Hadestown differs quite considerably from the ancient Greek stories of Hades and Persephone. It finally premiered on Broadway in March 2019. The musical has a rather longwinded history it was first performed in 2006, the songs were released as a concept album in 2010, and it premiered off-Broadway in 2016. Probably the most prominent adaptation of the story of Hades and Persephone right now is the award-winning musical Hadestown, with music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell. It is easy to see why books intended for children often frame the story this way, since they obviously want to make the story more kid-friendly by omitting the whole part about sexual violence, but it’s not just retellings for children that make this particular change. In these retellings of the story, Persephone going to the Underworld is portrayed as an elopement rather than an abduction. Many modern books about Greek mythology-especially books intended for children-portray Hades and Persephone as falling in love and her willingly going to the Underworld with him. Modern adaptations of the story of Hades and Persephone I don’t necessarily see the modern sanitization of the story of Hades and Persephone as a problem strictly speaking, but I do think that it is important to keep in mind that the versions of the story that were told in ancient times were much darker than the versions many people are telling today. Ancient Greek and Roman poems give graphic descriptions of Persephone being brutally snatched and carried off, crying and screaming in desperation. Both literary and artistic representations of the event unambiguously portray it as a forcible abduction. The ancient Greek and Roman accounts of Persephone universally agree that Hades abducted Persephone against her will and raped her. This is not, however, how the story is portrayed in ancient Greek sources. This is the version of the story that is found in many books about Greek mythology intended for children and in the award-winning music Hadestown. In many sanitized modern adaptations of the story of Hades and Persephone, Persephone is portrayed as going with Hades to the Underworld willingly.
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