Cupid and Psyche
On Heaven and Earth:
The Tale of Cupid and Psyche
William Shakespeare once wrote, “But love is blind and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that they themselves commit.” Psyche brings life to Shakespeare’s words through her early acts of naivety, and later, the trials she willingly faces to right her wrongs. With the only rule to keeping a lavish life laid before her being to not set sights on her husband, it seems simple enough to oblige that one simple request; however, love is a powerful emotion that fuels many fires, from crimes of passion and jealousy, to otherwise impossible feats of strength. If it were not for the purity of love that Psyche felt for Cupid, she would not have been willing, or able to face the tasks set before her.
Most will tell you that an emotion such as love takes time to develop. In today’s society, people meet, fall in love, and eventually, marry. In Psyche’s situation, she was promised to a man she had not only never met, she had never even seen him. To make matters more strenuous, even after their wedding night, her new husband remained a mystery. With time however, emotions change. On her first night in her new home, Psyche “feared for her virginity,” but a short while later, the new arrangements had become “delightful” to her. Psyche had yet to fall in love with her husband, but simply found his nightly visits to her room comforting. Knowing of Psyche’s naïve disposition in matters of the heart, her sisters, spurred by jealousy of the lifestyle that has been handed to her, manage to take advantage of the situation, formulating what most would see as a crime of passion. Convinced that her husband has been lying about his true identity, Psyche violates his wishes, and in the candle light catches sight of who he truly is. As a result of Psyche not heeding the warnings of her husband, Cupid feels as though his trust has been defiled, and thus, he flees from the bed he and Psyche had shared, leaving her and her new found
The Tale of Cupid and Psyche
William Shakespeare once wrote, “But love is blind and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that they themselves commit.” Psyche brings life to Shakespeare’s words through her early acts of naivety, and later, the trials she willingly faces to right her wrongs. With the only rule to keeping a lavish life laid before her being to not set sights on her husband, it seems simple enough to oblige that one simple request; however, love is a powerful emotion that fuels many fires, from crimes of passion and jealousy, to otherwise impossible feats of strength. If it were not for the purity of love that Psyche felt for Cupid, she would not have been willing, or able to face the tasks set before her.
Most will tell you that an emotion such as love takes time to develop. In today’s society, people meet, fall in love, and eventually, marry. In Psyche’s situation, she was promised to a man she had not only never met, she had never even seen him. To make matters more strenuous, even after their wedding night, her new husband remained a mystery. With time however, emotions change. On her first night in her new home, Psyche “feared for her virginity,” but a short while later, the new arrangements had become “delightful” to her. Psyche had yet to fall in love with her husband, but simply found his nightly visits to her room comforting. Knowing of Psyche’s naïve disposition in matters of the heart, her sisters, spurred by jealousy of the lifestyle that has been handed to her, manage to take advantage of the situation, formulating what most would see as a crime of passion. Convinced that her husband has been lying about his true identity, Psyche violates his wishes, and in the candle light catches sight of who he truly is. As a result of Psyche not heeding the warnings of her husband, Cupid feels as though his trust has been defiled, and thus, he flees from the bed he and Psyche had shared, leaving her and her new found