Cupid & Psyche

Last updated almost 4 years ago

9 questions

7

1

Last updated almost 4 years ago

9 questions

7

1

What motivates the main characters in this myth? Love? Jealousy? Shame? Is there a single emotion driving the story?

1

1

Here is Stephen Fry's version of the myth:

Draggable item		Corresponding Item
HIMEROS		the youthful patron of selfless unconditional love
HYMENAIOS		the leader of the Erotes, god of physical love and sexual desire
ANTEROS		the spirit of the language of love and terms of endearment
POTHOS		the protector of effeminate males, mannish females and those of what we would now call a more fluid gender
HERMAPHRODITUS		the embodiment of desperate, impetuous love, love that is impatient to be fulfilled and ready to burst
HEDYLOGOS		the guardian of the bridal-chamber and wedding music
EROS		the personification of languorous longing, of love for the absent and the departed

By setting them up on blind dates

By pricking them with an arrow

By casting a spell

Though his mother Venus, goddess of love

Psyche steals beauty from the underworld

Psyche is so beautiful she attracts her own worshippers, like a god

Psyche is brave

Psyche drinks ambrosia, becoming immortal like a god

Cupid falls in love with Psyche

So she can retrieve Proserpina’s beauty from the underworld

Very slowly

By striking a bargain with a dwarf named Rumpelstiltskin

With the help of a river god

With the help of some ants

Here is Stephen Fry's version of the myth:

HIMEROS

the youthful patron of selfless unconditional love

HYMENAIOS

the leader of the Erotes, god of physical love and sexual desire

ANTEROS

the spirit of the language of love and terms of endearment

POTHOS

the protector of effeminate males, mannish females and those of what we would now call a more fluid gender

HERMAPHRODITUS

the embodiment of desperate, impetuous love, love that is impatient to be fulfilled and ready to burst

HEDYLOGOS

the guardian of the bridal-chamber and wedding music

EROS

the personification of languorous longing, of love for the absent and the departed

Cupid makes people fall in love with each other:

By setting them up on blind dates

By pricking them with an arrow

By casting a spell

Though his mother Venus, goddess of love

Cupid and Psyche name their daughter:

Pleasure

Roberta

Lust

Love

Fidelity

Venus is jealous of Psyche because:

Psyche steals beauty from the underworld

Psyche is so beautiful she attracts her own worshippers, like a god

Psyche is brave

Psyche drinks ambrosia, becoming immortal like a god

Cupid falls in love with Psyche

The voice Psyche hears:

Is an emanation of her own courage

Is Zephyr, the west wind

Is Venus

Has different interpretations in different versions of the myth

Is Cupid’s

Psyche sorts through a giant pile of seeds:

So she can retrieve Proserpina’s beauty from the underworld

Very slowly

By striking a bargain with a dwarf named Rumpelstiltskin

With the help of a river god

With the help of some ants