T. S. Lewis Till We Have Faces

This is reasoned for its same theme of tragedy, romance and including such elements as betrayal, sacrifice and bravery. In the myth of Cupid and Psyche, the story explains how the sisters of Psyche warned her of her unseen husband and that her was a harmful beast. But as she approached him at night, she laid her eye upon the most beautiful man she's ever seen. But her candle stick wax's fell on him and injured him. As Cupid began to fly to Olympus for healing, he said to Psyche: "Love cannot live where there is no trust." (Hamilton, Pg. 100) Psyche soon regretted her naive action and did everything she could to prove herself worthy as a love to Cupid. She even went to jealous Venus and sold herself to the Goddess and endured sore trials just to be with her lover once more. But in the end, the two were united once more and created a bond that could never be broken. Tales and myths such as above can demonstrate and prove that nothing can endure more than the power of love and nothing is more beautiful than the way love is found once again no matter how many times it was broken

     C.S. Lewis’s book Till We Have Faces is about the myth of Psyche and Cupid. However, in the original tale Psyche is a very naive girl who is greatly influenced by her two wicked older sisters. In this rendition of the tale, Psyche’s sisters are not evil and Psyche is not a mindless fool as she has been portrayed in earlier tales.

Orual first takes her sister for mad, but eventually is convinced the perhaps she should leave Psyche to her new found joy, to the love of her husband. But her jealousy and obsessive love step in , grudging Psyche her happiness, her love. Orual is unable to comprehend, much less approve, of any love for Psyche that usurps her own. Orual, predictably, resents the gods for the gulf now so plainly separating her from Psyche. "…the world had broken in pieces and Psyche and I were not in the same piece. Seas, mountains, madness, death itself, could not have removed her from me to such a hopeless distance. Gods, and again gods, and always gods…they had stolen her." (TWHF, pg.120-121)

Rooted deep in many of the works of C.S. Lewis are themes of Christianity and the relationship between man and the spiritual world. His last novel, written in the mid 1950s, Till We Have Faces, is one of the most intellectual works of C.S. Lewis. Considered by Lewis as his best work, it is a retelling of the classical mythical story of Cupid and Psyche from the perspective of Orual, the older sister of Psyche. Masterfully written, Lewis prompts the reader to identify with Orual and view her as the victim. Lewis then shows the faults of Orual and in the process reveals our own faults and those of society. As an upcoming freshman, I believe that college students would profit from Till We Have Faces, because it opens the readers eyes to the spiritual

The book is then further continued with the exploration of creation and desecration. When it comes to the creation of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden a so-called set of guidelines were put in place for Adam and Eve to live by. A part of those rules were that could only eat from the tree of life and not from the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve violated that which resulted in the breaking of the covenant and ate from the tree of knowledge because Satan tempted them. Although the couple had gone entirely against God’s words, God promised them a savior from Satan. However a curse was inflicted on Adam and Eve by God to show the love he had for them. In Hahn’s novel he explains why God would inflict the suffering that he imposed on Adam and Eve:

Following Psyche’s sacrifice, Orual arranges to go to the mountains in order to gather Psyche’s remains and is surprised to find that Psyche is still alive. Even though Psyche insists that she is now married to a god and living a good life, Urual refuses to believe that Psyche can be happy without her. Here, Orual shows how possessive she is of Psyche, wanting to take Psyche away from her happiness in order to appease herself. As Casey says, “Orual cannot recognize love as anything more that possessing a person’s affections” (6). In an attempt to regain Psyche, she forces

Orual could only recall the Springs and Summers of her childhood with Psyche but describes them as if they were the most wonderful days of her life. Time seemed to fly by faster than they ever did for Orual, maybe because she was a kid, or because this was before she started to lose Psyche to the gods. As she reminisces about the trees, the way their branches danced in the skies, and how the shadows floated along the ground, she suspiciously transfers the spotlight to "their shadows flowing water-like over all the hills and valleys of Psyche 's body" (23). As if she was not entertained by nature itself but more of the burning love she has for Psyche. The thing that Orual can remember most was just the beauty of Psyche. She goes on to admit that she wished to be more to Psyche than she already was. Orual seems to get carried away while writing about her memories of Psyche that she goes as far as telling the reader that she wished she was a boy, so Psyche could fall in love with her. Orual has a deeper love for Psyche at such a young age that is more than just sisterly love. The way C.S. Lewis repeated the words "I wanted," shows the reader first taste of the storge love Orual has for Psyche. The reader now gets a sense of devotion Orual shows to Psyche. Orual seems to be attached to her step-sister at a young age, maybe because Psyche was everything that Orual wanted to be; that being

