Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part A

One idea that I came up with right off the bat after beginning the story Cupid and Psyche was, wouldn't it be interesting if the roles were flipped? If Psyche was a goddess of love and Cupid was instead the most handsome man in the land. A gender reverse could be interesting. Since women and men had different roles in society at this time, it could be a very different situation as to if Cupid were married or not.

Another idea from "The Oracle of Apollo" is that instead of no one wanting to marry Psyche, if she was already married. That could steer the story into another interesting direction. Or, instead of the oracle saying something negative, it says something positive like "Psyche will marry and have many children." This would prevent a lot of things from happening, or, the same things could happen but for different reasons. This implies that certain things will happen no matter what an oracle says.

My favorite section is "The Mysterious Husband" where Psyche is told not to allow her sisters to know if she is alive, and she is also in a great depression. She is eventually told she is able to see them as long as she doesn't do anything they say. This is an important part of the story. If he had not allowed her to see them, it would have played out much differently; or if when she did see them, she did not create a lavish life for herself but instead kept things private and didn't make her sisters jealous.

Cupid and Psyche

Finally, the last part that grabbed my attention was when the sisters plot against Psyche, and Psyche ends up fearing that she has a monster for her husband and trys to kill him. This could lead to an interesting place if details were changed! It would be interesting if Cupid did not drive her from the place, but instead reacted differently, or perhaps if she never tried to kill him in the first place. 

Cupid and Psyche written by Apuleius, translated by Tony Kline