page_title: The Infernal Marriage
section_title: Synopsis
hierarchical_section_title: The Infernal Marriage / Synopsis
caption_attribution_description: English: Benjamin Disraeli painted by Francis Grant in 1852 when the subject was 48, but depicting him as a young man in the costume of the 1820s.
context_page_description: The Infernal Marriage is the eighth novel written by Benjamin Disraeli who would later become Prime Minister of Great Britain.
context_section_description: Pluto, the king of hell, whisks Proserpine, the daughter of Jupiter, away to Hades.  They are greeted by Pluto’s loyal but monstrous dog, whom Proserpine takes an instant disliking to.  She asks Pluto to prove his love for her by banishing the dog, which he does by promoting him from his role of Guardian of the Gates.
  Pluto and Proserpine are disturbed one morning by a furore brought to them by Terror and Rage concerning a mortal who has got into hell.  The mortal explains to the Hades assembly that his wife has died and he wants Pluto to revive her.  Pluto declines but Proserpine pleads with him to yield which he does.  The assembly wishes to call the Guardian of the Gates to account but learn that he has been “promoted”.  Seeing the influence of the queen, all the assembly members resign.
  Shortly afterwards Proserpine falls ill but is brought back to health by an esteemed doctor brought to hell for that purpose.  It is agreed that Proserpine should complete her recovery by visiting Elysium, Pluto remaining in Hades due to the difficult political situation.  Proserpine’s enemies see this as an opportunity to move against her.
  Proserpine sets off with a seer (Tiresias), the ship’s captain and Lady Manto.  En route they stop at a cavern owned by the Titan Porphyrion who has a toy model of the stars and skies which Saturn, who is now a dethroned monarch, made.  Proserpine resolves to visit Saturn, whom they find in a magnificent palace with Titans.  He attributes his fall to having unsuccessfully taken on the “spirit of the time”, embodied by Jupiter who, since coming to power, has not acted on the emancipatory liberal principles he espouses.  Proserpine thinks they should embrace the spirit of the age.
  Saturn then takes Proserpine to the Valley of Lamentations where they see the defeated Titans including Hyperion and Enceladus who laments their fall and, like Oceanus, is pessimistic about their prospects.  Another Titan (Briareus) thinks they should fight back and blames the loss of Olympus (to Jupiter) on the Titans being disunited, thereby letting in the Olympians, whereas Rhoetus believes the only way to beat the Olympians is by ridiculing them. 
  Proserpine’s party journeys on to Elysium which is wonderful.  The novel ends describing the habits of the Elysians, e.g.  if rumours start to spread of a couple being devoted to each other, people deliberately spread other fabricated tales so that people cannot separate the lies from the facts so that nobody knows what to believe.  The Elysians just enjoy themselves, all the work being done by Sylphs and Gnomes.
caption: A retrospective portrayal (1852) of Disraeli as a young man when he wrote The Infernal Marriage
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