Consequences In The Rape Of Proserpina

Everyone makes decisions and every decision has a consequence. A consequence is the aftermath of a choice. Consequences could be good, bad, or a little in between. These consequences happen because people are often affected by an others decisions. This causes others to take out their emotions on someone else. In the myth “The Rape of Proserpina”, Proserpina is raped and her mother, Ceres, hears about it and takes out her anger on Earth. In the next myth “Erysichthon”, Erysichthon decides to cut down a sacred tree even after he was warned not to, and is punished with infinite hunger. In the final myth “Phaethon”, Phaethon wants to prove to everyone that he is the son of Phoebus, the sun god, so he rides a fiery chariot even though he is advised …show more content…
Erysichthon and his men were cutting down trees in the forest when they came across the biggest and the most sacred tree. The tree warned them not to cut it down but he did anyway and the tree cursed him to eternal hunger, all because he did not heed the warning. In the text it states, “With my last breath I curse you. As this oak Falls on the earth, your punishment will come down on you with all its weight… Erysichthon ignored her. He just kept going Undercutting the huge trunk, till ropes Brought the whole mass down, jolting the earth, Devastating the underbrush around it… She condemned him to hunger - but infinite insatiable hunger” (Hughes Pg 81). Ted Hughes made the diction surrounding this event to be destructive. He used words like punishment, undercutting, jolting and devastating to make the reader feel sorry for this tree. He made the tree die painfully because Erysichthon did not care. The consequence of this was his curse of eternal hunger which makes the audience feel the anger and disbelief the gods had towards Erysichthon. Erysichthon cut down a sacred tree which angered the gods and caused them to curse him to eternal …show more content…
Phaethon is a teenager that gets made fun of because he claims to be the son of the sun god, Phoebus. He sets out to his father and begs him to let him ride the chariot so everyone could know he is the son of Phoebus. His father warns and warns him not to do it because it is dangerous, but he does it anyway. He regrets it immediately and destroys Earth while trying to control the chariot. The myth states, “ She choked in a squall of ashes. “See my hair singed to the roots, my eyes cauterized by your glare… My flesh gouged and and attacked and ground to a tilth… Even if I somehow deserved all this How are the seas guilty, or your brother?” (Hughes Pg 37). Hughes chooses to use personify the Earth to show it feels to get punished for nothing. She got punished only because of another's greed and self betterment. The personification makes the reader feel for this poor thing that did nothing to deserve this punishment. The Earth was punished and hurt because of Phaethon's decision to ride the Chariot even though Phoebus warned him not