Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche      Greek Mythological Allusion       Source: Mythology by Edith Hamilton

• Psyche was perfect and excelled more than her two other sisters, appeared almost immortal
• She took Venus's honors 
• Only admired, never loved. Men just looked at her beauty but married other women. 
• Cupid is the son of Venus whom she turns to for help
• There is now defense against his arrows on heaven or on earth
• Venus tells him to have Psyche fall in love with a horrible person, but he instead falls in love with her
• Psyche's father is told to leave her alone on a summit where a "fearful winged serpent" would come and make her his wife
• Psyche is carried by a breeze to a marvelous mansion in a meadow where her husband waited
• She does not see her husband but loves him anyway
• She trusts her dear husband until her sisters visit, and in their jealous rage, convince her he is an awful serpent that will kill her
• Psyche keeps a lamp with her one night and lights it to reveal her husband is indeed a lovely and normal man, Cupid
• Cupid notices and leaves her as he feels their relationship cannot last without trust and returns to his mother
• Psyche goes to Venus to give herself as her servant to soften her anger and possibly get her husband back
• Venus is cruel to her and bids her to do awful tasks, keeps Cupid away from her
• She was saved by a mystical creature in all these endeavors 
• Cupid forgives and longs for Psyche; escapes and finds her
• They go to Jupiter to assure that Venus does not interfere with their love
• They are formally married and Psyche is made immortal; Venus is no longer threatened by her

Commentary: A quite obvious story that alludes to Cupid and Psyche's story is Cinderella. The plot of one sister having a much better life than the other two is prominent in both, as is the idea of the two less fortunate sister's acting out of jealousy. An evil woman scheming to keep the fair maiden away from her love by having her perform tasks is also similar. Both stories also show the assistance given to the main protagonist by various animal and plant creatures. And, of course, there is the same happy ending of the prince and princess figures uniting once again and falling in love.

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