An Old Tale Sung Again: Hadestown as Reception of Classical Myth
Date
2023
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Bryn Mawr College. Department of Classics
Type
Thesis
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Award
Language
eng
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Tri-College users only
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Abstract
In this thesis I argue that the 2019 Broadway musical Hadestown is a work of classical reception and I will analyse how it uses the myths of Orpheus & Eurydice and Hades & Persephone to create a story reimagined for modern audiences. Through this paper I will chart the progression of these two myths over time to show how they were distinct in their earliest tellings and were drawn together over time, first through connections in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and then Hadestown tying them together even more. I then move into an analysis of the musical, showing the ways that it entwines the myths together through the storylines of the two main couples and looking at how aspects from the ancient tradition of the myths were included and expanded upon in this modern retelling. This paper also includes a discussion of the power of poetry/song, both in the ancient tradition (looked at specifically in Ovid’s version of the Orpheus myth), along with how this theme appears in Hadestown through both the figure of Orpheus and the story being told through the form of a musical.
Description
Maria Rose Crocket was a Bryn Mawr student