Persephone Research Paper

Persephone, the sweet daughter of goddess Demeter was kidnapped by Hades and later became the Queen of the Underworld Source. Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of harvest and fertility. She was also called Kore, which means "maiden" and grew up to be a lovely girl attracting the attention of many god's. Demeter had an obsessed love for her only daughter and kept all men away from her. The most persistent suitor of Persephone was Hades, the god of the Underworld. He was a hard, middle-aged man, living in the dark, among the shadows of the Dead, but his heart softened when he saw Persephone. When he asked Demeter to marry her daughter, Demeter got furious and said there wasn't the slightest chance for that to happen.

She was furious at this insult and deeply believed that Hades, who after all had only dead people for company, was not the right husband for her sweet daughter. Demeter decided to take a long and indefinite leave from her duties as the goddess of harvest and fertility, with devastating consequences. The earth began to dry up,harvests failed, plants lost their fruitfulness, animals were dying for lack of food and famine spread to the whole earth, resulting in untold misery. The cries of the people who were suffering reached Olympus and the divine ears of Zeus. The god finally realized that if he wouldn't do something about his wife's wrath, or all humanity would disappear. So he tried to find another solution to both calm Demeter and please Hades. He promised Demeter to restore Persephone to her if it can be proved that the maiden stays with Hades against her will. Otherwise, Persephone belongs to her husband. Hades learned this agreement and tricked his reluctant bride, who was crying all day and night from despair, to eat a few seeds of the pomegranate fruit. This was the food of the Underworld and every time someone ate even a few seeds of this the would miss life in the Underworld. When the gathering in front of Zeus took place and Persephone was asked where she would like to live, she answered she wanted to live with her husband. When Demeter heard that, she got infuriated and accused Hades that somehow he had tricked her