Cupid and Psyche

The old woman telling the fable of Cupid and Psyche in The Metamorphoses promises “a pretty story” (74), and Lucius, who has been turned into a donkey, wishes he had writing tablets and a stylus so he might take it down (114). Many readers have been drawn to what appears to be a simple but powerful love story. Its messages that love conquers all, true love is worth any struggle, and love forgives betrayal when there is real contrition all accord with modern beliefs about romantic love, making the story accessible and adaptable to contemporary audiences, which perhaps explains its longevity and popularity.

Cupid’s demand that his wife not look upon him suggests the ancient adage, known to the Greeks and Romans, that love is blind. As Helena says in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (a play in which Shakespeare refers to The Metamorphoses): “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind” (I.i.234). On the surface, the story can be read as a fable instructing the reader about the nature of passionate love, the trials and sufferings a lover might undergo, and the virtues that make a shared, mutually fulfilling love possible.

“Cupid and Psyche” bears many marks of a fairy tale. It takes place in a mythical setting, which is never clearly described. Many of the characters are archetypes or personifications. Like many fairy tales, the narrative action is straightforward but highly symbolic of the widely shared human experiences of falling in love, courtship, and marriage.

One of the clearest fairy tale elements is the moral logic. The jealous sisters are led to their deaths by their greed and thus repaid for their cruelty. Psyche is rewarded for her patient perseverance and for proving her love despite all obstacles. The tale’s happy ending rewards both parties for acceptable social behavior; here, learning to be a faithful lover. The happy ending is an essential feature of the romance genre in both its ancient and modern forms, with marriage providing the resolution to all the conflicts that went before, a testimony to the power of love and the restoration of social order.

The story relies on conflicts and reversals that emphasize perseverance, growth, and proper behavior in love. The simple dramatic arc follows the pattern outlined by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. The exposition introduces the key characters and conflicts. Tension increases (the “rising action”) as her parents learn Psyche will be married to a monster. Then the first reversal occurs: She wakes and finds herself the lady of a palace with unseen servants who provide everything she needs and a loving husband who visits her at night. Tension rises again with the plotting of the sisters and erupts in a second dramatic reversal when Psyche, prepared to kill the monster she thinks is her husband, discovers she is wedded to the god of love, and through her betrayal loses him. She journeys to the underworld and enters a death-like sleep but, just when hope seems lost, Cupid swoops in to save her. Jupiter’s ruling provides a resolution, restoring the lovers to one another. The happy denouement describes their wedding, where their chief antagonist, Venus, puts aside her enmity to dance. The final note about the birth of a daughter named Pleasure suggests that the story is a moral fable about the trials and fruits of passionate love and the importance of marriage for social stability.

The story lends itself to allegory, considering that the chief characters are named for distinct ideas. Psyche is the Greek word for “soul,” and Cupid is the god of love. Thus, they can be read as representing these entities. This allegorical interpretation is potentially troubled by the character of Venus. She is the goddess of love, but in “Cupid and Psyche” she behaves as a jealous force that attempts to keep the lovers apart. Some readers see the story as representing two types of love: earthly love or desire which causes suffering and spiritual love which leads to harmony and happiness.

In addition to the allegorical figures, folkloric elements govern key parts of the action. Three is a powerful number in fairy tales, and that number patterns the story. Psyche is one of three sisters. The sisters visit and test Psyche three times. Psyche supplicates to three goddesses. Venus gives her three successively more difficult tasks. Then, in the fourth, she is sent to the underworld, which in fairy tales and ancient poetry is a place of transformation, symbolizing the passage between phases of life.

Magical helpers are a common motif in fairy tales, but the ants, the reed, the eagle, and the tower are difficult to identify as allegorical figures. They seem rather to represent features of the world that aid the cause of love or guide the soul in its journey. The taboo or prohibition is another powerful feature of fairy tales, and Psyche is given two. The first is not to ask who her husband is and the second is not to peer inside Proserpina’s box. Psyche fails both tests, yet through perseverance and contrition, she wins marriage to the god of love and an eternity of happiness.

Medieval scholars sought to reinterpret Greek and Roman works in alignment with Christian values and ideals. The school of thought called Neoplatonism resulted from efforts to graft the philosophy of the ancient Greek thinker Plato to Christian belief. Plato regarded the soul as an immortal essence in quest of union with the divine, which could be approached through the experience of love. Because Apuleius was recognized as a student of Plato, medieval scholars regarded “Cupid and Psyche” as an allegory for the soul’s journey through life and its eventual union with the divine. Psyche’s trials, seen through this lens, exemplify how jealous or erotic desire can impede the soul’s union with the divine and the achievement of perfect happiness.

While interpretations of the story as an allegory can certainly be supported, artistic interpretations of the tale generally focus on one of two key events: the moment when Psyche lifts the lamp and discovers Cupid’s beauty, and the moment when Cupid resurrects the fallen Psyche and they share a joyous embrace. Whether the story is given a religious interpretation, read as a fable about love and the development of the soul, or dissected, as it sometimes is, for information about the life of Apuleius and the social and historical features of his era, the story maintains widespread and seemingly ageless appeal.