STORIES OF LOVE AND

ADVENTURE
PRESENTATION BY:
HERNANDEZ, MARY ANN B.
BSED ENGLISH 2201
 The story of:
“CUPID AND
PSYCHE”
 CHARACTERS
and
CHARACTERIZATION:
CUPID- son of Venus
PSYCHE-youngest daughter of the King; the most lovely maiden
exist that surpass the beauty of Athena
VENUS- goddess of Love and Beauty; mother of Cupid
APOLLO- the god of Greek prophecy and healing
ZEPHYR- sweetest and mildest of winds
JUPITER- god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods
PERSEPHONE- queen of underworld; wife of Hades
CERBERUS- the three-headed dog
KING AND TWO SISTERS OF PYSCHE
 SETTINGS

-Cupid’s Place
-Riverbank
-Underworld
-Mount Olympus
 Cupid and psyche
There was once a king who had three beautiful daughters but the youngest,
Psyche, excelled her sisters so greatly that beside them she seemed a very
goddess consorting with mere mortals.
Men adore her too much because of her beauty. Some said that even Venus,
the Goddess of Beauty cannot match the possessed beauty of Psyche. As
men thronged in ever-growing numbers to worship her loveliness no one any
more gave a thought to Venus herself.
Venus badly mad by this and sent her son Cupid to make revenge
by making Psyche fall in love with the vilest and most despicable
creature in the whole world. She does not imagine what the beauty
of the maiden could do to his son.
However, Psyche did not fall in love with a horrible wretch, she did
not fall in love at all. Still more strange, no one fell in love with her.
Men were content to look and wonder and worship—and then pass
on to marry someone else. Both her sisters, inexpressibly inferior to
her, were splendidly married, each to a king. Psyche, the all
beautiful, sat sad and solitary, only admired, never loved. It seemed
that no man wanted her.
Her father traveled to an oracle of Apollo to ask his advice on how to get her a
good husband. The god answered him, but his words were terrible. Cupid had
told him the whole story and had begged for his help. Accordingly Apollo said
that Psyche, dressed in deepest mourning, must be set on the summit of a rocky
hill and left alone, and that there her destined husband, a fearful winged
serpent, stronger than the gods themselves, would come to her and make her
his wife.
They dressed the maiden as though for her death and carried her to the hill with
greater sorrowing than if it had been to her tomb. But Psyche herself kept her
courage. “You should have wept for me before,” she told them, “because of the
beauty that has drawn down upon me the jealousy of Heaven. Now go,
knowing that I am glad the end has come.” They went in despairing grief,
leaving the lovely helpless creature to meet her doom alone, and they shut
themselves in their palace to mourn all their days for her.
On the high hilltop in the darkness Psyche sat, waiting for she knew
not what terror. There she wept and trembled, a soft breath of air
came through the stillness to her, the gentle breathing of Zephyr,
sweetest and mildest of winds. She felt it lift her up. She was
floating away from the rocky hill and down until she lay upon a
grassy meadow soft as a bed and fragrant with flowers. It was so
peaceful there, all her trouble left her and she slept. Psyche woke up
beside a bright river; and on its bank was a mansion stately and
beautiful as though built for a god, with pillars of gold and walls of
silver and floors inlaid with precious stones.
 Throughout the day, except for the strange companionship
of the voices, she was alone, but in some inexplicable way
she felt sure that with the coming of the night her husband
would be with her. And so it happened. When she felt him
beside her and heard his voice softly murmuring in her ear,
all her fears left her. She knew without seeing him that here
was no monster or shape of terror, but the lover and
husband she had longed and waited for.
One night, he warned her that her sisters were coming to visit her. She
promised to do so as he asked but eventually begs him to allow her to see her
sisters. He relents and the next day they are carried to the house by the same
wind. They saw her wealth and were immediately jealous. Psyche was
convinced by her sisters to do so what they planned. They had their advice all
prepared beforehand. That night she must hide a sharp knife and a lamp near
her bed. When her husband was fast asleep she must leave the bed, light the
lamp, and get the knife. When at last he lay sleeping quietly, she summoned all
her courage and lit the lamp. She tiptoed to the bed and holding the light high
above her she gazed at what lay there. Oh, the relief and the rapture that filled
her heart.NO MONSTER WAS REVEALED, but the sweetest and fairest of all
creatures, at whose sight the very lamp seemed to shine brighter.
some hot oil fell from the lamp upon his shoulder. He started awake: he saw
the light and knew her faithlessness, and without a word he fled from her.