Throughout the novel Orual states that she is complaining to the gods for them not helping her with her relationship with Psyche although it was Orual’s own wrongdoings that diminished the relationship. Orual refuses to believe that Psyche has a god for a husband and is living in his palace because she cannot see it for herself. When she does see it she blames the gods by stating, “That moment when I either saw or thought I saw the House- does it tell against the gods or against me? Would they (if they answered) make it a part of their defense? say it was a sign, a hint, beckoning me to answer the riddle one way rather than the other? I’ll not grant them that. What is the use of a sign which is itself only another riddle?” (Lewis 133). She blames the gods for answering her questions about Psyche because they were not straightforward like she wants them to be. Due to Orual being pigheaded about the gods her actions are affected by her

God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance” (93). Unlike the creature, Adam was created after the image of God as a perfect, human being. In contrast, Victor abandons the creature because of his hideous appearance which emphasizes Victor’s narcissistic judgment. This demonstrates the false preconception of physical appearance in relation to good and evil. Despite his beautiful appearance, Adam deceives God by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge despite specifically being told not to which emphasizes the false preconception of physical appearance and

Orual has always been very possessive of her sister since the beginning. When Psyche was still a child Orual had written that she had wanted her “to be a slave so that I could set her free and make her rich” (Lewis 23). Orual doesn’t see that her love is very consuming and selfish, but she is still willing to kill herself for Psyche. She does love her, but in a way that takes over all of her actions. It is in this stage of Orual’s animus that it uses the force developed in the first stage to accomplish a specific goal. This goal is controlling her psyche. This is shown through Orual’s interaction with Psyche when she meets her across the river. Orual believes that she must make her disobey her husband, even if it means that Psyche will be unhappy. She does contemplate her decision for a time, thinking that “she is ten times happier, there in the Mountain, than you could ever make her. Leave her alone. Don’t spoil it” (Lewis 138). But, her animus in the Man of Action stage has already decided that Psyche needs to leave the Mountain and come home. She makes a plan with the rational Fox to bring her back, thinking that she will “die if winter catches her on the Mountain” (Lewis 145). At no point does she think that this is an action of selfishness and oppression. Psyche tries to show Orual the error of her ways the

18.Pandora and Psyche are similar because of their curiosity. Pandora opened the box because she was curious as to what was inside it after being told not to open it. Psyche was not allowed to see her husband's face because they had to trust each other. However, got the best of her and she lost Cupid. This shows that they are both very similar because they both became curious causing them problems. These stories reveal that ancient Greek women are not trustworthy and are curious.

Similarity, to the Odysseus, In the Beginning Eve was tempted to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. .Furthermore both characters

Three myths that share interesting similarities include Cupid and Psyche, Baucis and Philemon, and Ceyx and Alcyone. Although there are multiple differences, the similarities could possibly exist to prove that the gods shall reward true love- even through tragedy. In every story, the gods allow each couple to live together forever in peace. For Baucis and Philemon, they live as a tree growing from two trunks after their death. In the case of Ceyx and Alcyone, the gods pity Alcyone’s suffering after Ceyx’s death, and turn both into birds so they can fly together forever. Cupid and Psyche are finally are able to live together in peace when Psyche is overcome by deep sleep after peeking in Proserpine’s box.

Cupid and Psyche has been evaluated as being an unnerving and awkward version of the myth. David’s painting depicts a vulgar and adolescent Cupid as he is sneaking away just before sunrise. Traditionally, the god of love would be presented as an idealized and noble youth; however, in this painting David chose to show a ruddy juvenile who sneers at the observer as if to display his conquest. Cupid lacks the elegance and beautiful youthfulness, usually attributed to the gods in art; in fact, David was known for the virtuous and perfected male form that dominates most of his previous works. The male form demonstrated by Cupid “was seen to be completely at odds with the standards David and his circle had long employed for depicting young male gods.” (Thompson).

The myth of Cupid and Psyche is a charming and bittersweet tale. Psyche is one of three sisters of a king. She is the most beautiful woman alive, even more beautiful than Aphrodite. Every male would admire her looks, and that got Aphrodite vexed. Aphrodite sent her son, Cupid, to shoot Psyche with an arrow to make