While reading a book of jokes by Slavoj Žižek, I came across a reference he makes to Eurydice. I believe in the book, he spells it “Euridice”, which is part of why it caught my eye. Not having gone through a classical phase since my boyish ones in elementary school, I decided to do a little refresher on the story of this “Euridice”. In curt summary, Eurydice is a beautiful nymph who falls in love and is about to marry Orpheus, a musician and poet of extraordinary talent. However, at their wedding, Eurydice gets bitten by a snake and dies. Orpheus, greatly grieved, goes to the underworld to plead for her soul back. His music manages to move Hades and Persephone, the monarchs of the ghastly domain, who agree to release Eurydice back to the world of the living under the condition that Orpheus walks in front of her and does not turn back to look at her. Here, some accounts vary. Some say that when Orpheus turns to look at her, he (being in front), had already passed into the overworld but she had not, and makes a tactical blunder. Another account claims that along the way Orpheus simply could not contain himself, and decide to sneak a peek. Another account claims that Eurydice cries out to him, which causes him to turn. Regardless, He does indeed turn, and by doing so, loses her.
I remember the first time I heard this myth, my reaction was probably the same as many people. Orpheus you fool. You could have been happy, but no, you had to to have poor impulse control and ruined everything. Not only for yourself, but also for poor, innocent Eurydice.
There are several other factors to consider. Perhaps, as in the theatrical production by Ruhl, Eurydice wanted to stay in the underworld, which is why she cries out to him. Or maybe Orpheus found out that he did his best work when he was most distraught, and makes a decision to let the dead remain dead and double his sorrow that he may ply his craft. However, the most basic and common form of the myth has none of those twists and is simply that on their way out, Orpheus turns his head and looks at her, thus losing her forever. That is, until he himself died and they were then reunited.
One thing about the myth has always puzzled me, and that is “why?”. Why would Hades promise to return Eurydice, but make Orpheus walk in front of her without turning back? If I were Orpheus, I would be suspicious of this. This condition may at best be arbitrary, but at worse, it could be that Hades doesn’t truly intend to return her to the land of the living. After all, Hades is the god of the dead, but also of riches and wealth. It is not such a stretch to imagine him as a jealous and possessive god. Furthermore, Greek gods are known for nothing if not their wiles and tricks. By making Orpheus walk out of Hell without turning back, Hades can get rid of pesky Orpheus without surrendering a soul rightfully his, and then lock up the gates of Hell tightly so that Orpheus may never return.
One way I’ve been enamored with exploring this myth is from a standpoint of game theory and formal logic, which elucidates surprising insights. If we’re to do this, first let us symbolize:
H= They are in Hell
L= Orpheus Looks
T= Eurydice is There
Constructing a table representing the possibilities of these three variable states is easy. Each one has two possibilities, so it is relatively easy to symbolize with something that resembles a Carroll Diagram:
The line by a row or column (poorly rendered in a word document table), symbolizes their relationship to the statement of the letter. For instance, the top two rows have the line “L” besides them, meaning that they are possibilities in which Orpheus turns to look. The lower two rows do not have the line of “L” besides them, and thus are implicitly possibilities in which Orpheus does not look.
Let us now decide how this table can be filled in. We can define that:
✔ = A desirable outcome
✗ = An undesirable outcome
The best case scenario is for Orpheus to exit Hell, then turn around and find Eurydice there. (L, T, not H). This scenario is symbolized like so:
Several of these squares are then relatively simple to fill in. Undesirable outcomes would be if:
Orpheus exits hell, turns and does not find Eurydice there (Hades has tricked him)
Orpheus, in hell, looks, and sees Eurydice there
Orpheus, in hell, does not look, and she is not there (Hades has tricked him)
These can be inserted like so.
Furthermore, Several situations are easily understood to be desirable:
Orpheus, in Hell, looks, and Eurydice is not there (he has caught Hades in his trickery)
Orpheus, in Hell, does not turn, and Eurydice is there
Orpheus, exited hell, turns and Eurydice is there (previously inserted)
There are two situations which remain, and require some more examination. If Orpheus, exited Hell, does not look, but Eurydice is there, this outcome is likely undesirable because it means that he does not get to see her. There’s not much of a point of bringing her back if he will never look at her.
The second situation is if Orpheus, exited Hell, does not look, and Eurydice is not there. This is also undesirable because it means that the trip was a bust. This means that Not only has Hades won and kept Eurydice, Orpheus is stupid enough to be oblivious to it.
