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Fatema Rahman Elizabeth Thornton Mythology: Never-Ending Stories 1I 3/22/13 Hymn to Demeter Multiforms The Hymn to Demeter follows the story of Persephones abduction by Hades and the consequent actions taken by Demeter because of her grief. Both the myth of Cupid and Psyche and Walt Disneys Beauty and the Beast similarly feature a woman coming to accept her union with a man, particularly a difficult man to love. Apuleius in The Golden Ass first wrote of how Psyche had to endure a union with a beast, who turned out to be Cupid, and the various deeds Psyche had to complete in order to keep her husband. In Disneys Beauty and the Beast, Belle must stay with the Beast, who is healed by her love and in turn turned into a prince. In all three stories, a beautiful woman must endure a union with creature. All three women were ambivalent to their husbands until the moment of departure. After that, certain differences set the stories apart. In the Hymn to Demeter, an initially reluctant Persephone was tricked into accepting her new husband, although it can be argued that she acquiesced prior to the trickery and stayed with Hades of her own free will. Psyche and Belle, however, actively chased and fought for their lovers. The historical context and similarities behind the stories explain how these stories were meant to help young women initially resistant to a marriage with a strange man cope and accept their union; and ultimately love them. The story of Cupid and Psyche was a long journey of her marriage and her attempts to legitimize it. Venus was jealous of Psyches beauty and sent Cupid to her; however, he fell in love with her. It was foretold that Psyche would marry a beast and Psyche was instructed to

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receive her new husband in the dark. Becoming curious, she lit a lamp one day and say Cupid but he became wounded and left her. Lovesick she wandered around trying to prove her love to him until Venus got a hold of her. She tortured Psyche and gave her tasks to prove her love and get Cupid back. Psyche once again was overcome with curiosity and feel to deathlike sleep because of it. Cupid found her, however, and kissed her awake then made her immortal. The story ended with a celebration of their marriage. The Walt Disney Company turned the classic tale of the Beauty and the Beast into an animated feature length film. Belles eccentric, inventor father was forced to give Belle to the Beast. The Beast wanted to find true love so he could break the spell a witch cast upon him for being a cruel and uncaring prince or he would die. He tried to woo Belle with material wealth and only began to crack her shell with offers of books and shows of his kindness. He finally agreed to let Belle go to help her father but she accidentally let her jealous suitor, Gaston, find out about him. Gaston lead a band of rabid villagers the Beasts layer and attacked the Beast. However, Belle confessed her love to the Beast just in time to save him and transform him into the prince. Following the formula of every Disney princess movie, they lived happily ever after. The historical backgrounds of the different stories show how they were used as propaganda for newlywed women. Many Greek marriage rituals closely resembled Persephones abduction process. Apuleius has a drunk, old woman telling an abducted bride-to-be the story of Cupid and Psyche. The young bride to be was ripped away from her mothers arm and when her husband gave chase, he was killed by the robbers (Relihan xix). Her abduction closely mirrored Greek marriage rituals, although this was the breaking of a marriage and much more brutal. That was overheard by Lucius, also abducted by a robber, who was turned into a donkey. Young brides would hardly know their grooms before the marriage and then they would be whisked

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away to eh grooms household, sometimes never to be seen by her family again (Foley 82). During 1697, the story of a serpent beast keeping a young maiden captive spread in France. Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Gallon de Villeneuve in 1740 published the first rendition of Beauty and the Beast, which was mainly focused on manners. A merchant intruded on the Beasts privacy and as recompense, decided to give the Beast his daughter, only named Beauty. Sometimes, daughters were given to high ranking nobles in just such trades, even to pay off a debt. This story spread to French and Italian saloons to help guide young women. It taught them to treat their new husbands with deference and look past their beastly exterior. In the Hymn to Demeter, Persephones reluctance to Hades is palpable but become questionable after some time spent in the underworld. Against her will he seized her and on his golden chariot carried her away as she wailed; and she raised a shill cry, (Athanassakis 2). She remained absent for the most part of the hymn until Hermes was dispatched to bring her back. He found Hades inside his dwelling, sitting on his bed with his revered spouse, (Athanassakis 11); here
Persephone is lying with Hades implying already that she has shared with him the intimacies of a marriage. That is brought to fulfillment when she eats the pomegranate seeds, an indication of virginity and menstruation (Foley 45). Persephone the name means destroyer of light (Mason 7) and she is first referred to as such when Hades proposed to her. This precipitates her capitulation prior to eating the seeds and firmly consolidates her as a consort for Hades, who embodied darkness. She fully integrated herself with the underworld by taking the name Persephone.

When Demeter met the daughters of Keleos, she paralleled her story to her daughters plight. And now from Crete on the broad back of the sea I came unwillingly; marauding men by brute force carried me off against my will, (Athanassakis 5). She described how she was taken by pirates and forced to travel the sea with them, alluding to her daughters abduction by Hades. Interestingly enough, she mentioned that the pirates threw a feast but she was not hungry.

