Cupid And Psyche Retold By Sally Benson

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter details the kidnapping of Persephone and the consequent fallout of this event. The myth itself represents a change in the structure of Greek myth, shifting from a centrally matriarchal system to that of a patriarchal. By casting feminine traits in a negative light and masculine traits in a positive light, the myth spreads a new ideology to the formerly matricidal Greeks. When taken individually, each of the scenes could be construed to be symbolic of this new system crushing the old one. However, on their own, no one scene can encapsulate this shift. Instead, viewing the myth as a whole is the only true way to expose the shift in cultural opinion.

In the story of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche marries a man she has never seen in daylight, but this does not bother her, as he is very good to her. However, her sisters come and make her suspicious of who her husband may be and believe him to be a beast. Even though her husband had only asked for her loyalty to his wishes, to trust him and not try to look at his face, Psyche is unfaithful. When Cupid sees that Psyche has proven to be a disloyal wife, he leaves her. In this case Psyche was not just disloyal to her husband

After displeasing Venus and upsetting Cupid, Psyche is wandering around, lost and alone, when Ceres, the Roman goddess of farming, speaks to her about receiving Venus’ forgiveness, which is significant because Ceres is one of the supernatural guides that helps Psyche along the way of bringing back her husband: “O Psyche, truly worthy of your pity, though I cannot shield you from the frowns of Venus, yet I can teach you to allay her displeasure” (Benson 848). Without this supernatural assistance, Psyche would not have the opportunity to receive Venus’ forgiveness and have Cupid come back to her. Furthermore, after Psyche was given the task to retrieve a box of Proserpina’s beauty for Venus, a mysterious voice warned Psyche not to open the box after Proserpina gave it back to her, which is significant because the mysterious voice is the archetypal narrative pattern of supernatural assistance that attempts to lead Psyche away from her curious desires: “When Proserpina has given you the box filled with her beauty, of all things this is chiefly to be observed by you, that you never once open or look into the box, nor allow your curiosity to pry into the treasure of the beauty of the goddesses” (Benson 850). This mysterious voice was intended to stop Psyche from

For this informative report I will attempt to point out the roles women and how they are viewed in ancient Greece. I will then show how these views are present in Homer’s "The Odyssey." How are women, goddess or mortal, conveyed in "The Odyssey?"

Homer’s epic, The Iliad, highlights the influence and jurisdiction that beauty provides. The prizes and glory a man accumulates from war measure his power, while beauty measures a woman’s power. Since conquering a woman is the ultimate prize to a man, her beauty represents ultimate power. Though the beauty of mortal women has the power to turn men against each other, mortal women have no influence over this power and are instead objectified by men. Immortal women, however, have authority over their beauty and are able to control men with their power. Helen, on the other hand, though mortal, has the beauty of a goddess. Yet, Helen is bound by her fate to Paris, making her power obsolete. By presenting Helen’s hopeless power and supplying the reader with insight on her suffering through her thoughts, Helen is portrayed as a tragic hero.

In Ovid Metamorphoses, the Roman literature described the ruthless act of Pluto of rape, to seize and carry away Proserpine without the consent of Ceres and in parallel in the Homeric Hymns of Demeter; Persephone was seized and carried away by Hades without the consent of Demeter. The invariant theme that was identified in both the Greek and Roman literature was the loss of innocence of Persephone/Proserpine. Despite the various differences the story was presented, it reinforced the innocence that was stolen from the god of the underworld, Hades or also known as Pluto. Throughout this paper, it will discuss the similar characteristics of the two myths such as the motive that led and encouraged the god of the underworld to kidnap

Studies concerning the lives of women in classical Athens have sparked much controversy because, despite the apparent fascination with femininity manifested in art and drama, we have no evidence voicing the opinions of the actual women themselves. This presents a

Although there are many similarities, not only in the folktale of Cupid and Psyche, but also in several common fairytales, there seems to be some distinct characteristics that separate a myth from a fairytale. The tale of Cupid and Psyche does not possess an "original" nor "godlike" nor "inspired" (Grimm, 4) story, but rather has an elderly woman storyteller, an enchanted castle and a