She rushed out after him into the night. She could not see him, but she heard
his voice speaking to her. He told her who he was, and sadly bade her farewell.
“Love cannot live where there is no trust,”
“The God of Love!” she thought. “He was my husband, and I, wretch that I
am, could not keep faith with him. Is he gone from me forever?… At any rate,”
she told herself with rising courage, “I can spend the rest of my life searching
for him. If he has no more love left for me, at least I can show him how much I
love him.” And she started on her journey.
• When she came into Venus’ presence the goddess laughed
aloud and asked her scornfully if she was seeking a husband
since the one she had had would have nothing to do with
her because he had almost died of the burning wound she
had given him
• Venus give some tasks to Psyche:
First Task: Venus took a great quantity of the smallest of the
seeds, wheat and poppy and millet and so on, and mixed them
all together in a heap. She couldn’t start her task but she was
pitied by the tiniest creatures of the field, the little ants, the
swift-runners.
Second Task: The next morning she devised another task for
Psyche, this time a dangerous one. “Down there near the
riverbank,” she said, “where the bushes grow thick, are sheep with
fleeces of gold. Go fetch me some of their shining wool.”
Third Task: Venus tasked her to fill the flask with black water from
the source of the terrible river which is called hateful, River Styx.
Although each of her trials seemed impossibly hard, an excellent
way out would always be provided for her. This time her savior was
an eagle, who poised on his great wings beside her, seized the flask
from her with his beak and brought it back to her full of the black
water.
Venus gave Psyche a box which she was to carry to the underworld
and ask Persephone to fill with some of her beauty. Obediently as
always Psyche went forth to look for the road to Hades. She found
her guide in a tower she passed. It gave her careful directions how
to get to Proserpine’s palace, first through a great hole in the earth,
then down to the river of death, where she must give the ferryman,
Charon, a penny to take her across. From there the road led straight
to the palace. Cerberus, the three-headed dog, guarded the doors,
but if she gave him a cake he would be friendly and let her pass.
Her next trial she brought upon herself through her curiosity and,
still more, her vanity. She felt that she must see what that beauty-
charm in the box was; and, perhaps, use a little of it herself. She
knew quite as well as Venus did that her looks were not improved
by what she had gone through, and always in her mind was the
thought that she might suddenly meet Cupid. If only she could
make herself more lovely for him! She was unable to resist the
temptation; she opened the box. To her sharp disappointment she
saw nothing there; it seemed empty. Immediately, however, a deadly
languor took possession of her and she fell into a heavy sleep.
At this juncture the God of Love himself stepped forward.
While the joyful Psyche hastened on her errand, the god flew up to
Olympus. He wanted to make certain that Venus would give them
no more trouble, so he went straight to Jupiter himself. The Father
of Gods and Men consented
Then he called a full assembly of the gods, and announced to all,
including Venus, that Cupid and Psyche were formally married, and
that he proposed to bestow immortality upon the bride
Mercury brought Psyche into the palace of the gods, and Jupiter
himself gave her the ambrosia to taste which made her immortal.
 The story of: Pyramus and Thisbe wereso close together
that one wall was common to both.
Pyramus and Thisbe Growing up thus side by side they learned
to love each other. They longed to marry,
but their parents forbid. Unfortunately their
families totally hate each other.
The two lovers found a way to
communicate; they spoke through a small
crack in the wall that separates their home.
One day, the two could not stand their
longingness so they decide to elope.
They agreed to meet at a well known place,
the Tomb of Ninus under a mulberry tree.
Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a
lioness with a mouth bloody from a recent
kill, she flees, leaving behind her cloak.
When Pyramus arrives, he is horrified at the
sight of Thisbe's cloak which the lioness
had torn and left traces of blood behind, as
well as its tracks. Assuming that a wild
beast has killed her, Pyramus kills himself,
falling on his sword, a typical Babylonian
way to commit suicide, and in turn
splashing blood on the white mulberry
leaves.
Pyramus's blood stains the white mulberry
fruits, turning them dark. Thisbe returns, eager
to tell Pyramus what had happened to her, but
she finds Pyramus's dead body under the shade
of the mulberry tree. Thisbe, after a brief
period of mourning, stabs herself with the
same sword. In the end, the gods listen to
Thisbe's lament, and forever change the color
of the mulberry fruits into the stained color to
honor their forbidden love. Pyramus and
Thisbe proved to be faithful lovers to each
other until the very end.
 The change in color came
about strangely and sadly.
The death of two young
lovers was the cause.
 The story of:
Orpheus and Eurydice