Persephone

I reached inside my brain for a visual picture of Persephone and came up with this. It seems quite acceptable to me. I never know what will happen when I just start drawing, without something to go by. This is Persephone reaching innocently for the flower that Hades placed in the meadow to tempt her. When she picks it, he grabs her and pulls her into the underworld to make her his wife, and Queen.

It means something to me, the idea of being victimized when you believe you are getting something wonderful. Being tricked is something I have always abhorred, and I hate practical jokes for that reason. The thought that a person should be able to "take a joke" and is judged by that characteristic in any way seems hateful and sadistic. I guess I identify with Persephone and enjoyed portraying her in her final moment of innocence. From then on, she would never be able to trust beauty purely and joyfully. She would always have to look behind surface appearances, suspicious. At that moment she was robbed of uncontested pleasure, her life diminished forever.

It is a fact of being human that we can never experience a pure emotion. We know too much to accept anything at face value. We look for hidden nuances, we assume deceit or hidden motives, we enjoy so many things only with relief, after we have analyzed them thoroughly and can allow ourselves to believe that they mean us no harm. We expect cruelty and are suprised by kindness. Homo sapiens.