TRANSFORMATION OF THE MYTH OF DEMETRE, HADES AND PERSEPHONE IN SCARLETT ST. CLAIR’S NOVEL SERIES «HADES AND PERSEPHONE»
Authors:   Mariupol State University, Horodniuk Nataliia 
Published: November 2024

The article examines the transformation of the myth of Demeter, Hades and Persephone in the novel series by the contemporary American author Scarlett St. Clair "Hades and Persephone". The novel series is a fantasy on an ancient theme, where the ancient Greek myth is modernized. The relevance of the study is due to the extreme popularity of Scarlett St. Clair’s books among ancient themes fantasy fans and the popularity of ancient themes fantasy itself, the uniqueness of processing ancient Greek myths, the lack of appropriate literary analysis of S. St. Clair’s works in Ukrainian criticism in general and the «Hades and Persephone» series in particular[ПW3]. The article's purpose is to explore the transformation of the myth of Demeter, Hades and Persephone in the novel series by contemporary American author Scarlett St. Clair. The research task is to analyze the metalizing of the ancient Greek myth about Demeter, Hades and Persephone, the eternal triangle of mother-daughter-son-in-law, and to identify the recognizable modern clichés of popular psychology in the analyzed texts. Ancient mythology serves as a mirror of psychology and psychiatry: all known deviations and accents are reflected in the plots of ancient Greek myths. The dramatic triangle of Demeter – Persephone – Hades embodies common psychological relationships. Demeter is the mother’s archetype, despotically fixated on her adult daughter; Persephone is a girl undergoing the separation from her mother and forced to choose between her husband and her mother; Hades is a son-in-law who has to confront the all-powerful mother-in-law, trying to free his newlywed wife from her mother's total control. The work consistently deconstructs the archetype of the virgin: Persephone is a 24-yearold student-intern, a future journalist, devoted to her studies and work, who has escaped her mother's care. The girl feels constantly her mother’s disappointment in her. Until she was 18, she grew up in her mother's greenhouse-prison, where her power manifestation was not allowed and total control was masked as care. In the novel, as in the myth, Demeter is realized as a typical toxic mother, with her total control, hyper-care and maternal selfishness. She made Persephone promise to stay away from men, trying to instill in her hatred and distrust of men, seeking to regain control over her daughter, by turning her away from her beloved and locking her up again. At the same time, she is deeply lonely in her desire to deprive Persephone of personal happiness, being realized only as a mother. Demeter denies her daughter the right to love and to make mistakes on her own. Later, it becomes clear why, the motive of Demeter’s rape by Poseidon is consciously incorporated into the backstory of Persephone's birth. Demeter behaves as a typical offended mother, shifting the blame to her daughter and justifying herself. Demeter puts the question bluntly - either Hades or her, and she painfully experiences the fact that her daughter chooses Hades over her. For Persephone, Hades embodies an alluring mystery and temptation, but the seeds of hatred, sown by her mother, have grown too deeply in the girl's soul, causing a severe internal conflict. Growing hatred for Hades, Demeter inadvertently pushes her daughter towards him, as the intense pressure on the girl's personal boundaries causes resistance and, thus, interest in everything forbidden by her mother. In addition, Demeter knows from Moira about her daughter's destiny – to be the queen of the Underworld and the wife of Hades. As a despotic mother, she was dissatisfied with her daughter's future place of residence, her future son-inlaw, and, moreover, that her daughter would escape her control. She is resisting and trying to change her beloved daughter’s destiny, aiming to deprive her of female happiness, rebelling against the higher law of Fate, thus becoming also a kind of female Oedipus. Being lonely and disillusioned in love, she wishes the same for her daughter. Thus, in addition to the enchanted world of ancient gods, S. St. Clair presents trendy clichés of modern popular psychology: painful avoiding attachment, neurotic love, anxiety, abuse, toxic relationships, jealousy, childhood traumas and complexes, communication problems, self-denial – the issues are consistently embodied in the images of Demeter, Persephone and Hades. Keywords: ancient myth, archetype of Demeter, Persephone, fantasy, novel, Scarlett St. Clair, «Hades and Persephone».