Along The Enchanted Way discussion
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Cupid and Psyche
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I think not knowing is harder than knowing. I mean, okay, people fall in love with people who hide thier natures all the time. In some ways, Cupid/Pysche, as most Beauty/Beast tales, touches on this. But Pysche doesn't know what he looks like; in some way it seems as if she is being forced to play a game that she doesn't know the rules too. That seems off. It is different than say, "Hans, My Hedgehog" or the Pig Prince where the girl is told the rules.
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So it is love or possession? That is the question for most of the time isn't it? I think it does make a difference that he's doing because of his mother's wrath. Now, whether that's a good or bad thing, I haven't quite deicided yet.Have you read "The Green Serpent"? It is a French story that is heavily influeneced by this tale.
If you want to dig a little deeper under the Psyche myth, you really gotta get hold of the book, "Goddesses in Every Woman" by Jean Shinoda Bolen. In there she talks about the myth a good deal, and she looks upon it as a metaphor for psychological growth. You'd like the rest of the book, too, since it gives her interpretations of the major Greco-Roman female myths as archetypes -- Artemis, Athena, Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Psyche.
The book sure has a lot of food for thought.
-- Laura
The idea of a young girl falling in love (or being forced into a relationship with) a creature either hideous in appearance or of an unknown nature seems to be timeless.
As for this story-- what do you think? Is it possible to love someone whose full nature is not disclosed to you? Was Psyche really in the wrong for listening to her sisters-- how was she to know that they did not have her best interest at heart?