Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by CS Lewis
The first person narrative in the ancient kingdom of Glome, a land ruled by a tyrannical king and religious goddess Ungit. Narrated by Princess (later Queen) Orual. The first section of this novel presents itself as an open complaint against the gods, particularly the god of the Grey Mountain, who brought Orual such pain and distress over the years, yet offer no answers or explanations to justify the suffering.
Orual says she had suffered much at the hands of the gods, but what most torments her is the loss of her previous sister Istra (Psyche), in which loss Orual shares responsibility and blame: this loss of Psyche results primarily from Orual's jealously and rage at the gulf dividing herself (non-believer) and Psyche (believer). The second, and much shorter section of the novel, which breaks off with the dying Queen Orual's last utterance, proclaims the Queen's great realizations. She now understands why there can be no answer, no justification, from the gods and her charges against them : "How can they speak to us face to face, she asks, till we have faces?" (TWHF, pg. 201)
Throughout the book Orual expresses her love for Psyche, as well as her fear of loosing Psyche. The sin of jealousy and obsessive love leads Orual to resist yielding to the higher love destined for Psyche, and ultimately to destruction of the object of her love and the hardening of Orual's soul to the point of self-induced misery and guilt for the rest of her days.
Orual first feels the pain of the great gulf after the kingdoms subjects begin to perceive that the Princess Psyche is something more than a mortal, that she is somehow touched by the gods. Her beauty is remarkable, certainly, but it is not only her beauty that convinces the kingdom of her uniqueness. A certain radiance and artless perfection seem to emanate from the young women. The sick soon begin flocking in hordes to the palace gates to be touched by the "goddess". Psyche is praised and revered throughout the kingdom. Until, that is, the harvests turn meager ad the masses look for a scapegoat. Only one answer presents itself: a blood sacrifice. A perfect sacrifice. Psyche, the princess, the goddess. Orual raves in protest, nearly mad with pain, and falls into a temporary state of senselessness over the impending sacrifice of her beloved sister.
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...shadow. We toiled together over those burning sands, she with her empty bowl, I with my book of poison." (TWHF, pg.300)
In the end, however, Orual is allowed some comfort and redemption. She learns that Psyche has felt little emotional distress and anguish over the years, that her pain has all been of the physical variety. Orual instead has borne all the anguish. Orual learns as well, with her last breath, why the gods give no answer to her accusations, why these is no explanation for her suffering here in this world. "I know now, Lord, why you utter now answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions doe away. What other answer would suffice? Only words, words; to be led out to battle against the words. Long did I hate you, long did I fear you." (TWHF, pg. 301)
Here ends Queen Orual's "life's work", which she has realized, is itself the answer to her questions: "To have have heard myself making [the complaint] was to be answered." (TWHF, pg.294)
The Queen's body, still clutching the scroll is discovered by a priest, and the scroll is placed in the temple for safekeeping until it can be transported to the cultural and intellectual Mecca of Greece.
In the scene following Eurydice’s death, Orpheus does not believe that she is dead. He goes to the hospital in hopes of finding his love, Eurydice. However, once he reaches the hospital, he inquires many constraints. The doctors and nurses will only let him go so far in the hospital. In an attempt to avoid the doctors, he runs around frantically, looking for a way to elude the doctors. In my opinion, this is Orpheus decent to Phlegethon,...
Again she justified her thoughts of suicide by a quote of religious text. Towards the end of the quotation she is happy to meet with her master again. Rowlandson mentions that she was “wonderfully revived” by his thoughtfulness. Then she ended that with more religious text to vindicate to Natives gentleness.
The faces of the gods do not change; but those of Psyche and Orual do, and in their developing we see the developing of character--the search for identity. Psyche, who was born nearly divinely beautiful, becomes even more so when she is married to the god, and her "brightface" appearance reflects the new joy and maturity created in her character by that union. Orual's character development takes longer, for she fights it; she is unwilling to believe in the god, and even when she sees his face she becomes bitter against him for her loss of Psyche. Yet through great suffering and a long time of facelessness, she too finds her face--her identity--and becomes beautiful in the end. She is finally able to meet the gods face to face, when she has a face of her own.
The Epic of Gilgamesh follows the journey of the hero Gilgamesh, ruler of Uruk, who is two-thirds a God and just one part human. We are introduced to Gilgamesh as a tyrant who covets women and sends young men to battle or to endure heavy-labored work. As he is two-thirds a God, Gilgamesh is the strongest in the land, preventing anyone from challenging him as ruler. He is a dictator and has more power than he can use, so in the pursuit of entertainment that could live up to his God-like standards, he often causes great trouble in Uruk. The people of the city know they cannot satiate his appetites, so they turn to the only beings who have more power than Gilgamesh: the Gods. The people pray to the all-powerful Gods to create an equal for G...
The characters in the movie, Black Orpheus, are significantly altered from the Greek myth. In the myth, Orpheus and Eurydice are together from the beginning and are completely in love. Everyone is happy for their love and the only thing that stands in their way is death. In the movie, however, this is notably changed. Orpheus begins as a streetcar conductor that was engaged to Mira, giving the idea that Orpheus was in love with another woman. We quickly see that this is not the case as Orpheus is always very curt and rude with his fiancée. They are slated to get married, but there is an eerie feeling in the air that something is about to go wrong.
