Bulfinch’s Mythology · Chapter
Orpheus and Eurydice explained
Orpheus, son of Apollo and Calliope, marries Eurydice, who dies from a snakebite.
What happens
Orpheus, son of Apollo and Calliope, marries Eurydice, who dies from a snakebite. He descends to the underworld to retrieve her, charming Pluto and Proserpine with his music. They allow Eurydice to return on condition that Orpheus not look back until they reach the upper world. He fails, losing her forever. Orpheus spurns women afterward and is killed by Thracian maenads. His shade reunites with Eurydice in the underworld.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This excerpt marks the dramatic climax because it presents the emotional peak of Tristram’s brief reunion with…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Love and Transformation
Orpheus's love for Eurydice drives him to brave the underworld, and his grief transforms him into a solitary figure, ultimately leading to his death and reunion.
- Mortality and Immortality
Eurydice's death and second death highlight human mortality, while Orpheus's music and lyre achieve a form of immortality among the stars.
Characters to notice
- Orpheus
Son of Apollo and Calliope, master musician who descends to Hades to reclaim his wife Eurydice.
- Proserpine
Queen of the underworld, moved by Orpheus's plea to release Eurydice.
- Jupiter
Places Orpheus's lyre among the stars after his death.
Key passages
“He was presented by his father with a lyre and taught to play upon it, which he did to such perfection that nothing could withstand the charm of his music.”
Apollo gave Orpheus a lyre and taught him to play so beautifully that everything was enchanted by his music.
Establishes Orpheus's divine musical gift.
“I come to seek my wife, whose opening years the poisonous viper’s fang has brought to an untimely end. Love has led me here, Love, a god all powerful with us who dwell on the earth, and, if old traditions say true, not less so here.”
Orpheus tells Pluto and Proserpine that he has come for his wife, killed by a snake, and that love, powerful on earth, must also be powerful in the underworld.
Orpheus's plea emphasizes love as a transcendent force.
“Orpheus, in a moment of forgetfulness, to assure himself that she was still following, cast a glance behind him, when instantly she was borne away.”
Just before reaching the upper world, Orpheus looked back to check on Eurydice, and she was immediately taken back to the underworld.
The fatal moment of the story, illustrating human weakness.
