“We Build The Wall To Keep Us Free”: Hadestown and How Greek Tragedy Manifests Today

Lauren Cheung

6 days ago

7 min read

"'Hadestown' Isn't Your Typical Retelling Of An Ancient Greek Myth"

The ancient Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice has been told and retold, most notably in recent years in the form of the Broadway musical Hadestown, where the statement “art is political” rings resoundingly true. Anaïs Mitchell, writer of Hadestown, reimagines the myth in a dystopian, heavily industrialised world where capitalism and environmentalism butt heads. Despite the musical first originating in 2006, its anti-capitalist commentary remains just as, if not more socially relevant twenty years later, and tells us that we are on a crash course towards the death of the natural world if we do not heed its warnings. This is particularly evident in President Trump’s energy policies and stance on immigration, in which their real-life ramifications echo those criticised in the musical.

The most obvious political allegory in Hadestown is that of Hades, the King of the Underworld and his wife, the goddess of spring and vegetation Persephone – representing the clash between industry and nature. Mitchell presents Hades as the head of a corporation where his workers do backbreaking labour, year-round. When his wife Persephone leaves the Underworld for half of the year, he “fashions things of steel / oil drums and automobiles” in “the ground beneath your feet” (Mitchell). This directly indicates the environmental degradation that has occurred at the hands of Hades, in the pursuit of producing more. This production is fueled by “the fossils of the dead” (Mitchell). In reference to fossil fuels, this suggests Hades uses the remains of the dead to fuel production, showing that he lacks humanity towards his workers, who are also deceased. In his industrialisation of the Underworld, he has made the stereotypically gloomy, dark realm “brighter than the light of day”, with infrastructure and the fires of furnaces. Consequently, on Earth, “The harvest dies and people starve / Oceans rise and overflow”. Persephone, in turn, comments that “it ain’t right, and it ain’t natural”.

There are several parallels of Hades’ industrial activity and Persephone’s concern with our world. In recent years, climate change has supposedly been on the forefront of corporate concerns. While some truly sustainable businesses have emerged, many top companies, including Apple, Amazon and Google have set big goals, and have done little to reach it in time (Rannard). This is exacerbated by the fact that, in the USA, a famously capitalist country, investors tend to prioritise short-term, “impatient” capital, over long-term investment in sustainable products and practices (Meckling). Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed under President Trump in his second term of presidency, oil and gas producers are subsidised, while tax credits for renewable energy producers like wind and solar energy, are slowly phased out (IER). Additional federal land is also allocated towards coal mining, and tax credit for producers investing in hydrogen fuel is phased out, lessening the incentive to continue research and development into a potential renewable energy source (IER). The current combination of policies and economic behaviour by Americans, make its stance clear - profits, over the planet.

With the United States being the second largest manufacturing in the country in the world, and it being an influential player on the world stage, the impacts of its pro-fossil fuel activities can be felt on an international scale, whether it's in encouraging other countries to follow in encouraging fossil fuel production and chasing impatient profits, or the slowing of international goals. The boost in domestic fossil fuel production lowers prices in the international market, encouraging more countries to import fossil fuels instead of spending more money on climate investments. The UN has also bleakly confirmed that the world can no longer prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 ºC in September 2026, originally outlined in the Paris Agreement (Anderson). Orpheus summarises this, singing that “And the seasons are wrong / And the wind is so strong” because the “Gods have forgotten the song of their love” (Mitchell) – the fragile harmony between industrial activity without severe expense of the natural world has been disrupted. All this goes to show that capitalism cannot flourish without the undermining of the environment.

The consequences of capitalistic ideals trumping environmental concerns can be personified into the character of Eurydice. In Hadestown, she is repeatedly described as a “hungry young girl”, who is “no stranger to the wind”, highlighting her exposure to poverty and environmental hardship. After she begins living with Orpheus, her pragmatic approach to life and his idealistic mindset clash, which becomes evident in the face of a worsening winter storm and increasing poverty. She is “Looking high and looking low / For the food and firewood I know” while Orpheus continues working on his song, and her hope that his music can sustain their lives dwindles. Eventually, in the song “Hey Little Songbird”, she expresses her desires to live a comfortable life, and accepts Hades’ offer to stay in the Underworld in search of economic stability and warmth, which Orpheus cannot provide. Eurydice’s motivations for going to the Underworld mirror those of a climate migrant. Increasingly harsh conditions have driven her to consider her short and long term wellbeing, and has come to the conclusion that moving would be most beneficial for her. The number of climate migrants have been increasing exponentially, with 45.8 million people internally displaced due to climate-related reasons, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (Mentzelopoulou).

