#hadestown as text posts

[lesmiserabelles]

melanie la barrie as hermes (x)

[demisexual-in-distress]

My friend came up with alternative titles for my favorite musical songs

@sincerelysprite

[queer-here-and-in-fear]

this came to me in a vision

[catilinas]

you know jstor’s understanding shakespeare where you can click on a line from any play and it will show you articles that reference it. they should make that but for any given line of a text it will show you my mutuals’ beautiful posts

[dapapple]

Wedding Song (Hadestown) is so Merlin/Freya coded and Promises (Hadestown) is so Merlin/Arthur coded

Especially the live west end recorded version. If I had the patience to learn how to animate I’d be all over that

[samglyph]

Orpheus and Eurydice’s “it’s you it’s me” being a recurring motif in the musical and not just meaning that they recognize each other when they see each other again in the context of the show but also them recognizing each other in the context of the cycle. Hearing that line as Orpheus turns around and sees her you know he isn’t just saying that in seeing Eurydice and knowing it’s the woman he loves but also in sudden understanding of the story that they are inside. It is a sudden realization of why he always knew Eurydice in the first place. It is a recognition of the fact that this has happened before, before that memory leaves and then story begins again. “All I know is you’re someone I’ve always known”. I’m losing it.

[captain-shortyyy]

Why Orpheus turned around

Something i’ve been seeing lately is people saying that because Orpheus turned around to Eurydice, that means he doesn’t love her. And that, my friends, is WRONG! The reason Orpheus turns around is BECAUSE HE LOVES HER!

When looking at the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice in general some things never change:

Eurydice dies and goes to the Underworld

Orpheus goes to the Underworld to convince Hades (sometimes named Pluto in certain adaptations) to bring Eurydice back to life

Hades decides to fulfill his request but on the condition that Orpheus walks in front of Eurydice and does not turn around

when Orpheus and Eurydice are so close to being free, Orpheus turns around and Eurydice is sent back to the Underworld.

The reason Orpheus turns around varies from adaptations.

For example one adaptation describes Hades telling Orpheus not to turn around until the sun fully hits his face. When getting back to the Earth with Eurydice, Orpheus notes how the sun has not risen yet, then he hears Eurydice trip behind him. Without thinking he turns around and catches her in his arms. He sees Eurydice’s face in the light of the stars, then she fades back into the Underworld. This is one of the most basic of examples of how much Orpheus loves Eurydice. His first instinct when hearing her fall was to catch her, unintentionally disregarding the rules set in place by Hades to make sure his lover is okay.

Another adaptation begins the same way, however this time Hades tells Orpheus not to turn around until they are both fully out of the Underworld. Orpheus cannot hear Eurydice or feel her behind him at all in this version. Orpheus is so anxious he is walking back alone and abandoning Eurydice that once he exits the Underworld, he turns around, and sees Eurydice still in the Underworld about to cross. Like the last tale, she returns to the Underworld. He loves her so much that as soon as he is able to turn around he does so just to see if she is there, but when he does he loses Eurydice again.

A more modern version of the tragedy is the musical Hadestown, the era of this retelling is based on the Great Depression, which changes the way the characters and their motives are presented. In this version Orpheus and Eurydice still fall in love but Orpheus blinded by his determination to finish his song, which will bring back Spring, that he fails to notice Eurydice calling for him to help her. Hades finds her and offers her a chance to work in the Underworld/Hadestown. Eurydice, seeing no other way to escape the poverty she’s in, accepts and signs a contract giving herself over to Hades to work. When Eurydice sees Hadestown she begins to regret her choice. Orpheus, finally noticing Eurydice is gone, travels to Hadestown to find her and bring her home. Upon his arrival he pleads with Hades and Persephone to let him bring Eurydice home. Hades refuses, sending his workers to attack Orpheus and send him back. Orpheus won’t go though, instead he unites Hades’s workers to revolt. Hades, with persuasion from Persephone, gives Orpheus one more chance to convince him. Orpheus then plays his finished song for Hades, it’s a song Hades used to sing to Persephone to express his love for her. Hades, moved by his song, dances with Persephone. Orpheus then asks Hades if they can go and Hades says “I don’t know”. The Three Fates then express Hades’s worries, if he doesn’t let them go he is cruel and unjust, but if he does let them go his workers will view him as “spineless” and lose respect. With this in mind Hades comes up with a solution, where they can go but one condition; Orpheus must walk in front and Eurydice must walk behind him. If they make it back home without Orpheus turning around Eurydice is free, if not she goes back to Hadestown. Orpheus expresses his fears of this condition, afraid this is a trick. They begin to leave. While Orpheus trusts Eurydice to be there, he cannot trust himself. He begins to believe he is alone and was tricked by Hades. It’s this doubt and anxiety that makes him turn around too soon. While Orpheus makes it out of Hadestown, Eurydice is still a step away. So they fail.

