Something I think people overlook in Hadestown, is that Hades is NOT the archetypical modern capitalist. He's a sincerely paternalistic, company town owner, something that hardly exists today. We had such people where I live, apostles of the pietist preacher Hans Nielsen Hauge. They genuinely believed that all "worldly" happiness was pointless since it would all end in sorrow anyway ("each moment of joy you had on earth will be paid in sorrow" as one playwright described it), and that the only escape from the existential dread and dark thoughts of this certainty, was to work yourself to utter exhaustion, so you couldn't think.
It also fits nicely in with the mythological Hades: he wants them to let go of all their hopes, desires, longings, that keep them tethered to the world. So they can drink the water of Lethe and forget everything, so they can be reborn. The wall Hadestown Hades makes them build blocks out both the joys and suffering of the world, and what they get in return is the blissful oblivion of exhaustion.
But there's a crack in the wall. His wife undermines his effort, and tempts the dead with pale memories of the world they left. She may be the goddess of spring and rebirth, but Persephone has a bit of a cruel streak too. Make no mistake, she likes being queen of the underworld too. Those pomegranates taste good.
Something I think people overlook in Hadestown, is that Hades is NOT the archetypical modern capitalist. He's a sincerely paternalistic, company town owner, something that hardly exists today. We had such people where I live, apostles of the pietist preacher Hans Nielsen Hauge. They genuinely believed that all "worldly" happiness was pointless since it would all end in sorrow anyway ("each moment of joy you had on earth will be paid in sorrow" as one playwright described it), and that the only escape from the existential dread and dark thoughts of this certainty, was to work yourself to utter exhaustion, so you couldn't think. It also fits nicely in with the mythological Hades: he wants them to let go of all their hopes, desires, longings, that keep them tethered to the world. So they can drink the water of Lethe and forget everything, so they can be reborn. The wall Hadestown Hades makes them build blocks out both the joys and suffering of the world, and what they get in return is the blissful oblivion of exhaustion.
But there's a crack in the wall. His wife undermines his effort, and tempts the dead with pale memories of the world they left. She may be the goddess of spring and rebirth, but Persephone has a bit of a cruel streak too. Make no mistake, she likes being queen of the underworld too. Those pomegranates taste good.