Comparing The Myth Of Hades And Persephone

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Hades and Persephone, everyone who knows something of Mythology is familiar with the myth. Hades is god of the underworld and Persephone, or Kore as her mother refers to her, meaning ‘maiden’ in Greek or ‘girl’ as mentioned in the book, in the language of mages, goddess of vegetation, and queen of the underworld. Hades, being lonely in the underworld asks’ his brother, god of the sky, Zeus to help him get Persephone, who he has fallen in love with. Zeus agrees to help Hades capture his daughter and gives his consent for the marriage. Well in this enchanting re-tale of the myth, Dazzling Brightness by Roberta Gellis, we learn of Hades, who has been feeling lonely in the underworld, asks his brother, Zeus for a wife, in which Zeus suggest Kore,
She is clearly not amused at the idea of never seeing the sun, so she sits and pouts. Hades suggest she eat, so that she not misunderstand him and think he were trying to starve her, but she tells him she will not be fooled by his spells. She knows that eating the food of the underworld will condemns one to live there forever. Here is another example of how the text differs from the tale, hades clearly states that “I will swear to you…nothing you eat will bind you to my realm” (D. B. 18). Persephone has mixed thoughts about this, Hades leaves the basket in between them and states that he will sleep, for he has had a long day, and once ‘asleep’ Persephone eats, while he listen to her eat the food the happily falls asleep, then the cave lights go out. The glow of the crystals dim when Hades sleeps and Persephone gets scared until she notices a faint glow above the cave. She then crawls through the opening and manages to leave the cave, thinking it is night and that she has made it outside she walks until she comes face to face with a big dog like lizard, that tries to attack her. Hades notices that she is gone then hears Persephone call out to him and he goes to save her. Nowhere in the myths have I seen that there are creatures like those roaming the underworld, so that is another twist Gellis has added to the

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