To me the most important message of Hadestown is hope.
I feel like people get so distracted by the tragedy and the love stories (typical allos 😝) that they don’t see there was deliberately a hopeful result of Orpheus’ trip to Hadestown. This is something not part of the original myth, an intentional expansion of the story for this adaptation.
True, Orpheus failed in his central goal, which was to bring Eurydice back from the dead. But by just TRYING to do that, there were unintended positive consequences. The workers started to wake up and question the justice of the system they were working for. And Hades and Persephone seem to start to come to a new understanding, a possible mending of their relationship.
Of course we don’t know the full ramifications. Maybe the workers rise up, maybe not. Maybe Hades stops coming early for Persephone, maybe not. But the potential is there, and in that potential I see a central hopeful message in the story.
The message of Hadestown to me isn’t “don’t try because you’ll fail and isn’t that sad.” The message is, “Try. Try to do the big audacious and good but impossible thing. Because just by trying you will have a positive impact, even if you fail in your central task. Keep trying even if you failed in the past. Maybe it will work out this time, or maybe something else good will come of it.”
