- Question
- Was Persephone kidnapped?
- Position1 of 2›
- Persephone was kidnapped
- Argument‹2 of 2
Hades forced marriage upon Persephone
Hades caught Persephone off guard and dragged her down into the Underworld with him only to starve her until she was forced to eat the food he gave her. She did not choose to go or stay with him.
The argument
Persephone did not choose to accompany Hades to the Underworld. She was kidnapped and taken down beneath the Earth against her will. Then, she was forcibly married to her own kidnapper. One source claims that, "The appearance, abduction, and disappearance happened so swiftly that none of Persephone's companions witnessed the kidnapping. And though she called out to them—and plaintively called for her mother—no one heard her pleas". She tried to call out for help but she was not heard. It was not her will, and what is the definition of kidnapped? "To steal, carry off, or abduct by force" Hades is entire responsible for this situation, and Persephone held no say in the matter. She was kidnapped.
Premises
Counter-arguments
Perhaps there are several versions of the myth. Perhaps in some, Persephone went willingly. All stories are a little different, and who's to say whether Persephone went willingly or not.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] The premise treats a single telling as a record of what happened, but the myth survives in variant versions across many centuries and authors, and asking whether Persephone consented applies a question of fact to a story with no fact of the matter behind it. [Rejecting P2] Applying a modern legal definition also misplaces the responsibility the conclusion assigns: in the principal early account, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Zeus arranges the match and Hades acts with his agreement, so even within the story Hades is not the sole agent the argument makes him.