Hades has always been a very beloved figure to me. From the blue-haired, sarcastic Disney version to the dark, cold legends of the Greeks, something about this character has always drawn me in, thus deepening my love for the Beauty and the Beast tale. I love the dark, brooding unloved characters.
Hades is one of the three major gods in Greek mythology, and therefore one of the most known. The story of him and Persephone is an excellent example of the origins of Beauty and the Beast. Here we have the forced union of a beautiful, young virgin to an unwanted and undesirable husband.
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| "Hades and Persephone 2" by Sandara via DeviantArt.comhttp://www.deviantart.com/art/hades-and-persephone-2-210920648 |
Hades, Lord of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Going to Zeus he asked for her to be his bride. Zeus, either promising Persephone to his brother or simply not refusing him, allowed Hades to do so.
One day as Persephone frolicked and danced in the plains as she loved to do, the ground beneath her feet became to shake and tremble. With a terrible crash the very ground tore apart. (Here versions differ depending on the source. In one version she drops into the Underworld, weds Hades, and grows to love him.) Hades, on his golden chariot drawn by fiery horses tore Persephone from her field of happiness and vanished into the Underworld.
Upon finding the disappearance of her daughter, Demeter was outraged. She spent the next nine days and nights searching the earth for her daughter neither resting nor eating. It was all in vain. On the tenth day she went to Zeus to demand her daughter back. When she was refused, as the goddess of agriculture and the harvest, cursed the earth with famine, commanding all plants of the earth to bear no fruit until her daughter's return.
Quickly starvation covered the land and the humans danced on the verge of death. Zeus hastened to Demeter to beg for her to stop such atrocities. The other gods and goddess of Mount Olympus attempted to change her mind and offered gifts and lavishments but she would have none. Zeus then bade Hermes to go to Hades to beg to have Persephone restored to her mother. Persephone, upon hearing the news of her mother's desire and the possibility of home, grew excited. She had not eaten or drank since arriving in the Underworld of out grief. Hades agreed but offered her a pomegranate so she would have strength for her journey, which she accepted. This would prove to be her downfall.
It was well-know in Greek culture that to eat the fruit of one's capture was to forever tie them to oneself, ensuring one's return to them. Especially significant was this mistake for Persephone, for eating the fruit of the Underworld meant one could never leave. With this tie to Hades, Demeter was devastated for her daughter's loss. Zeus then struck a deal between Hades and Demeter. For two-thirds of the year Persephone would be restored to her mother in the Upperworld. For the remaining four months, she would live with her husband Hades in the Underworld, thereby creating the seasons. Persephone, however, did come to love Hades in the end.
Word Count: 532
References:
The Myth of Hades and Persephone by Greek Myths & Greek Mythology, 2015
http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/myth-of-hades-and-persephone/
Hades Takes a Wife by InfoPlease.com via The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Mythology © 2004 by Kevin Osborn and Dana L. Burgess, Ph.D.
http://www.infoplease.com/cig/mythology/hades-takes-wife-persephone.html
Mythology Greek and Roman, tr. Mrs. A. W. Hall by Friedrich August Nösselt
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