The Myth of Cupid and Psyches Forbidden Love

The Myth of Cupid and Psyche's Forbidden Love The great Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, was born from the foam near the island of Cyprus, for which reason she is referred to as the Cyprian. Aphrodite was a jealous goddess, but she was also passionate. Not only did she love the men and gods in her life, but her sons and grandchildren, as well. Sometimes her possessive instincts led her too far. When her son Cupid found a human to love one whose beauty rivaled hers Aphrodite did all in her power to thwart the marriage. How Cupid and Psyche Met Psyche was worshiped for her beauty in her homeland. This drove Aphrodite mad, so she sent a plague and let it be known the only way the land could get back to normal was to sacrifice Psyche. The king, who was Psyches father, tied Psyche up and left her to her death at the hands of some presumed fearsome monster. You may note that this isnt the first time in Greek mythology that this happened. The great Greek hero Perseus found his bride, Andromeda, tied up as prey for a sea monster. Andromeda was sacrificed to appease Poseidon who had ravaged the country of Ethiopia, which was ruled by her father after Queen Cassiopeia had boasted about her own beauty. In the case of Psyche, it was Aphrodites son Cupid who released and married the princess. The Mystery About Cupid Unfortunately for the young couple, Cupid and Psyche, Aphrodite was not the only one trying to foul things up. Psyche had two sisters who were as jealous as Aphrodite. Cupid was a wonderful lover and husband to Psyche, but there was one odd thing about their relationship: He made sure Psyche never saw what he looked like. Psyche didnt mind. She had a fulfilling nightlife in the dark with her husband, and during the day, she had all the luxuries she could ever want. When the sisters learned about the luscious, extravagant lifestyle of their lucky, beautiful sister, they urged Psyche to pry into the area of his life that Psyches husband kept hidden from her. Cupid was a god, and gorgeous as he had to have been with Aphrodite for a mother, but for reasons known best to him, he didnt want his mortal wife to see his form. Psyches sister didnt know he was a god, although they may have suspected it. However, they did know that Psyches life was much happier than theirs. Knowing their sister well, they preyed on her insecurities and persuaded Psyche that her husband was a hideous monster. Psyche assured her sisters they were wrong, but since shed never seen him, even she started having doubts. Psyche decided to satisfy the girls curiosity, so that night she took a candle to her sleeping husband in order to look at him. Cupid Deserts Psyche Cupids angelic form was exquisite, so Psyche stood there gawking at her husband with her candle melting. While Psyche dawdled, ogling, a bit of wax dripped on her husband. Her rudely awakened, irate, disobeyed, injured husband-angel-god flew away. See, I told you she was a no good human, said mother Aphrodite to her convalescing son Cupid. Now youll have to be content among the gods. Cupid might have gone along with the de facto divorce, but Psyche couldnt. Impelled by the love of her gorgeous husband, she implored her mother-in-law to give her another chance. Aphrodite agreed, but ungraciously, saying, I cannot conceive that any serving-wench as hideous as yourself could find any means to attract lovers save by making herself their drudge; wherefore now I myself will make trial of your worth. The Epic Trials of Psyche But Aphrodite had no intention of playing fair. She devised 4 tasks (not 3 as is conventional in mythic hero quests; this is a feminine story), each task more exacting than the last. Psyche passed the first 3 challenges with flying colors, but the last task was too much for Psyche: Sort a huge mount of barley, millet, poppy seeds, lentils, and beans. Ants (pismires) help her sort the grains within the time allotted.Gather a hank of the wool of the shining golden sheep. A reed tells her how to accomplish this task without being killed by the vicious animals.Fill a crystal vessel with the water of the spring that feeds the Styx and Cocytus. An eagle helps her out.Aphrodite asked Psyche to bring her back a box of Persephones beauty cream. Going to the Underworld was a challenge for the bravest of the Greek mythical heroes. Demigod Hercules could go to the Underworld without much bother, but even Theseus had trouble and had to be rescued by Hercules. Psyche barely batted an eye when Aphrodite told her she would have to go to the most dangerous region known to mortals. That part was easy, especially after the tower told her how to find the entryway to the Underworld, how to get around Charon and Cerberus, and how to behave before the Underworld queen. The part of the fourth task that was too much for Psyche was the temptation to make herself more beautiful. If the perfect beauty of the perfect goddess Aphrodite needed this Underworld beauty cream, Psyche reasoned, how much more would it help an imperfect mortal woman? Thus, Psyche retrieved the box successfully, but then she opened it and fell into a deathlike sleep, as Aphrodite had secretly predicted. And by and by shee opened the boxe where she could perceive no beauty nor any thing else, save onely an infernall and deadly sleepe, which immediatly invaded all her members as soone as the boxe was uncovered, in such sort that she fell downe upon the ground, and lay there as a sleeping corps.William Adlington Translation (1566) Reunion and Happy Ending to the Myth of Cupid and Psyche At this point, divine intervention was called for if the story were to have an ending that made anyone really happy. With Zeus connivance, Cupid brought his wife to Olympus where, at Zeuss command, she was given nectar and ambrosia so she would become immortal. Incontinently after Jupiter commanded Mercury to bring up Psyches, the spouse of Cupid, into the Pallace of heaven. And then he tooke a pot of immortality, and said, Hold Psyches, and drinke, to the end thou maist be immortall, and that Cupid may be thine everlasting husband. On Olympus, in the presence of the other gods, Aphrodite reluctantly reconciled with her pregnant daughter-in-law, who was about to give birth to a grandchild Aphrodite would (obviously) dote on, named Pleasure. Another Story of Cupid and Psyche C.S. Lewis took Apuleius version of this myth and turned it on its ear in Till We Have Faces. The tender love story is gone. Instead of having the story seen through the eyes of Psyche, its seen through her sister Orvals perspective. Instead of the refined Aphrodite of the Roman story, the mother goddess in C.S. Lewis version is a far more weighty, chthonic Earth-Mother-Goddess power.

