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Reading Notes: Ovid's Metamorphoses II, Part A

 These notes are from Persephone's Fate, a story taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline. 


Simone Pignoni, a Little-Known Florentine Seicento Painter... Hades and  Persephone | Hades and persephone, Persephone art, Persephone
  • This story is a bit hard to follow for me. 
  • I know that Persephone was raped/kidnapped by Dis (Hades)
  • Ceres is now looking for her daughter, and seems to have found her and figured out the situation
  • Now, this is where the pomegranate comes in! Persephone eats 7 seeds (sin?) from a tree. 
  • Ascalaphus saw it, and now that he saw her eat the pomegranate, and now she is no longer able to return
  • Ascalaphus is working for hades? I believe?
    • Maybe I can add something cool to his character
    • Maybe he doesn't want persephone to leave, so he is sabotaging her chances to leave the underworld
  • I'm honestly confused about what is happening in the story- why can't proserpine eat? 
  • Is that because of the gods?
  • Anyway, he is turned into an owl, which acts has a omen of disaster
  • Jupiter divides up the year, and now she has to spend half of the time in heaven, and half the time n the underworld
  • It kind of implies that she is happy with this arrangement, but I have my doubts
  • I kind of wanted to write Hades as a hero, but now I'm not sure about it.  It sounds like what happened was pretty awful
  • I don't think I can make a kidnapper be a hero
    • However, it kinda wasn't his fault. He was struck by cupid.
  • I want to understand more about this story. I wonder if I can find a little online video that will clear up the parts of the story I'm confused on
  • There are just so many characters
  • I really want to know more about the pomegranate 
  • Maybe P. ate the pom on purpose. Did she really want to leave? 
    • Maybe she wanted to stay and live with hades- enemies to lovers?
      • I don't like that idea simply bc i don't want to glorify kidnapping/rape.
      • This might be a hard one for me to retell 


Image Info: 
"Hades and Persephone"
Simone Pignoni 
Found on: wikimedia 

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