Persephone and Hades

Persephone and Hades
Group 3

SCRIPT

As narrated by Zeus.....

Ø OLYMPUS SLIDE

This is the story of Hades and Persephone, daughter of Demeter.  I, Zeus, King of all the gods, wish to share this, my favorite of all romance tales, with you…

I saw my brother watching her; he had been for many months – forming a plan to kidnap his niece, Persephone. Yes, Persephone was his niece, which would make Demeter Hades sister, both of whom are also my siblings.  We like to keep it in the family up here in Olympus.  Anyway, he planned to steal Persephone away from her mother, Demeter the goddess of the harvest. Hades savored the pain he would cause Demeter, and he savored the idea of having his beautiful niece once he stole her away.  He came to me one day to ask my permission to take Persephone as his wife.  Being my brother, I thought nothing of granting his request.  “She’ll make a fine bride, I’m sure,” I told Hades.  “You have my blessing.”  It also didn’t hurt that he gave me this sweet lightning bolt with unimaginable power.  “Here, my brother, is a lightning bolt with unimaginable power…for your trouble.”  So he began plotting his plunder.  He knew how upset Demeter would be at the thought of losing her daughter, for Hades lived in the Underworld and, if he took her, Persephone and Demeter would likely never see each other again.

One day, in the very beginning of spring, Hades knew his time to act had finally come.

Ø EARTH SLIDE

Hades waited, until he knew that Demeter would have her beautiful daughter in her sight, as she painted the flowers their bright colors. He rose from the earth, a deep pit rising from the very depths of hell in his golden chariot led by four of the blackest of black horses.

I heard Demeter’s screams as he stole Persephone away, and I heard him laugh at her. Hades felt the useless protest of Persephone.  As her mind registered what was happening to her, Hades turned the chariot around, and

Ø WATERFALL HOLE SLIDE

plunged back into the underworld. Hades chariot was swift as he maneuvered his way back to hell.

Ø HELL SLIDE

Hades welcomed Persephone to her new home in the underworld, her new Kingdom, Tartarus. “You evil man!”- my distraught Persephone cried out.

Hades laughed manically to himself as he led her further into the depths of hell. Hades laughed again, drinking the tears from her cheek before carrying her into his brimstone palace.

Ø THRONES SLIDE

He placed her upon her throne of ivory, and jewels, and knelt before her.

He pestered Persphone with questions of her happiness and she stated her hate for her new home and whispered that she would never speak to Hades as long as she lived. My cunning brother replied to this that she will not be speaking to anyone for a very long time. Hades stood wrapping his cloak around himself, his black eyes staring down on her. Hades, as her captor, urged her to get used to it because he had no intention of letting her go any time soon. 

Ø DEAD SOULS SLIDE

Hades left her side and walked among the dead, their souls weeping, and crying out for his mercy. He ignored their pleas, and stalked on. It was true, he had a black anger, but he was patient, and he would wait for Persephone to adapt to her new home. When she did, he would make her the happiest woman in the entire world – his wife, his queen. The owner of the all the finest jewels, the finest silks, anything she could ever want, or need, she would have, wither she asked for it or not.

Persephone sat upon the ivory throne Hades had gifted her.  Her hair was no longer silky and lustrous, but was now stringy and dirty having taken on a dingy color of dirt and dust. It hung over her face as she took her place next to her husband, Hades.

Ø GOTHIC CHAPEL SLIDE

 The wedding ceremony was held in a sacred place in Tartarus among the weeping dead. Persephone had not cried. She had remained quiet in her gown of silver and gold thread that the maidens of Hades' court had dressed her in. Her tears were gone, and instead she was a sullen shell of a woman. When the ceremony was over, he led her by the arm to their thrones,

Ø THRONES SLIDE

where he had only left her side to conduct his rounds of the kingdom. He draped her with jewels, and kisses, and gowns spun of silver and gold. He watched her with admiration of her beauty, but he missed her voice. (Disco ball!)

Ø LADY GAGA VIDEO

Ø THRONES SLIDE

In the early evening of summer he made his move to get her to speak to him again. He took her hand from where he sat on his throne, and raised it to his lips, kissing her pale skin.

Persephone held true to her word and had not spoken to Hades or anyone since being drug to the underworld. Hades pestered her asking “my darling Persephone, it has been so long since I have heard your voice....surely you wish to speak to me...to someone?”  His voice was calm and sickly sweet. It had to be – he ruled the underworld and his subjects must trust him, quite literally, with their souls.  He was cunning, that Hades.  Or so he thought. 