...per suffered from psychological health problems and was to cope with it and also with the husband who has placed her in a solitary environment with the thoughts that it will facilitate her rehabilitation. In the end, instead of being cured, the narrator her mental state deteriorated and she became totally insane.
Ophelia has been driven to madness from the loss of her father and her lover. Without her two largest sources of care, she starves for help, love, and affection, thus affecting her mind. Polonius, her father, warns that “This is the very ecstasy of love,/ Whose violent property fordoes itself/ And leads the will to desperate undertaking” (2,1,102-104). He is warning is daughter that love is a dangerous emotion which can drive a person insane from withdrawal.
Oedipus is a story about a few basic human emotions. Among them are rage, passion, humility, and guilt. The Ancient Greeks understood these emotions well; their society was based upon the logical emotions, but always threatened by the violent ones. Oedipus was at first told that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Fearful of himself, he fled showing a lack of humility away from his home, thinking that his problems would be solved. Later on, he gets into a tumultuous fight with a passerby on the road to Thebes. Enraged, he kills the man and his servants; this turned out to be a big mistake. After saving the city of Thebes from the Sphinx, he marries and then passionately sleeps with the queen. Towards the end of the play, he realizes that he has indeed killed his father and married his mother, thus echoing the lack of humility that first drove him away from his adopted parents.
Just like with the setting, the same can be said about the plot: no questions are truly answered. In the story, the narrator—whoever he is—never fully discloses the details of the lady’s illness. Instead of providing a vivid description of what’s wrong with the lady, he simply states, “She succumbed . . . to the prostrating power of the destroyer,” (418). By leaving out specific details of the lady’s “destroyer,” the reader is left in the dark, along with the narrator, who doesn’t appear to know much more than what is written. The narrator divulges a lot of information for things that are unimportant, but all key plot elements are kept secret, creating a tone of mystery. If the narrator knows what’s going on with the lady, more likely than not, he would tell the reader because he hasn’t left out any other details. Not only does the narrator leave out specific details, he also recognizes that he’ll never know much about what’s going on; he lets the reader know this by saying, “The lady, at least while living, would be seen by me no more,” (418). By acknowledging that he’s never going to see her again while living, he’s also admitting that he’s not sure what’s going on with her; he’s saying that he can’t understand the lady because he doesn’t know the illness she suffers with. If the narrator
C.S Lewis’ last work, Till We Have Faces, tells the love story of Cupid and Psyche through the eyes of Psyche’s unattractive sister, Orual. Orual spends the majority of her life dealing with the loss of Psyche after she was sacrificed to the gods. Another problem Orual faces is the struggle of running a country on her own while having a very unattractive face. Because of Orual’s “ugliness”, she dons a veil over her face, and holds a grudge with the gods after the banishment of her sister when she attempted to see the face of Cupid. After the book’s conclusion, the reader is still left with the question about what the book’s true meaning is. By using the symbolism of these two events, what was C.S Lewis trying to convey? C.S Lewis is using
In analyzing Hamlet, the Oedipus Complex is clearly apparent to the reader. As a child, Hamlet always expressed the warmest fondness and affection for his mother. This adoration contained elements of disguised erotic quality, especially seen in the bed chamber scene with his mother. The Queen's sensual nature and her passionate fondness of her son are two traits that show her relationship with Hamlet goes beyond the normal mother-sun relationship. Nonetheless though, Hamlet finds a love interest in Ophelia. His feelings for Ophelia are never discussed fully in the play, but it is evident to the reader that at one time he loved her because of the hurt he feels whe...
As a result, she met emotions she did not think existed, felt a huge hollow and felt like a walking dead. Her confused days and sleepless nights became a ritual; therefore, the only life she knows was a torturous hell
In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, the protagonist Oedipus faces the realization of an ancient prophecy. Based on the prophecy, Oedipus is to kill his father and espouse his mother, Jocasta. Little to his knowledge, Oedipus has already fulfilled the prophecy. Initially, Oedipus’ emotions controlled him and his pride consumed him, only making him blind to the truth that he is the source of pollution in Thebes. Oedipus is a dynamic character who realizes his true fate. Once Oedipus fully becomes self-aware, he is no longer consumed by pride, and he no longer relies on his emotions.
In the year 360 BCE, the famous philosopher Plato released his perplexing book The Republic, which brings to light philosophical ideas relating to ignorance, and it's effects upon people individually, or grouped together with a “mob mentality”. His brilliant writing is accompanied by numerous archetypes, but the one that catches the eye is the dark and light motif which he uses quite subtly, yet, is also quite clear in his allegory of The Cave. This motif of light and dark introduces the idea of our own personal darkness consuming us, which are our “chains” - the chains which hold us back from living happily, or our “sun”. However, some of us have the keys to our shackles, and choose to stay with their darkness, because within our cave of ignorance, it is familiar. I am one of these people, along with many others, yet no matter how painful it may be, breaking free from these shackles will remove the burden upon our backs, and allow us to see the light from outside our caves.
The two sisters of Psyche were envious when they learned that Psyche’s lover was the God of Love. The two sisters offered t...