I’ve felt divided on it, for those reasons, but the way I see it, it’s a myth, and myths are for reinterpreting, and even though it was meant as rape, it makes for a better narrative to reinterpret it as consensual. I wondered if the followers of my main blog might be interested as well This got a lot of attention on my fairy tale blog (admittedly, mostly from people disagreeing with me). I want to see Persephone stripping Hades of his power and becoming the supreme ruler of the underworld in her own right. In myth, she does seem to be the more important of the pair - she’s the one travellers to the underworld generally talk to. What I would like to see is Persephone getting revenge on Hades. There’s something about taking a myth about rape and making it about love that makes me uncomfortable. I just can’t see Hades as a romantic hero. There are worse forced marriages that could have been made. If she seems content in the end, well, she’s a queen now. But what could she do? The king of the underworld wanted her, and the king of the gods agreed. She didn’t eat for however long she was down there Hades had to trick/force her into eating the seeds, or she ate them secretly and was furious with the person who saw. Persephone didn’t want to go Hades snatched her away violently. I want this love between mother and daughter to be celebrated.Īnd the fact of the matter is, the Hades and Persephone myth is a story about rape. The Hymn to Demeter portrays the agony of a mother who has no idea what has happened to her daughter - she wanders, grieving, never giving up her search. Greek myth is lacking in close, loving relationships between women - they’re there, but you have to look. Persephone just wants freedom, independence, to explore her sexuality - no wonder she needs to get away from her mother for a while. He certainly isn’t a philanderer like Zeus.īut where does Demeter fit in? Most of the time, she seems to be an overprotective mother who just doesn’t understand her young daughter. Isn’t it nice to think of the goddess you identify with in an immortal relationship with a dark and mysterious god? There’s the desire to give Persephone more agency and a happy ending - she has to spend half her life in the underworld forever, so isn’t it better for her to be happy there, for her to have chosen that? Plus, unlike most of the other gods, there are very few examples of Hades being interested in other women. When I was a teenager I read Goddesses in Everywoman, and Persephone was the one who immediately clicked with me. I get why this interpretation is appealing. In just about everything else, they’re in love. Really, it seems to be the norm now the only modern example I’ve seen that I can think of where Persephone doesn’t love Hades is the Percy Jackson movie. There’s a lot of modern reinterpretations of the Persephone myth that portray her relationship with Hades as romantic.
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