Reading Notes (Extra Credit): Week 6
For my extra credit reading, I finished the story of Cupid and Psyche up with Part B. This story can be found in Apuleius's Golden Ass, translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).
In this second half of the story, Venus finds out about her son, Cupid's, deception and is furious. She angrily rails at him and begins her search for Psyche. Psyche flees from Venus, asking several goddesses for help, all of which refuse out of respect for Venus. Psyche eventually decides to turn herself in, at which point Venus is her mistress (possibly because she is her mother-in-law--the reasoning behind Venus "owning" Psyche was a bit odd to me). Venus punishes Psyche cruelly and makes her to supposedly impossible tasks, which the girl manages to do with the help of others who take pity on her in her distress. Almost at the end of her last task, Psyche breaks the rules and as a result falls into a deep sleep of death, from which Cupid awakes her upon finding her passed out. Cupid then asks Mercury to help him and Psyche, to which Mercury agrees under the condition that Cupid finds him an equally beautiful girl. Mercury gathers all of the gods and Jupiter then marries Psyche and Cupid and makes Psyche an immortal. Venus' anger is assuaged and everyone lives happily ever after, with Psyche giving birth to a girl named Pleasure.
This story would be fun to rewrite in the time period of the Victorian age in England. Venus would be a wealthy woman who is angered upon finding out that her son has secretly married a girl beneath his status. The son goes on a business trip out of the country and the girl flees after being threatened by the mother who then attempts to find her and hide her away from society so as to avoid as much embarrassment as possible. Eventually, the girl comes home to her angry mother-in-law how abuses her and forces her to do impossible tasks around the estate. The girl is helped by servants and her husband's friends. After her husband returns, he sees how his mother is treating his wife and asks his grandfather to intercede. The grandfather rebukes his daughter, the mother-in-law, and marries the two openly, including his grandson's new wife in his will so that she will inherit alongside the rest of the family. The mother-in-law gets over her anger and everyone lives happily ever after.
In this second half of the story, Venus finds out about her son, Cupid's, deception and is furious. She angrily rails at him and begins her search for Psyche. Psyche flees from Venus, asking several goddesses for help, all of which refuse out of respect for Venus. Psyche eventually decides to turn herself in, at which point Venus is her mistress (possibly because she is her mother-in-law--the reasoning behind Venus "owning" Psyche was a bit odd to me). Venus punishes Psyche cruelly and makes her to supposedly impossible tasks, which the girl manages to do with the help of others who take pity on her in her distress. Almost at the end of her last task, Psyche breaks the rules and as a result falls into a deep sleep of death, from which Cupid awakes her upon finding her passed out. Cupid then asks Mercury to help him and Psyche, to which Mercury agrees under the condition that Cupid finds him an equally beautiful girl. Mercury gathers all of the gods and Jupiter then marries Psyche and Cupid and makes Psyche an immortal. Venus' anger is assuaged and everyone lives happily ever after, with Psyche giving birth to a girl named Pleasure.
This story would be fun to rewrite in the time period of the Victorian age in England. Venus would be a wealthy woman who is angered upon finding out that her son has secretly married a girl beneath his status. The son goes on a business trip out of the country and the girl flees after being threatened by the mother who then attempts to find her and hide her away from society so as to avoid as much embarrassment as possible. Eventually, the girl comes home to her angry mother-in-law how abuses her and forces her to do impossible tasks around the estate. The girl is helped by servants and her husband's friends. After her husband returns, he sees how his mother is treating his wife and asks his grandfather to intercede. The grandfather rebukes his daughter, the mother-in-law, and marries the two openly, including his grandson's new wife in his will so that she will inherit alongside the rest of the family. The mother-in-law gets over her anger and everyone lives happily ever after.
Painting of Cupid and Psyche, by Jacques-Louis David. Source: Wiki Commons
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