Warfare in Elizabethan England essays

Warfare in Elizabethan England essays War was a common thing in Elizabethan England with a gruelling 40-Year war going on in Italy between Charles V of Spain and Francis I of France. The front line on most battlefields would consist entirely of Pike men; these were the most common of all soldiers and the most deadly. Each carried a wooden pike tipped with metal that could be as long as 5.5metres. Behind these Pike men would be the soldiers known as Arquebusiers who each carried a large 10kg handgun known as an Arquebus. These handguns were heavy and cumbersome but when used correctly could pierce armour at a range of up to120metres. Cavalry were only effective when catching fleeing or lightly armed troops but would not normally penetrate against a good front line. New artillery were introduced before 1600 in the form of a new lightweight cannon that fired iron cannonballs or packets of bullets called grapeshot. These replaced the older cannons that required several horses to move and had only a short range. With the new cannons came new strategies, and new fortresses. The fortifications became deep trenches protected by the heaped up earth on one side. New forts became smaller and not as tall, they were designed to withstand cannonballs and became basically one big gun platform. ...

Women in Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Women in Islam - Essay Example According to Islam, in the eyes of Allah both men and women are equal. Before we can even begin to argue whether men and women are equal or not, we must define what we mean by equality. For depending on how one looks at it, one can easily argue that equality between men and women does not exist, or vice versa that it does. For instance from a physical and psychological point of view we can claim that the two are not equal. Due to their physical make up, women tend to experience more pain, especially during their menstrual cycles; a kind of pain that a man can never experience. Then generally men tend to be physically stronger then women, and as they grow old are faced with the prospect of balding, something that women rarely have to worry about. Thus if we were to look from this perspective we can claim that men and women cannot considered to be equal. That, "from the Islamic point of view, the question of the equality of men and women is meaningless. It is like discussing the equality of a rose and a jasmine. Each has its own perfume, color, shape and beauty. Men and women are not the same" (Jameelah, 5). However, such a view is ambiguous and misleading, and can be easily taken out of context to make the claim that men are superior to women. In general when we talk about equality, we refer to the rights of the individual, and in that sense Islam does states that both men and women are equal. To elaborate a bit further, "Islam adopts the perspective of gender equality, but it does not endorse the idea of gender equivalency. Islam affirms the difference between the natural dispositions and constitutions of men and women. Women have the ability to bear and nurse children, whereas men do not, so there is a lack of equivalency in regards to the physical and psychological make-up of men and women, but both enjoy rights and bear responsibilities, in which respect they are equal" (Gomaa, 1). The claim that Islam teaches all to treat women with respect and dignity and not to discriminate on the basis of gender, is made by both Gomaa and Jameelah in their articles. However, this point is more clear and more easily understood in 'Gender Equality in Islam', by Gomaa, when compared to 'The Feminist Movement and the Muslim Woman', by Jameelah. The reason for this is not because the topic of Gomaa's piece is about gender equality in Islam, it is because it is more focused, well thought out, when compared to Jamleeah's work. Furthermore, Gomaa provides more credibility to his article by using the Quran as his sole reference. It is common knowledge that the Quran is the most revered book in Islam, since that contains all the teachings of Islam in it. Furthermore, since Muslims also believe that the Quran was written by God himself, and hence a true devout Muslim cannot go against its teaching. If they do then they are not practicing Islam as it was meant to be. It is simply due to this fact that Gomaa has been able to add credibility to his article by using the Quran as his reference. Jameelah on the other hand, does not cite any references at all when she talks about women in Islam. She simply states either Islam says this, or that according to