Thus, the completed table of possible outcomes looks like this:
However, whether or not Eurydice is there is not within Orpheus’ control. The only things he can influence are what he does and where he does it. He may turn or not, and he may do it in Hell or not. Thus, Orpheus’ decisions are really only as follows:
In order to understand Orpheus’ decision his choices should be examined. In choice 1 (He looks Hell), there is a 50% chance of a favorable outcome. The same with choices 2 and 3. Choice 4 has a 0% chance of a favorable outcome. This is intuitively obvious (What’s the point of not looking after exiting hell?).
However, there is a possibility that Orpheus would have evaluated the elements of his decision independently. This is to ask whether it is better to act while in Hell or not in Hell, and whether it is better to look or not to look. From the original full table, the left column has a 50% chance to yielding a favorable outcome, whereas the right column has only a 25% chance. The table, on the basis of “H”, looks like this:
Similarly, the top half of the original complete table shows a 50% chance of yielding a favorable outcome, whereas the bottom half has only a 25% chance. The table, on the basis of “L”, looks like this:
When independently evaluated, the decision to look is more likely to yield a desired outcome than to not look. Likewise, the decision to act while still in Hell, is more likely to yield a desired outcome than to act after having exited Hell. However, from a probabilistic standpoint, this does not mean that the decision to look while in Hell is the best possible choice. Remember that choices 1, 2, and 3, all have an equal chance of yielding a desired outcome.
It is here that logic and game theory give way to psychology. One quite possible explanation for Orpheus’ actions is that he independently evaluated whether or not he ought to act in Hell, and whether or not he ought to look, leading him to look while in Hell, losing Eurydice forever. In the examination of the possible outcomes of this situation, it was only after assessing each possible situation and completing the table that we could determine that to act in Hell is better than to not act in Hell, and that to look is better than to not look. Could Orpheus have done arrived at the same conclusion without having done a full assessment of the “H” and “L” decision without having done the same? If he had done the same comprehensive assessment, then lookingin Hell, looking outside of Hell, and not looking in Hell all have the same possibility of yielding a desirable outcome.
This decision is even more puzzling when considering culpability. If Orpheus looks once out of Hell, and Eurydice is there, then everything is hunky-dory. If Orpheus looks once out of Hell, and she is not there, then he has been tricked by Hades. While he may fault himself for being tricked, being tricked by a god, especially in greek mythology, is sort of really par for the course.
If Orpheus does not look while he is in Hell and Eurydice is there behind him, then everything is fine. Keep walking, and disney princesses will envy her happy ending. If Orpheus does not look while he is in Hell and Eurydice is not there, then again, he has just been duped by Hades.
But, neither of these choices are the ones that Orpheus chooses. He chooses to look while in Hell. If he looks while he is in Hell and she is not there, then he gets the chance to turn around and confront Hades for his trickery. However, if he turns in Hell and she is there, then he loses her. And this situation is different from the other situations where he loses her because it is entirely his fault. If he had made any other decision, Orpheus may not have ended up with Eurydice, but at least he would not be culpable for her loss. He could just go make a club with Prometheus, Arachne, and Seleme to shake their fist at the skies and curse the gods. Why would Orpheus make the only choice where he had the best chance of getting Eurydice back but if he lost her, it would be his fault?
Most likely, this question cannot be answered. This analysis has two major functional limitations. It assumes that all situations of the complete table are equally probable, and it also assumes that all desirable outcomes are equally desirable, and all undesirable outcomes are equally undesirable. Neither of these are likely to be the case. But further examination reveals something further.
Perhaps Orpheus simply thought that by evaluation “H” and “L” independently, he was making the best choice. Perhaps he picked between choices 1, 2, and 3 randomly, and just so happened to pick the one he did. Or, perhaps the original myth is telling us more. If choices 1,2, and 3 were all equally likely to yield a desirable outcome, by trying to sneak a peek, Orpheus is rewarded with getting to see his most beloved Eurydice. This acts like a form of insurance. If he turns and she is not there, then he can confront Hades. But if she is there, then that is the only undesirable outcome where he still gets to see her. There is only a 50% chance of getting her back (just like the other good choices), but there is a 100% chance of seeing her, if only for that moment.
At the outset It is easy for us to mock Orpheus for not being able to control himself. But who is ready to mock Orpheus for making a choice which has the highest chance of resulting in adesirable outcome, and by which he certainly gets to at least glimpse the love of his life? Upon first reading, this myth seems to be a sardonic situation where Orpheus literally has just one job (walk out of Hell without looking), and he manages to fail that. But it seems that Orpheus has truly made the best choice. It was certainly high risk and high reward, but Orpheus’ decision is truly above reproach.
It’s also incredibly romantic. He repudiates the passiveness of being able to just shrug his shoulders at being tricked by a God. What drives him in making his choice is the same thing that had been driving him for the entire journey- his grief and longing for his beloved Eurydice. And to see her, if only for a moment.
Craquelure 