Along with the harsh climate, Eurydice also traveled to the underworld for economic stability, aligning with the motivations of an economic migrant. Her job entails the construction of a wall, as detailed in the song “Why We Build The Wall”, where Hades explains his philosophy driving work in the Underworld. The workers repeat, as if they are brainwashed, that the wall “keeps us free” (Mitchell). This statement seems inherently contradictory – a wall usually restricts, not liberates. Yet, parallels can be drawn with real-life walls and their effects, especially border walls. Hades’ seemingly never-ending construction mirrors the rapid increase of border walls internationally in the 21st century, according to the Migration Policy Institute. How a border wall can keep its citizens “free” can be interpreted two ways. This will be analysed with the case study of the US-Mexico border wall.

First, a border wall serves as the ultimate symbol of state sovereignty. Supporters of the wall argue that the wall will keep out illegal migrants from Mexico, and reinforce sovereignty by having full control and supervision over who it lets into the country. The restriction of foreign migrants increases the American national proportion of the population. Thus, the United States may become more “free”, by maximising its authority over its territory and minimising foreign contribution to the country. However, research suggests the opposite – that the construction of a wall has only increased illegal activity related to the border. The new obstacle of a wall has encouraged the formation of more mafia or cartel-like groups, to smuggle illegal goods between the two countries, according to political scientist Wendy Brown (Brown). It has also caused the emergence of “coyotes”, smugglers that make a living off illegally transporting Mexicans across the border for a hefty fee. Residents of the Underworld typically have to pass away to gain access, but Orpheus unconventionally makes the treacherous journey on foot, drawing scrutiny from Hades. This draws some parallels to the highly dangerous activity of illegal immigration where death is very much possible.

Secondly, the border wall may keep its citizens free through economic freedom. The workers of the Underworld sing as if hypnotised, that the wall will “keep out the enemy”, and that the “enemy is poverty”. During Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, he claimed that poor immigrants are taking “African-American jobs” and “Hispanic jobs”, raising domestic unemployment and lowering living standards for those who got their jobs allegedly stolen away. However, economists have affirmed the opposite: that migrant workers often fill in blue-collar jobs in industries such as agriculture, construction and manufacturing, increasing production output and boosting the economy rather than slowing it down (Hussein). To build the wall, is to deny America’s dependence on migrant workers in its economy. Research by the Economic Policy Institute finds that immigrants make up nearly 20% of the working population, and have a larger contribution to the economy compared to America's overall population (Bivens et. al.). Therefore, it can be deduced that constructing a wall, which requires extensive government funding, and the anti-immigration approach taken by president Trump, is overall detrimental to the American public in the long term, through the reduction in unskilled yet necessary labour in the primary and secondary sectors, that make up 65% of annual export value. Consequently, less goods would be exported, and more goods would have to be imported, worsening the current $105.6 billion USD trade deficit. Simultaneously, a reduction in unskilled labour would cause shortages for these primary and secondary goods domestically, leading to price hikes and supply-side inflation for the public, exacerbating the cost of living crisis. This leads to poverty - the reverse of what Trump’s stance, which echoes that of Hades’, aimed to achieve with the border wall.

From environmentalist and immigration perspectives, Hadestown seems to offer bleak warnings for our future, if Trump and our world’s leaders continue to prioritise profits and build divides between countries. Still, Mitchell’s musical concludes with the message that we still have hope to cling onto, and that hope may drive change one day. History tends to repeat itself, but as narrator Hermes solemnly sings, “It’s an old song”, “It’s a sad song”, but “we’re gonna sing it again and again”. In fact, federal judge Kathleen Cardone has paused the Trump administration from continuing border wall construction in the Big Bend region in Texas, in accordance to environmental laws that were waived when construction first commenced (Planas). Slowly but surely, politicians are realising the environmental damage that Trump’s agenda can bring.

In short, Hadestown tells us that the focus on capitalism over the environment is overbearing, but hope is essential in steering humanity away from the undesirable scenarios Mitchell presents as the Underworld, through seeing “how the world could be / In spite of the way that it is”.