Week 7 Story: The Sympathy of Psyche's Sisters
Psyche's beauty dazzled everyone in her hometown. So much so that it angered Venus to a point where she sent her own son Cupid to make her fall in love with a wretched man that would bring shame upon her. Cupid, meaning to do just that, was distracted by the beauty of Psyche, and instead of cursing her, he devised a plan to marry her.
This wasn't too difficult, because her beauty, while dazzling, was also intimidating to the mortal men that surrounded Psyche, so she went on unmarried for far longer than made her family comfortable. Her sisters were married off easily, living simple lives, but Psyche remained unmarried.
Psyche's father, distraught by this, prayed to the gods. Apollo answered his prayers, telling him that she is not fit for a mortal husband and is to be sacrificed to the gods and to be wedded to one of them. This is where Cupid's plan to wed Psyche came to fruition. He would intercept once Psyche was sacrificed and make her his own. But there was one catch, due to his mother's anger at Psyche's beauty, had to keep his identity hidden from Psyche.
Psyche leaves her family, sad to part with them but joyous of the honor that accompanies being told you are good enough to wed a god. She goes to this magical place where she is to be wedded. It is a castle in the sky, she is told she is not to leave. She marries Cupid unknowingly, for he is a man that she cannot see. They consummate the marriage, which is custom, but Cupid remains invisible.
There she lives in luxury, but the material things she is surrounded with do not fulfill her. Psyche, in all her great beauty, is deprived of the identity of her own husband. To her, there is no greater sorrow. She feels as if she cannot know him, never truly develop a bond with him.
She becomes homesick, growing tired of the depthless luxuries that accompany her empty life. She is the wife of a god, but a god she does not know. She is unable to develop any real connection with him and she misses her family and her true home back on earth. She begs her husband to let her see her sisters. Cupid agrees and tells her she is to be brought down to her sisters by Zephyr, the west wind.
Meanwhile, back at home, Psyche's sisters are growing spiteful of her. They question her great beauty.
"Why does she get to marry a god? Why does she get to live in luxury?" Asks one sister to the other.
To them, she is undeserving of such a delightful fate. They compare their own lives to hers.
"I am stuck with a husband older than father, and balder than a mole rat!" Says one sister.
"Yeah, well I am stuck with a husband with arthritis. We have no money for servants, so I am the one who has to massage his fingers and feet every day. It's a tiring, not to mention disturbing, task while Psyche gets to be with a god!" Replies the other sister.
They grow angry with her, devising a plan to make her suffer.
While they discuss their own misfortunes, Psyche appears to them, distraught.
"Oh, my beautiful sisters. I have missed you so. I am miserable in the heavens." she cries out.
Her sisters, surprised and confused, look at her with annoyance. "Psyche, are you not married to a god?" Asks one of them.
"Yes dear sisters, but he hides his identity from me. He tells me he cannot reveal himself, and I am unable to grow close with him. I live all alone in my chambers, longing for home at every moment. I miss Momma, Papa, and both of you so much every day. I've never felt more alone in my life." She begins to weep at their feet.
Her sisters, beginning to feel bad about their prior discussion, move to comfort Psyche. "There there Psyche. There must be something good about your life in the heavens! You're surrounded by everything you could possibly need! You make us upset with your cries."
The sisters begin to feel sympathy for Psyche, and guilty for beginning to devise a plan against their sister. In retrospect, their own lives do not seem as bad. They are friends with their husbands and feel as if they're forming a true connection with another soul, something that Psyche is deprived of. Instead of devising a plan against Psyche, they instead begin to come up with a plan to help her discover her husband's identity, maybe that will calm Psyche's distress and allow her to lead an enjoyable life.
Author's Note:
The story I did my retelling over was "The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters" from the Cupid and Psyche unit. This story originally follows a similar plot, but in my version, the narrative is changed a bit. The original story is that Psyche is sacrificed to the gods, not knowing she is to marry a god, once she gets to the palace, she marries Cupid, who she still cannot see, but she is very content with her life in luxury and loves her husband very much. She originally summons her sisters because they do not know her condition, they fear she is unhappy and possibly dead. She is upset that they are distraught and summons them, letting them know she is okay. But when they experience her daily life, they grow jealous, deeming her undeserving of such a life, and begin to devise a plan to take it from her. I wanted to change my version to go from jealousy to sympathy, rather than the original which does the opposite. The main plot points are the same, she goes to the heavens, marries cupid, visits her sister. But what changes the story so much is how she feels about all of it, which I think is interesting. To be able to change an entire story by merely changing how the main character reacts to their circumstances (and changing a few minor details of how much information is given to Psyche and her family in order to make the new narrative make sense). It even ends with the same basic ending that Psyche's sisters are planning to get Psyche to discover her husband's identity. Except for this time, the intentions are purer. I hope you enjoyed my retelling!
Bibliography:
Apuleius: The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters
My "wow" moment was that psyche's beauty rivaled that of the god Venus, the goddess of beauty, enough for the god to actually have ill will against her and to act upon it. It really drew me in to the story to find out if something bad would happen to her. I wonder how Psyche came to need the deep connection with another in her life. If one had everything you could ask for and wanted for nothing in life, surely you could find happiness in something, whether that be a hobby or pastime. What if Cupid had let Psyche know his identity from the start, would Venus have killed her out of jealousy or would she had been extremely happy that her son, Cupid, be married to someone as beautiful as her. I also would think that the gods would have been upset that their chance to marry a beautiful woman was stolen away from them unfairly, would there have been another war over a woman by the gods?
ReplyDeleteHi Bailey,
ReplyDeleteI used to be a huge Greek mythology nerd in middle school so this topic is familiar to me. The gods really were so petty that they curse ordinary mortals for being better than them like Aphrodite with Psyche, and Athena with Arachne. I like that you changed the story from jealousy to sympathy. Not many Greek mythology story ends in a happy note because they love tragedies. This would make the story more wholesome.
Hi Bailey,
ReplyDeleteI really like that you changed the sisters to be more concerned for their sister than jealous. The biggest problem I have found in a lot of Greek myths is that it is glaringly obvious that Ancient Greek society did not value women as people. What is interesting about your version is that they start out jealous, then get concerned. It makes it feel more realistic in my opinion.