5.5.3: Feminist

Feminist literary theory focuses on the treatment and existence of women and femininity within a text. Within the myths of Demeter, feminist themes include the embodiment of the triple goddess archetype and the shock of female wrath.

Multiple versions of the triple goddess archetype appear in the myths and mysteries of Demeter. Demeter embodies the three primary functions of the Great Goddess: agricultural goddess, mother goddess, and chthonic goddess who restores her own daughter to life. The triple nature of the Goddess also appears in Kore, “the maiden,” Demeter, “the mother,” and Hekate “the crone” or wise woman. Even the nature of Persephone is tri-fold, reflected in the three goddesses–amongst the twenty-two nymphs, naiads, and goddesses who accompanied her to the meadow–Athene manifests independent, worldly knowledge; Artemis represents athletic indifference to men; and Kore constitutes the innocence of inexperience (Harris and Platzner 152-53).

Robert Graves identifies the kidnapping of Kore as a key component of “the Hellenic trinity of gods forcibly [marrying] the pre-Hellenic Triple goddess,” Zeus forcing a union with Hera; Zeus (or Poseidon) forcibly taking Demeter; and Hades abducting Kore. Not only does this symbolize the conquest of the cults of the Goddess, but also the absorption of her agricultural secrets into the patriarchy of Hellenic Greece. Hence, Demeter’s refusal to release the corn and replenish humankind is emblematic of the last vestige of the Goddess’s powers, one which can be negotiated away by Zeus’ strategic maneuvers, and further compromised by Hades’ trickery.

Demeter, though portrayed as a mild-tempered and benevolent goddess, on three occasions revealed the quickness of her fury. Erysichthon and his company of twenty men dared trespass upon a sacred grove that had been planted for the goddess at Dotium. To add to the insult, they began logging the trees to build a banquet hall. Disguised as a priestess of the grove, Demeter respectfully told the men to stop cutting the trees. Rather than comply, Erysichthon threatened to cut down the woman with his ax, compelling the goddess to reveal herself in her full, radiant form. Finding a fitting punishment for one so rapacious, she cursed him with a perpetual hunger. He returned to his parents’ home, where he ate without ever feeling sated. Having consumed all of their staples, yet still growing leaner as a consequence of the curse, he was turned out into the streets where he was reduced to eating refuse. However, to demonstrate her sense of fairness, she blessed the Cretan, Pandareus, for the theft of Zeus’ golden dog which she perceived as fair retribution for Zeus’ killing Iasion. Upon Pandareus she granted him freedom from ever suffering from a stomach ache.

On a second occasion, she was welcomed into the home of Celeus and Metaneira to wet-nurse their infant, Dêmophôn. Having spent ten days relentlessly seeking her daughter, not eating nor drinking, her thirst was remarkable. Offered a pitcher of barley and mint water, she drank with abandon, and the sight caused their son, Abas to remark, “Oh, how greedily you drink!” With a withering look, the goddess turned him into a lizard. Later, she attempted to restore the offense and reward the family’s hospitality by granting immortality upon their infant, but when Metaneira witnessed the mystery and cried in fear for her son, the goddess revoked her gift of immortality (Graves says the infant instantly died, but the Homeric Hymn says he still thrived under the nourishment of the goddess). Comparable to her prior curse, she balanced these events with a blessing: their three remaining sons would be safe, and Triptolemus would benefit with the greatest honors as her agent of sacred agricultural knowledge.

Her third instance of vengeance fell upon the gardener of Hades, Ascalaphus, who reported Persephone’s consumption of the pomegranate seeds to Zeus and Hades, thereby altering the justice of Zeus and the fate of Persephone. In his eagerness to report, he stated, “Having seen the lady Kore pick a pomegranate from a tree in your orchard, and eat seven seeds, I am ready to bear witness that she has tasted the food of the dead!” Hearing this cruel testimony, and facing another outrageous twist of male justice, she punished the informant by thrusting him into a hole covered by a boulder that only Herakles was strong enough to move, a penalty akin to Zeus condemning the opposition Titans into Tartarus. However, she again blessed those who aided her in her search, and who hosted her after Poseidon’s violation, granting them all varieties of grain (Graves 68-69).

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): When Ascalaphus was eventually freed from his earthly captivity, and rose like a chthonic being, Demeter, or Persephone transformed him into a short-eared owl, a watchful night creature that eats vermin, thereby protecting grain fields. (Image from Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia)

Her sense of balance, never allowing a punishment to exceed the offense, and her restorative gifts demonstrate a divine sense of justice more attributed to, but not really evident in the male gods. As a supreme magistrate, Zeus has a protracted pathway toward egalitarian execution of justice, yet Demeter’s conduct exhibits an innate capacity to discern between rageful revenge and fair vengeance, between instilling respectful awe and dreadful fear, and between inspiring ethical reverence and self-serving betrayal, all traits which benefit humanity’s moral evolution and continuing the traditions of the Great Goddess.