Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part A

Cupid and Psyche,

by Tony Kline. 

A Translation of:

 Apuleius's 

Golden Ass. 







(Image Information, Cupid and Psyche, Wikipedia)
Notes on Plot: The story is about a girl, Psyche, whose beauty rivals that of Venus. Venus becomes jealous and enraged when mortals start to praise and worship Psyche instead of her. She invokes her son, Cupid, to get revenge for her. Psyche's worried father goes to an oracle and receives a prophecy that bears bad news for Psyche. It tells them to take Psyche to the top of a mountain and leave her there. They do so and wind spirits carry Psyche to a place of riches. Psyche is cared for by invisible servants and at night is accompanied by an invisible man. Psyche gets used to her situation but begs her husband to let her sisters visit. He agrees but warns her not to tell them that he is invisible. They visit and become jealous. She tells them about her situation and they use the information to plot against her. They convince her to sneak around and look at her husband while he is sleeping. She does so out of fear, because her sisters tell her he is a monster that will eat her and her unborn child. She is caught looking at him and he flies away with her attached. He drops her in the middle of nowhere and she tries to kill herself. She is unsuccessful and meets Pan. He tells her to pray to Cupid. She then goes away and finds her sisters and tricks them both into committing suicide. 

 Notes on Vocab:
Iniquitous-Wickedness
Calamitous-Disastrous
Asinine- Extremely foolish or silly; relating to or resembling an ass.

 Notes on Characters:
Psyche: A beautiful princess, distraught lover of Cupid. Naive, young, scared.
Cupid: Son of Venus, God of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. Mischievous, evil. 
Venus: Goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility. Jealous of Psyche, the reason for all of the pain in the story. Vain, jealous, powerful.
King: Father of Psyche, did not want to give her up but she persuaded him. 
Sisters: Jealous, wicked, mean tricksters. Ruin Psyche's happiness by sabotage. 
Pan: God of the Wild, God of nature. Is kind to Psyche and gives her advice. Kind, Peaceful.
Zephyr/Zephryus: West wind, servant of Cupid.

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