In the story “Till We Have Faces,” CS Lewis retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche through the eyes of Psyche's older sister, Orual. Using the viewpoint of Orual gives a different view into the story since her relationship with the gods is nonexistent in the beginning. The gods have taken the only one she loves, Psyche, and Orual, ultimately, uses the book as a complaint aimed towards the gods because she is jealous. Throughout the story, there are many glimpses into the jealous nature of Orual. When we first see Orual, it seems that her jealousy is stemming from wanting to be as beautiful as Psyche and blaming the gods for her ugliness, however later on, after Psyche is taken from the gods, her jealousy seems to stem from Psyche no longer needing

The title of Sarah B. Pomeroy's book on women in antiquity is a summary of the main categories of females in the literary imagination and the societies of ancient Greece and Rome, over a period of fifteen hundred years. Beginning with goddesses, Pomery retells some Greek myths, outlining the social functions of female Olympians – the goddesses are archetypical images of human females, as envisioned by males. Desirable characteristics among a number of females rather than their concentration in one being are appropriate to a patriarchal society. Demosthenes states in the fourth century B.C. this ideal among mortal men, "We have mistresses for our enjoyment, concubines to serve our person and wives for the bearing of legitimate children (Pomery 1995)." Pomery’s goal in writing this book was to detail and outline the true significance of women in all other their roles in antiquity.

Cupid, being known for love, has greatly influenced today’s society even with his questionable background. In ancient Greece, he originated from Aphrodite. Cupid’s other name was Eros. In Roman times, his name is Cupid and his mother was Venus. His purpose was to to pierce the heart of his victims and causing them fall deeply in love. The most known stories that he was involved in was Apollo and Daphne and Cupid and Psyche. Apollo was shot by Cupid and fell in love with Daphne. Daphne couldn’t stand being bombarded by Apollo. The moral of the story is pride in victory sets one up for defeat; in fact the moral of Cupid and Psyche story is love cannot thrive where there isn’t trust. The resolution to his story is he marries Psyche. Venus supports their love. For Apollo and Daphne, Daphne is now the reason why we have the Laurel Tree.

The stories that as a whole make up the body of ancient Greek mythology have treatedthe complex subject of women in various ways. Although women are generally considered to beweak and subordinate to their husbands, there exist some examples of strong, even heroic womenin certain myths. Such “extraordinary” women include Deianeira, Phaedra, Medea, Penelope,and Clytemnestra, among others. This discussion of women will focus on the latter two,comparing and contrasting them and addressing the ways in which the former is often considereda “good” wife and the latter a “bad” wife. The comparison of Penelope and Clytemnestra willultimately show that, in certain ways, the line between “good” and “bad” wife is rather blurryand the distinction between husband-killing monster and devoted, faithful wife is not as clear-cutas one might expect.The major works in which Penelope and Clytemnestra appear are Homer’s Odyssey andAeschylus’ Oresteia, particularly the Agamemnon. One of the first things to notice about theseworks is that they were both written by men, for men. Given the ancient Greek context, this is arather obvious observation, but it deserves to be pointed out because it should be expected thatmen would have a biased view of women. Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days describe thecreation of Pandora, the first of “the race of women”, as a gift and punishment from the gods.While she is made to “look like a goddess immortal, / having the lovely, desirable shape of a

1st wing - Daughter of the King, the most beautiful out of his 3 daughters. Venus, goddess of beauty, was jealous of her beauty Venus sent her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with a old, ugly man. Cupid fell in love with Psyche instead.

Psyche was the daughter of a king and had three sisters. Although she had immense beauty, she was never loved. Men only found it enjoyable to stare, but never to love. Even Venus herself grew envious of her, a mortal. She stopped receiving attention, and she decided she wouldn’t put up with this. So she sent her son Cupid to shoot Psyche with one of his arrows to make fall in love with the most

“The truest characters of ignorance are pride and arrogance. This quote by Samuel Butler is truer than gold in the two greek myths Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus. The protagonists of both stories boastful,arrogant and prideful natures lead them to their agonizing deaths and downfall. The two myths would be lifeless and stale without the use of of literary elements like conflict,imagery,and and characterization. Conflict shapes the story,Imagery foreshadows and provides color,and characterization develops the characters personalities and behaviors. These elements are how the authors were able to teach the lesson in the theme. The two stories’ main characters, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus share the same moral theme of a prideful disregard from those elder and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences,existing thanks to these literary elements.