The myth of Cupid and Psyche

True love is portrayed in the fable of Cupid and Psyche, which is a very captivating tale. Psyche and Cupid both refer to the “deity of the soul,” eros, respectively. The tale has been told numerous times and is still referenced in contemporary writing and art. There have been numerous allegory versions of the story since it was first written down in the second century. The main narrative is found in Lucius Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, also known as the Golden Ass. (Papaioannou 302). The story has a strong lesson to teach. Greek myths are frequently used, even in the sacred world. Even to date there are many sculptures that are based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Not only is there a need for the discussion of the myth but also the analytical meaning and its history through the 17th and 18th century and the middles ages needs to be brought out. The artwork from the tale and the modern interpretations are equally important.

The story

Psyche was beautiful girl that had two older sisters. Everyone was stunned by her beauty that they forgot about the goddess Aphrodite/Venus. This made the goddess angry as she felt her temples are falling. She, therefore, decided to destroy Psyche by asking her son named Cupid to kill her using an arrow. However, when Cupid saw her, he fell in love with her radiance. He shot himself instead. Fear struck the family of Psyche as they thought that despite her beauty, she would not find a husband to marry. Her father went to Apollo to seek help. Apollo asked for a to climb a hill where she will see a serpent and not a man. She climbed the hill as ordered by Apollo. At the hill top she felt asleep. On waking up she found a mansion. She went into the mansion. In there, she enjoyed the scene and was treated with great luxury. She however did not see, Cupid, her future husband, eye to eye. Nonetheless, she fell in love with Cupid and married him (Haskell and Adam n.p). Pysche never had the chance to meet her husband face to face.

Despite that, she was leading a happy family life with him until one day her two older sisters decided to visit them. Cupid, on hearing the intended visit by Psyche’s sisters, warns and informs her that the decision was not a wise one. Pysche pleads with him and her sisters visit is granted. The two sisters visited them in their mansion. They fell in love and adored their sister’s happy living. They, however, convinced their sister, Pysche that she had never seen her husband eye to eye. Cupid was an immortal being and his face was not to be seen. When they left the house, Pysche become curious that night and decided to light a candle to watch her sleeping husband. On stealing the glance, Psyche found out that her husband was handsome and she blames herself for being distrustful. Cupid woke up and became furious with Psyche for being mistrustful. He said he cannot stay in such a distrustful marriage and went back to his mother’s home. Psyche wandered about looking for him. She eventually decided to go back to Cupid’s mother to seek forgiveness and love. The mother decided to give her many punitive tasks before she let her meet her son again (Haskell and Adam n.p).

Unlike the traditional three punishments, Venus decided on four punitive mechanisms. As the first punitive measure, Psyche was shown a heap of seed for sorting in just a night. That was an absolutely enormous task that was hardly achievable by one person. However, ants came to Psyche’s rescue, and the task was completed. Venus was shocked and decided on a second, equally harder task. Psyche was ordered to sleep on an ice-cold floor and consume only a small quantity of bread for supper. The task was completed, and Psyche lived on. A third, extremely tougher task was then given to her. She was asked to get back a piece of golden fleece from a river. In an attempt to succeed in her task, she almost drowned in the river. However, to her rescue, a reed spoke to her and instructed her to get the fleece from thorns that trap them. From this activity, she gathered a sizeable quantity of the pieces of fleece and successfully delivered on her third task (Revolvy n.p).

In yet another unfair task, Psyche was asked to completely fill a flask from River Styx. On arrival, it dawned on her that the task was near impossible to perform. At the head of the river, the rocks were an absolute danger. To her rescue, an eagle performed the task of the filling the flask. Again, she emerged a heroine. Venus was extremely astonished. Aphrodite finally gave Pysche a final task of going to the netherworld and bringing the box of beauty from Persephone. Unexpectedly, Psyche succeeded again.

However, on her way back curiosity overwhelmed her to know the content of the flask. As she tried to open the box, she suddenly fell asleep. Cupid then went in search of his wife and found her in a deep slumber. He woke her up, put the content back to the box and took her to Zeus to search for her immortality. His wishes were granted and Psyche became immortal. Since her son now was married to an immortal goddess, Venus supported the marriage thereafter (Revolvy n.p).

