce the idea that the gods and goddesses have control of the earth, and fostered an agrarian cult’s religious rites.

In Ovid Metamorphoses, the Roman literature described the ruthless act of Pluto of rape, to seize and carry away Proserpine without the consent of Ceres and in parallel in the Homeric Hymns of Demeter; Persephone was seized and carried away by Hades without the consent of Demeter. The invariant theme that was identified in both the Greek and Roman literature was the loss of innocence of Persephone/Proserpine. Despite the various differences the story was presented, it reinforced the innocence that was stolen from the god of the underworld, Hades or also known as Pluto. Throughout this paper, it will discuss the similar characteristics of the two myths such as the motive that led and encouraged the god of the underworld to kidnap

“From this gaping crevice in the ground emerged the awe-inspiring God of the Underworld, Hades, and before Persephone could even think to utter a word, she was whisked off her feet onto the God's golden chariot. As the crack of the whip upon his majestic horses brought her to her senses, she realized she was about to take into the black depths from which he would come. The thought of this brought terror to her heart, yet any screams of protest were soon lost within the darkness, as they descended quickly into the Underworld

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter addresses the fate of Persephone is in the hands of others and is removed from freedom of choice as she is portrayed as a minor. In effect, it is symbolic of the power family holds as the actions of her mother, her father Zeus and her husband Hades determine her path. The text accustoms nickname Persephone throughout the passage as the ‘Core’, the ‘Girl’, or ‘Virgin’. These nicknames assume her role as an underage girl not responsible for her life decisions. The Hymn begins with highlighting the role of the patriarch in a family Zeus as both the head of the family and the other gods who must defer to him as he arranges Hades to take Persephone against her will. As Demeter struggles with the mourn and loss of her child she begins to abandon her reproduction responsibilities and Persephone is ordered to go to the side of your dark robed mother. However, Hades persuades Persephone to eat pomegranate seeds, representing the loss of her innocence as it spiritually bounds her to Hades. Zeus accustomed to be acknowledges as the father of justice and good government rectifies the issue with the arrangement that Persephone remains with Hades however returns to her mother and the Gods for 2 thirds of the year. The Fate of Persephone portrays the common marriage cycle that pertained in Ancient Greece whereby it held the connotation of death for the maiden and submission and adaptation into their Fathers orders.

(AGG)The greek goddess Demeter had a daughter, Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades, she was brought to the underworld, “Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and brought down to the underworld. Demeter searched desperately everywhere for the maiden but could not find her”(Cartwright), Demeter’s loss of her daughter gave her a goal, but she was impacted and she became sad because she did not have her daughter by her side every day.

(AGG)The greek goddess Demeter had a daughter,Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades,she was brought to the underworld, “Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and brought down to the underworld. Demeter searched desperately everywhere for the maiden but could not find her”,Demeter’s loss of her daughter gave her a goal but she was impacted and she became sad because she did not have her daughter by her side everyday.

Heroes have existed in society for centuries and have been presented in many forms. Whether they were personal idols, literary figures, or real people, heroes represent hope and victory against the evils of the world. People look for heroes in their everyday lives, or often, as characters in tales of extraordinary circumstances. Some of the most renowned literary heroes of all time come from Greek myths. Within these stories about heroic idols, it is common for many main plot points to overlap. Across different genres, locations, languages, and eras the progression of the hero’s journey remains relatively uniform. Generally, it contains three broad components: departure, initiation, and return. The tale of Perseus is a popular tale of an ostracized son of Zeus. Perseus and his mother Danae were nearly killed by Acrisius, Danae’s father, when he sent them out to sea in a chest. They were rescued by a kind fisherman, Dictys, and lived peacefully with him until his brother, Polydectes, decided he wanted Danae for a wife. He tricked Perseus into setting out on a venture to kill the deadly monster Medusa. These events essentially align with the progression of the hero’s journey. Therefore, throughout the myth of Perseus, the character’s quest follows the conventional pattern of the hero’s journey.

The myth of Eurydice is a sad story in which two lovers are separated by death. After his love dies, Orpheus journeys into the underworld to retrieve her, but instead loses her for good. Playwright Sarah Ruhl takes the myth of Eurydice and attempts to transform this sad tale into a more light-hearted story. However, despite humorous lines and actions throughout the play, the melancholy situation of the actual tale overwhelms any comicality present. Although meant to be funny, Sarah Ruhl's “Eurydice” can be seen as a modernized tragedy about two lovers who are separated forever by a twist of fate.