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Instead, she eluded them and, rushing through the black land, fled my reckless masters, so that they
might not enjoy the benefit of my price, (Athanassakis 5). Unknowingly, she paralleled her

daughters future, yet the outcomes were different. Persephone partook of the pomegranate seeds while in Demeters fabrications; Demeter was able to steal away because she didnt participate in the feast and eat. This was the point where mother and daughter diverged. Demeter also mentioned how she stopped the men from gaining anything from her worth, but Persephone was only given her name after she partook of the pomegranate (Mason 7). Persephone was only given worth after her acceptance of a marriage, and in doing so, she became her own woman. Psyche shared similar parallels to Persephones story. Both are joined in union to men they initially find to be unbearable, the first to a supposed beast and the second to the god of the underworld. Both are brides of death: when Psyche looked at Cupid, she lost him and when Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds, she ended the eternal spring (Moreira 25). When Psyche married Cupid, she was told that he was a beast and she was to receive only in the dark. Onward the sad procession goes: Do wedding guests then creep so low? And who are they, who, robd in white, their black funeral torches wave which shed around such pale blue light an issue from the dead mans grave? (Apuleius 16). Psyche wore funeral attire to her wedding, and both death and marriage combine to become her transition into her new life. Like Persephone, she is found by her husband in a grove of flowers: .. on a couch of flowers. She wakes-and to her glad survey rise round her, high oer-arching trees, whose branches gemmd with blossom gay, throw perfumes to the lingering breeze, (Apuleius 18). Another connection to death was when Psyche fell into a deathlike sleep because of the jar of beauty that she took from Persephone. Both of the stories had illegal marriages. Psyches marriage only became legal after

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she tried to complete the tasks set upon her by Venus and as did Persephones when she ate the pomegranate seeds that Hades gave her. The Beauty and the Beast have some very close parallels to Persephones story. Belles father was picking a rose as opposed to Persephone picking a narcissus, although later on the rose, too, would symbolize death (Casey). The Beast possessed a rose that symbolized the time he had left to find true love; with every lost flower petal, he came closed to death. Maurice was forced to hand over his daughter in repayment to the beast and so began Belles abduction. The beast tried to woo Belle with riches but only succeeded when he offered her his library, unlike with Persephone who was wooed by promises of power and prestige. Hades told her When you are here you shall be mistress of everything which lives and moves; your honors among the immortal shall be the greatest, and those who wrong you shall always be punished, if they do not propitiate your spirit with sacrifices, performing sacred rites and making due offerings. (Athanassakis 11-12 ). Maurice, like Demeter, became somewhat of an outcast but only because the townsfolk think his rambling of a beast and his daughters abduction the figment of his imagination. Demeter separated herself from Olympus in her grief. Belles resistance to dining with the beast somewhat resembled Demeters story; Belle refused to dine with the Beast. At that part of the movie, she did not yet belong to Beast. Interestingly enough, Maurice got lost in autumn and Belle spent the winter with the Beast. This paralleled how Demeter would bring about winter in her daughters absence. Belle came back and broke the Beasts curse at the beginning of spring, symbolizing her new beginning with the beast. Belle came to realize her love for the Beast after he let her go back to help her father, almost like Persephone. Persephone rejoiced and swiftly sprang up for joy, (Athanassakis 12) after Hades allowed her to go back to her mother.

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The link to immortality is greatly emphasized in the myths of Persephone and Psyche. Blessed is he of men on earth who has seen these things, but whoever is uninitiated in these mysteries, whoever has no part in them, never has a share of the same joys when he is dead below the dank gloom (Athanassakis 15). One of the main subjects explored and idealized in the Eleusinian mysteries was immortality and a better afterlife (Moreira 25). Demophoons nightly ritual of being placed in fire was to make him immortal in the end. Psyche started out as mortal woman but became immortal after Cupid awoke her form her deathlike slumber. Like Persephone, Psyche was a bride of death, went to the underworld as a part of one of tasks and successfully reemerges, and becomes an immortal. However, unlike with Persephone, Psyche was the active pursuer and her story romanticized love for her husband. Both the characters of Belle and the Beast shared similarities to their counterparts: Persephone and Hades. In the beginning of the hymn, Persephone is surrounded by flora and fauna. Belle, in the movie, is surrounded by animals and flowers in various scenes. Also, during her dance with the Beast, Belle wore a yellow gown which might allude to the color of the narcissus flower. According to Foley, when Persephone picked the flower, she showed that she was ready for abduction. During Belles dance, she truly began to fall in love with the Beast, somewhat mirroring Persephone. From the beginning, the Beast is perpetually kept in the shadows. He seems a creature of the dark. His castle seems to be a kind of the underworld, with strange creatures (i. e. talking teapots and candelabras) and an air of neglect that signified the death of the Beasts previous life. The beast was inhumane and brooding, somewhat like the Hades. The story of a reluctant bride learning to love her new and unknown husband has been used throughout the ages as a guide for women. In the hymn to Demeter, Persephones initial

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reluctance to Hades was overcome by her offer of marriage and power. Similar stories like Cupid and Psyche and Beauty and the Beast also feature an abducted bride; and all three women are ambivalent to their spouses. However, Psych and Belle fight for their husbands and in their stories love plays a greater role in the marriage. All three stories were used to help women adapt to their new marriages and come to accept the men they married, be they like Hades, Cupid, or the Beast.

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Bibliography
Apuleius, and Joel C. Relihan. The Tale of Cupid and Psyche. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2009. Print. Apuleius, John Lyde Wilson, Hudson Gurney, and Apuleius. Cupid and Psyche a Mythological Tale. Charleston, SC: [s.n.], 1842. Print Apuleius, and Robert Graves. The Golden Ass: The Transformations of Lucius. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2009. Print.

The Beauty and The Beast. Dir. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Perf. Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson. Walt Disney Pictures, 1991 Foley, Helene P. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary, and Interpretive Essays. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1994. Print. The Homeric Hymns. Athanassakis, Apostolos N. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1976. Print. Mason, Casey, "The Nuptial Ceremony of Ancient Greece and the Articulation of Male Control Through Ritual" (2006). Honors Projects. Paper 5. http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/classics_honors/5
Moreira, Isabel, and Margaret Merrill Toscano. Hell and Its Afterlife: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2010. Print.