Orpheus loves Eurydice so much he turns around to guarantee she’s really there and that he wasn’t tricked, but this was their downfall.

In all these adaptations Orpheus is so in love with Eurydice that he disregards the conditions set by Hades. He turns around because he is anxious she isn’t there with him. He turns around because he is worried about her. He turns around because he loves her too much to risk her never coming home. That is why he turns around too soon or to see her face or just to catch her when she falls. It’s all because of the love they have for each other.

[thewingedwolf]

i love the Fates in hadestown bc they have so much sympathy for Eurydice during the chips are down, of course they do, she’s just a poor hungry girl who can’t escape her Fate, and we shouldn’t judge her bc if we were in her shoes, hungry and scared, and a god came to us and offered us a home, a lover that is cold and distant but will keep us safe and fed, could we really say we wouldn’t do the same.

but when Eurydice despairs over how shitty the deal she made actually is, they are practically gleeful at her pain. and when the people rail against Fate, when the workers straighten their backs and look Fate in the eye, dare to love and care and fight against the hand they’ve been dealt, and the Fates are livid. no longer full of sympathy for orpheus’ suffering, they ask who dares fight Fate.

i think the switch is so interesting in how it plays with the despair, poverty, and depression of all the central characters. Our grief and fear are happy to comfort us with “there was no good choice to make” when we’re down but when we pick ourselves up and try to be better, the depression rages back as a monster to stop us. The Fates love humanity and love the gods - until they dare to defy the Fates. Until they dare to hope for more than what is simply fated to happen.

[strangerinalostworld]

right so who’s gonna be the eurydice to my orpheus

[thedeafprophet]

anyway I've come to realize social media has an affect on how I approach my art and I'm currently mentally working through how I feel about that 🤔

[heretolurkandnothingmore]

when you're listening to an album and one song's outro turns seamlessly into another song's intro... much to think about.

[demisexual-in-distress]

Hey why are we still going about our everyday lives when this fuvkign pinoy goddess of a woman is on the same earth as us are you fucking kidding me she's beautiful I love her I love her I love her I love her

[kestrels-nook]

Tumblr posts aren't enough I need to write an academic mal works sited essay on hadestown and the importance of hope

[trobedarchive]

“if i was orpheus i simply wouldn’t have turned around” THEN YOU DID NOT LOVE HER.

[river-blue]

Would I be reaching peak insanity if I made a countryhumans au based off of "To All The Boys I Loved Before", or what? 😭

[mmani-e]

As different as Hajime and Chiaki are to Orpheus and Eurydice personality-wise, in Hadestown at least, All I've Ever Known is 1000% their song, more than any other pairing in Danganronpa imo.

These lines just work so well for like, Hajime meeting Chiaki in DR2:

"... but when I saw you all alone against the sky it's like I've known you all along.

I knew you before we met,

and I don't even know you, yet."

And Promises brings it full-circle. DR3 Chiaki IS saying these lines exactly:

"... don't promise me fair sky above

don't promise me kind road below

just walk beside me love, anyway the wind blows."

Anyway, listen to the Hadestown OBC album and start crying. You pretty much get the whole story in that album.