Ancient Greece and Roman Origin

The story of Cupid and Psyche had its origin in the 2nd century. It was initially from “The Golden Ass” also known as the metamorphoses. The writing was by Lucius Apuleius. Its theme was surpassing obstacles and challenges to love between Psyche and Cupid. It was only the narrative by Apuleius that had an extension from antiquity. However, as early as 4th century, there was the appearance of Eros and Psyche in the artwork in Greece. Many interpretations can be accommodated from the story. This was because the story had elements that were Neoplatonic. It also had allusions to mystery religions. There had been many analyses of the story as an allegory. There were also many folktales, Marchen, and myth based on the story (Moulton 844). Following the rediscovery of the novel of Apuleius in the period of Renaissance, there had been an extensive reception of the myth in the classical tradition. Even to date, there is a great depiction of the story in many paintings, sculpture, drama and even the wallpaper (Papaioannou 303).

The story of Eros and Psyche took about twenty percent of Apuleius’s novel. It was at the center of the novel. The book in itself was just a narrative by protagonist Lucius in the first person. He underwent various trials and ventures as he changed into donkey through magic. He eventually got back his human form from consuming roses that were sacred to the Isis. The story of Psyche had many similarities to this. In both, there was a theme of being curious in a dangerous way. There was also the aspect of punitive tests and salvation through divine intervention.

The tale by Apuleius was an example of Mise en abyme that occurred in a very complicated narrative frame. Lucius retold the tale as was given by an aged female to Charite. Charite was taken into a cave by pirates after they unfairly kidnapped her. The happy ending of Psyche was meant to get rid of Charite’s fear of being raped. This was frequently told in irony by Apuleius. The tale was not entirely strict form of allegory that took on a Platonic argument. Apuleius used imagery such as those from a winged soul, Phaedrus. The gaining of divinity was depicted by the agency of the daimon Love (Papaioannou 302).

Middle ages

In the 5th century, Capella allegorized the myth to represent the downfall of the human soul. In her version of the story, it was the sexual love that drove Psyche to material world that brought death. On the hand, according to Apuleius, Psyche got immortality because of her commitment to sexual love. The first rose flower came from the blood of Pysche as she lost her virginity to Cupid according to the “On the Origin of the World,” (Moulton 844).

In the 6th century, Fulgentius (who was a Christian mythographer) related to Psyche to being Adam in the Bible. He was driven by lust from the paradise. The mythographer drew that the two older sisters were just flesh and free will as their parents represented the Supreme being and Matter. In another allegory in the 14th century, another mythographer, Boccaccio, believed that the marriage of Eros and Cupid was depictive of the union of soul and God.

The novel was among the very first that contributed greatly to the change from the roll to codex. The edition was in the late fourth century. There were several writers from Latin who were aware. These included Capella, Fulgentius, Augustine of Hippo among others. However, towards the late 6th century, the text was obscure. It was only through a single manuscript that the text lived in the period of “Dark Ages.” “The Golden Ass” was not known until the 13th century.

However, the copies of the metamorphoses had begun circulation from the mid-1300s. The circulation was among the early humanist in Florence. The writing by Boccaccio and his interpretation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche was in the 1370s and was published in the year 1472. His Genealogy decorum Gentium was responsible for the wide acceptance in the Italian Renaissance and spread in the entire Europe.

The period between 1566 and 1635 was the most lustrous period of the myth. William Adlington did an English translation. There was a dramatization of the tale by Thomas Heywood in his Love’s Mistress to celebrate the wedding of Henrietta Maria and Charles 1. Thereafter, he made sure that her room had the 22 paints (Mathews, Musser, and Braun 1880).

17th and the 18th century

Another major period for the Cupid and Psyche was between 1790s and beginning of 1800s. There was a great reflection of the work as characterized by the opera. Interior décor such as clocks and even hairstyles depicted Cupid and Psyche. The myth served as a tool for people to refashion themselves after the French revolution. Around the 18th and 19th century, it became an accompaniment of the fascination of the ancient mystery religions. Erasmus Darwin, among other authors believed that this myth was included in the Eleusinian cycle. They made such claim as they wrote about the Portland vase that was in British Museum in 1810.

