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  • Cupid and Psyche

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    Frezza Borres
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    Cupid and Psyche is an ancient Greek myth about a beautiful mortal princess named Psyche who is destined to marry a monster. Venus, the goddess of love, is jealous of Psyche's beauty and tricks her son Cupid into making Psyche fall in love with a monster. However, Cupid accidentally falls in love with Psyche himself. Psyche is taken to a beautiful palace which she believes is home to her monstrous husband, though he only visits her at night, remaining unseen. Their story explores how love can endure despite obstacles.

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    Cupid and Psyche is an ancient Greek myth about a beautiful mortal princess named Psyche who is destined to marry a monster. Venus, the goddess of love, is jealous of Psyche's beauty and tricks her son Cupid into making Psyche fall in love with a monster. However, Cupid accidentally falls in love with Psyche himself. Psyche is taken to a beautiful palace which she believes is home to her monstrous husband, though he only visits her at night, remaining unseen. Their story explores how love can endure despite obstacles.

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    167 views1 page

    Cupid and Psyche

    Uploaded by

    Frezza Borres
    Cupid and Psyche is an ancient Greek myth about a beautiful mortal princess named Psyche who is destined to marry a monster. Venus, the goddess of love, is jealous of Psyche's beauty and tricks her son Cupid into making Psyche fall in love with a monster. However, Cupid accidentally falls in love with Psyche himself. Psyche is taken to a beautiful palace which she believes is home to her monstrous husband, though he only visits her at night, remaining unseen. Their story explores how love can endure despite obstacles.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    The ancient fairy tale of Cupid and Psyche, where love endures against all odds

    The mythological tale of Cupid and Psyche is one of the few Greek and Roman myths that has not fully become
    assimilated into modern consciousness. Though adapted somewhat into the better known "Beauty and the Beast"—
    first written by French author Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont as "La Belle et la Bête"—the correlation to the
    earlier ancient text is relatively unrecognized. Cupid is often still portrayed as a chubby baby cherub with a
    fondness for arrows, and Psyche is still predominately unknown outside the psychological community –"psyche"
    means "soul" in ancient Greek and was subsequently utilized in the literature of psychologists. However, in the
    ancient world, Cupid and Psyche's love was well documented and appreciated among the literary scholars. Despite
    that its original Greek form is now lost, the length of the text remains within Lucius Apuleius' The Golden Ass , a side
    anecdote that—in many ways—overshadows the remainder of the novel.
    Once upon a time...
    Cupid and Psyche's narrative begins as most modern fairy tales do: with a kingdom, a daughter with an
    insurmountable burden over her head, a trial, and a subsequent moral. It is as follows: a king and queen give birth
    to three daughters, but only the third possesses unearthly beauty. Apuleius' text claimed that her beauty was so
    astounding the "poverty of language is unable to express its due praise." Rumors spread of this girl, Psyche's,
    astounding loveliness, eventually reaching the ears of the Roman goddess Venus. Angry that so many mortals
    were comparing Psyche's beauty to her own—and in many ways claiming that the mortal surpassed her—Venus
    calls upon her son Cupid to demand that he use one of his arrows of desire to ensure Psyche fall in love with a
    human monster.
    Obedient as always to his mother, Cupid then descends to the earthly plane to do as she wishes. Yet he was so
    astonished himself by the mortal princess' beauty that he mistakenly shot himself. From that moment, Cupid was
    irrevocably in love with the princess. Around this time, it became evident to her parents that Psyche's attractiveness
    had angered the gods, as no mortal man would take her hand in marriage. Imploring the temple of Apollo, they
    learn that Psyche is destined for a much worse fate than celibacy: "The virgin is destined for the bride of no mortal
    lover. Her future husband awaits her on the top of the mountain. He is a monster whom neither gods nor men can
    resist." Psyche, conscious of the mistakes of her mortal kingdom for praising her so highly, is content to follow the
    oracle's advice.
    From the top of the highest cliff, dressed in funerary garbs, Psyche is swept away by the west wind, Zephyr. She is
    brought to a striking valley, in the center of which stands a palace so magnificent it could not have been built by any
    hands other than the gods'. Surrounded by luscious trees with a crystalline fountain at its heart, Psyche soon
    comes to the conclusion that this golden hall is her new home, further reiterated by the voice of her new husband
    echoing through the halls. This faceless stranger begins to visit her in the night, every night, to make love to her in
    the darkness. But despite his nighttime tenderness, Psyche is haunted by the oracle's claim that he was a monster.

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