Smith - thoughts on Hadestown and Lot's wife

Earlier this semester, I had the opportunity to watch the touring cast of Hadestown perform in the Ferguson Center. This is my favorite musical, so it was a dream come true that they came here. I think one of the most powerful themes in Hadestown is love. Orpheus fights against the intended way of things to follow Eurydice into Hadestown, promising to bring her back to the world above. Hades agrees to let her go, but only if Orpheus does not turn around to look to make sure she is close behind him until they exit the Underworld. Orpheus is unable to do so, eventually checking to see if she was there. After the show ended, I heard some people criticizing his actions, saying that if they were him, they wouldn’t have looked back. But I think that’s so much easier said than done. Orpheus loved Eurydice so much that it was impossible for him to not ensure that she was there. When I’m walking through a crowd ahead of someone I care about, I’m constantly unconsciously checking behind my back to make sure I didn’t lose them. It’s easy to say you would have done things differently, but you truly don’t know how you will behave until you’re in the moment yourself. This act of looking back also reminded me of the story of Lot’s wife in the Bible. They were told to flee the burning city of Sodom, with instructions to not look back. Lot’s wife fails to obey this instruction, turning to look at the city she once lived in. As punishment, she was turned into a pillar of salt. It’s a lesson of not dwelling on a sinful past and to trust in God. However, I think that if I were her, I also may have turned around to look. It’s human instinct to look to your past, grieving what you once had. 

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