Cupid and Psyche

“Since divine honours were being diverted in this excessive way to the worship of a mortal girl, the anger of the true Venus was fiercely kindled.”

The conflict that sets the story in motion is not envy at Psyche’s beauty but outrage that people forsake the veneration of the goddess and instead address Psyche as a second Venus. In many religions, improper worship brings the wrath of the gods. In narrative terms, this initial error which provokes the wrath of Venus becomes one of the central problems that the characters must address and repair.

“What fine rewards my peerless beauty will bring you! All too late you experience the mortal wounds inflicted by impious envy.”

When Apollo delivers his awful pronouncement on Psyche’s fate, she guesses that her beauty, and the acclaim she has received because of it, have angered the gods. Psyche recognizes the impiety in that she, a mortal, has been adored as if she were a goddess. It is a common theme in many mythologies that excessive gifts in humans provoke jealousy from the gods, usually with disastrous results.

“Here she was, confined and enclosed in that blessed prison, unable even to offer consoling relief to her sisters as they grieved for her.”

Psyche, though she is surrounded by riches in Cupid’s palace of love, feels it is no better than a prison if she cannot have human company. Wealth and comfort, and even sexual gratification, are not enough to satisfy her; Psyche craves companionship, someone to share her days with.