There was a retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche by Niccolo da Correggio where Cupid was the narrator. This poet did the retelling in 1491. At the end of his Comus in 1634, John Milton makes a reference to the story attributing to the two children of the couple. There was also another version by Shackerley Marmion in 1637. Additionally, La Fontaine made a mixed prose and verse romance in the year 1699. In the shapes of Luvah and Vala, Blake draws on the elements of the tale.

In 1805, Mary Tighe made a publication of her poem that is titled Psyche. She, however, added some details to the myth. An example is the placement of two springs in Venus’s garden. One of the springs had bitter water while the other had sweet water. Cupid begins to obey the commands of his mother and brings water from both springs but only hands to Psyche the water from the bitter spring. In her story, the punishment by Venus was only one, to bring water from the forbidden spring.

In the verse of The Earthly Paradise in 1868-1870, there was a retold story of Cupid and Psyche by William Morris. Likewise, there was a prose translation by Walter in 1885 in his Marius the Epicurean. It was at the same time that Bridges R wrote Eros and Psyche: A Narrative Poem in Twelve Measures in the year 1885.

In 1929, the story reappeared in The True Heart by Townsend Warner taking the story to the Victorian England. However, there were only a handful of people who made the connection till she explained it. Throughout time, there have been several literary works of Cupid and Psyche. Eudora had The Robber Bridegroom, which is a novella written in 1942. The sister to Psyche narrated Till We Have Faces, a version by C. Lewis in 1956. The story was also reflected in She: Understanding Feminine Psychology by Robert Johnstone published by Harper Collins in 1976.

Artwork

There was turning off this myth into a masque for the courts of Charles by Thomas Heywood in 1634. In 1671, there is a loose reworking of the semi-opera Psyche by Matthew Locke. In the year 1800, there was the German Opera that had four acts that were premiered by Ludwig Abeille. It was titled Amor und Psyche, and it had the libretto by Franz that was based on the work on Apuleius (Mathews, Musser, and Braun 1882).

Even in folklore and children literature, the story had frequently been used. Bruno Bettelheim said that the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast of the 18th century was a version of this story. The myth by Lucius was also in many fairy tales. Examples include Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin. In the tale of Age of Fable, Thomas Bulfinch had a shorter adaptation of the myth. He borrowed a lot from Tighe. For example, he borrowed the action of Cupid in harming himself. Also, Josephine Peabody wrote a short version for children in her book called Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew in the year 1897.

During the larger part of the 19th century, the tale of Cupid and Psyche was greatly used as a source of transformations. The work of Psyche’ et I’ Amour by Bourguereua was among those that were used in 1889. During this time, tableaux vivants were vogue as part of Vaudeville. The performers stood in the middle of the play like they were frozen. These were done in poses that preceded the background that enlarged enormously from the original to large picture frames. The actors feigned nudity like those in the myth through the use of body stockings. To avoid censorship, females were allowed to be nude. From there, a ballet called Cupid and Psyche was choreographed in the year 1939. This was by Frederick Ashton and the music by Lord Berners and décor by Sir Francis. Frank staff danced as Cupid while Julia played the role of Psyche and June played as Venus (Mathews, Musser, and Braun 1885).

The Greek mythology was applied greatly in the later periods of the history of art. Examples are the Baroque art and Romanticism. The artist of Baroque, Anthony Dyck had a story with the title Cupid finds the sleeping Psyche. The role played by Psyche is similar to that played by Adam in the bible. Antonio Canova had a popular Romantic sculpture. It was titled Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss (1757-1822). This sculpture was important because it was a reflection of the then cultural values. It had its focus on strong, emotional and dramatic expression. Christianity used Greek myths to express their moral values. The romantic period similarly used Greek mythology to express human emotion.

Modern interpretation

On the valentine’s day of 2014, Turn produced a five-act iambic pentameter version of the eros and soul The play made an exploration of the nature of lust that was unbounded and then changed. It had an incorporation of both the Molliere rhyming and the Elizabethan iambic pentameter.

Often, this myth is depicted in various visual media. The typical representation of Psyche was that of a winged butterfly that was also her common attribute. It was also a representation of the soul. In the old literature, there was an iconographical tradition that was different from Apuleius tale. It influenced subsequent depictions. In antiquity, the myth could have mystical or religious meaning. In Britain, some gems were engraved with the picture of Cupid touching a butterfly. This was symbolic of the spiritual torment.