Persephone looked at him from the dark pools that were her eyes and sullenly replied “Only my mother.”

Hades stood, rage and jealousy filling his body, spreading like thick green paint and curtly replied, “You will never see your mother again.” His voice was no longer sweet, but cruel.

“Then I shall never speak again.” Persephone said her final words, before casting off her jewels and turning her back to her husband. 

Ø EARTH SLIDE

---> On Earth, my sister Demeter was heartbroken. The earth had grown cold, and plants would not grow. She missed her daughter, and she wept. She shared her woes with me, for I was king of the gods and I had not intervened with Hades initial plan. And now the thought of the lighting bolt with unimaginable power that Hades had bribed me with had shaded my judgement. I ignored my sister's pleas (“Please, Please!”) for her daughter back, until I saw the earth being swept into a frozen tundra, a plague of starvation and death. Plants wouldn’t grow, animals became scarce. I could no longer ignore the kidnapping of Persephone and the sorrows they caused Demeter. 

Finally I gave in and told Demeter that she could have her daughter back, but only if she had not eaten anything while in Tatarus. If she had eaten the food of the dead, by the Law of the Gods she cannot be returned. “So you better hope she didn’t eat anything, Demeter.”  I patiently explained this knowing that Hades would be furious when he found out. 

Ø HELL SLIDE

Hades’ rage turned to a plan that would foil my words and allow him to keep Persephone for his wife. He coaxed her into eating something before she left for the surface. Surely she did not want to return to her mother looking malnourished. He handed her half of a ripe pomegranate. Persephone looked into his eyes and took the fruit.  Suddenly she was very hungry, not realizing she had neglected to eat anything while she had been in Hades’ kingdom. 

Persephone took a bite, eating six of the red berries, just as I was descending to inform her that she would be free to go back to her mother.  “NO!” I cried out. But it was too late.  Upon discovering her having consumed the food of the dead I called my brother and sister to a meeting in Olympus. 

Ø OLYMPUS SLIDE

I scolded Hades.   It was a terrible thing he had done.  “That was a very, very bad thing you have done.”

"Is it my fault I found my wife to be most desirable? I knew I must have her, Zeus. And anyway, what’s done is done. I can't return her…she ate the food of the dead. She is mine forever." Hades smirked.

I then told Hades that Persephone must be returned to her mother. The people of the earth were dying in the frozen tundra they were forsaken to. I spoke sternly as I stood, lighting bolt in hand, anxious for the storm that I knew was growing.

Hades boastfully replied that he could not return her because she had eaten the food of the dead and that she will now be his forever. 

I was then perplexed at how to reach a resolution. I knew that a continuation of the current arrangement would not suffice; then I figured it out. Persephone will be returned to her mother for six months, before returning to Hades for the remaining six, the equivalent of the number of berries she ate from the Pomegranate. “Half the year with her mother on the surface and the other half with Hades in his kingdom.”

Hades looked at me quizzically for a second before laughing and then agreeing to the terms I had laid out. 

Ø HELL SLIDE

Several hours later, he found himself alone in his kingdom with only the dead and the music of the harpies wings as company. Six months he was expected to spend alone…six months without his beautiful wife.

Maybe she would realize she missed him. Maybe she missed his attention, his jewels, his riches, the amusement he provided her, her gowns of silver and gold, or maybe just him…him, and the way he spoke to her, the way he looked when he was idolizing her, even in her sullen state…  He knew he missed her, even if she never spoke, even if she was never happy.

He knew nothing but that he had to wait.

Ø FALL SLIDE

The six months passed slowly for Hades, but quickly for Persephone. On her last night with her mother, she painted the leaves in shades of yellow, orange, and red, and slept beneath the stars in a lush meadow of green grass.  She was delivered back to her husband who had not changed since she had left him.

Ø TECHNO SLIDE

Her heart was torn once more but it was different this time. Half of her heart went towards her mother, but the other half went to her husband.  As she looked at him, the angle of his jaw, the curl of his black mustache and goatee, how his clothes clung to his body – she found herself wrapping her arms around him, half out of grief and half out of relief.  She was home, whither she liked it or not.....

Ø DANCE SCENE!

:: In one of my favorite movies, Closer, Clive Owen reminds Jude Law: “you don’t know the first thing about love because you don’t understand compromise.”  Hades, Persephone and Demeter all had to learn to live with compromise.  Sometimes, in the grand sea of stories, there is a tale in which love involves concession, and hope is our happy ending.  In Olympus, anything can happen. But on Earth, love and reality can come up against each other tragically.  You see, the perfect romance doesn’t always have a storybook ending.