Going into the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, I realized this story was very similar to Dante's Inferno. In Dante's Inferno, his wife is taken down into the underworld and he goes to retrieve her, just like it is in Orpheus and Eurydice. The only difference is that Eurydice is taken into the underworld because she was bitten by a rather poisonous snake, killing her on her wedding day.
Orpheus, because of his great love for Eurydice, decides to embark on a journey down into the dreadful place where he meets the god Hades. He tells Hades that he wants Eurydice back with him and at first Hades tells him no, but when Orpheus tells Hades that he will stay instead, Hades tells him this, "As you ascend this place, she will not walk beside you; but she will be following. You must not, until you pass our gates, turn around to look at her. If you look at her before you reach the sunlight, she is ours. Forever."
The two traveled for awhile, with Hermes following the both, and when they had almost made, Orpheus just had to look back and see if Eurydice was doing okay. Sadly, Hermes picks up Eurydice and takes her away, both she and Orpheus reaching for each other.
Then something unexplainable happens, literally unexplainable. It seems as though it is retold from Hermes' point of view of when Orpheus turns back to look at her. What is written makes it seem as though Eurydice was filled with death and could not see who was in front of her before the gates. He was unrecognizable. Then she simply walked away.
A sad love story if you ask me.
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