The two characters were also held with great relief and they were represented in the traditional wares found in famous Ancient Silk Road in Afghanistan. The famous allegory was also that of pairing. It depicts human love that was integrated into body and soul. In the late antiquity, they were shown as “chin-chuck” embrace. This was symbolic of erotic communion with a very distant history. The other representation that had survived on was the papyrus illustration of a possible tale. The other was a ceiling fresco at Trier whose executions took place under the leadership of Constantine.

One controversial thing about cupid and psyche story was the depiction of nudity. It had offended the current sensibilities. In the 1840s the work of William Page was banned by the National Academy of Art. The work had been referred to as the most erotic painting in America. The realistic nudity was the classic subject matter of the myth. In about 1867, the partners were referred to as being chaste like in the pastoral sculptures Psyche by Townsend. Currently, the image of Psyche alone had been used to illustrate not just a scene from Apuleius but also a broader platonic tradition. In the tradition love was a big force that shaped an individual.

Analysis

The story depicted genuine love. Initially, Psyche had a big doubt of this love. She felt that she must see Cupid in flesh. She got a big redemption after proving commitment in several instances. The two belonged together in a union that is inseparable. Cupid then got a strong desire to be with Psyche when he saw the soul in its beauty. The part where the family was worried that Psyche would not get a husband further pointed out something. The beauty was admired by all men. However, it did not give way to the type of love that resulted in marriage. Nonetheless, Cupid was able to completely see and love her beauty (Haskell and Adam n.p.).

The happy ending of the story also showed that when love was genuine and pure, all obstacles were overcome. All pains arrange themselves to ensure that what was truly loved was gotten. Psyche proves that what was loved was defended by all means. In fact, the modern author C.S Lewis drew on that statement in his work under the title Till We Have Faces (Haskell and Adam n.p.).

Psyche was a rare type of character that showed that a female can act as a male hero. In as much other characters such as Artemis played the role of males, none stood out to have such a heroic might as Psyche. She boldly overcame all the obstacles in her way (Revolvy n.p.).

Additionally, she began as a person and ended as an immortal being. That transition made the audience to seek answers to spirituality. One wonders whether the soul was of the earth or heaven. One also questioned what changes occurred when Psyche became immortal (Revolvy n.p.).

The myth also displayed differences between gods and humans. Venus was a jealous being as the mortal Psyche drew other mortals from her. On the universe, the soul was beautiful but it encountered many stumbling blocks and trials. The restoration of peace was only after the soul reached heaven.

The myth was also depictive of some of the storylines that interlocked in myths. Psyche went to the Persephone in the underworld. The box of Persephone was a reminder of Pandora’s. This is especially true since Psyche opened the box to have a look at its content. The River had also been mentioned again just like Venus and Zeus. The way the tales were interconnected raised the questions about chronology. If not the creation of the earth, the rest of the chronology was hard to determine. One cannot tell which story took place before the other. The overlapping showed the unification in the depiction of one world in which all characters and stories lived (Revolvy n.p.).

Conclusion

The Greece myth of Cupid and Psyche told a captivating story. The story had been in existence since the 2nd century. Lucius Apuleius was the first person who wrote “The Golden Ass,”. The metamorphose had been allegorized. The myth had been used over time in several instances from opera to folklores and tales. The nature of the myth also allowed for interpretation from the religious point of view. The myth narrated a genuine love and how Psyche overcame all the challenges to be with her loved one.

Works cited

Haskell, Stephen Kissel, Adam ed. ”Mythology Cupid and Psyche Summary and Analysis. Grade Saver, 28 May 2008 Web. 15 April 2017.

Mathews, Nancy Mowll, Charles Musser, and Marta Braun. Moving pictures: American art and early film, 1880-1910. Vol. 1. Hudson Hills, 2005.

Moulton, Ian Frederick. “Cupid in Early Modern Literature and Culture. By Jane Kingsley- Smith”. The European Legacy 17.6 (2012): 844-845. Web.

Papaioannou, Sophia. “Charite’s Rape, Psyche on the Rock and the Parallel Function of Marriage in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses”. Mnemosyne 51.3 (1998): 302-324. Web. 15 April 2017.

Revolvy, LLC. “Cupid And Psyche” On Revolvy.Com“. Revolvy.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. < https://www.revolvy.com/topic/Cupid%20and%20Psyche&uid=1575>