Orpheus and Eurydice

Don't turn around!

Hello, readers. Awhile back, I discovered Hadestown, which is a musical based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Since I can't stop listening to the music, I thought I'd take a look at the myth that inspired the musical. Click on the link above to read the story, and continue with me below to think about it.

There are several different versions of this myth. I'd never read one before that includes Aristaeus, although it makes more sense that Eurydice was actively running from someone when she got bit by that snake. Otherwise, she's just incredibly careless. You'd think a nymph would be more aware of her surroundings if she wasn't running scared.

This story is really a tragedy twice. We have the first tragedy of Eurydice slipping out of Orpheus' hand, literally, when she gets bitten by a snake and dies in the woods. Then the second tragedy is when Eurydice slips out of Orpheus' hands, metaphorically, when he turns around too soon and she has to go back to the underworld.

But how amazing that Orpheus was able to try. No one would have thought he'd be able to make it to the underworld, let alone get Hades to agree to let Eurydice go. But he does.

It's a shame that Eurydice doesn't get much agency in this story. We're told that she was madly in love with Orpheus, so we can assume that she chose to marry him just as much as he chose to marry her, but after that, we don't know of anything that she chose to do. I assume that she was glad for Orpheus to lead her out of the underworld. I do wonder what her reaction was when he turned around. We don't hear in the story whether she forgave him immediately, or if she was angry that he messed it up. Or any other response. There are a lot of possibilities when you're in such an intense situation.

We also don't know what happens to Aristaeus after he planned on killing Orpheus and inadvertently killed Eurydice. It's a nice irony that he killed the wrong person so he wasn't able to be with Eurydice like he wanted. But it's unfortunate that Eurydice and Orpheus had to deal with the consequences of his actions.

The moral of this story is: don't try to murder someone's significant other and expect them to be with you afterwards. Alternatively, if a god gives you a task in order to win your heart's desire, be absolutely sure that you've done it before you celebrate.

Have a different moral? Wondering what Orpheus did after he failed at saving Eurydice? (Although some versions do tell you what happened to him, and it was also sad.) Have another story you want me to talk about? Comment below!