Till We Have Faces Character Analysis

The beautifully written title Till We Have Faces, composed by C. S. Lewis, explores the nature of judgement and perception derived from looks throughout the story and characters. Said frequently in day to day life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, yet seems to be widely agreed upon subconsciously by all characters in this novel what a human should look like. The three main female characters, named Psyche, Redival, and Orual, must each struggle with their varying degrees of beauty.
Redival, the King’s second daughter of three, is explained early on in the story to be unintelligent, flirtatious, and beautiful, although not quite so like Psyche. She and Orual are very close until the birth of Psyche. Redival becomes jealous of Psyche’s incredible beauty along with Orual’s love for her and begins to grow distant. Soon after Psyche’s birth Orual explains: “She (Redival) had always been feather-headed and now grew wanton, and what must she do but stand kissing and whispering love-talk with a young officer of the guard right under Batta’s window” (Lewis 29). Her actions and beauty compared to Psyche give the

characters the idea that she is jealous and hussy.
Psyche, the King’s youngest daughter, is born with the perfect beauty of a goddess and, along with it, moral purity. Her unbelievable beauty gives the common folk the perception that she can heal anything similar to a goddess. As Orual narrates, “Her beauty, which most of them had never seen, worked on them as a terror might work. Then a low murmur, almost a sob, began; swelled, broke into the gasping cry, ‘A goddess, a goddess.’” (Lewis 37). Her impeccable looks threw her in the spotlight; more was expected from her while she was blamed when everything in Glome, the city the book takes place in, was going wrong.
Main character and narrator of the book, Orual, is the King’s eldest daughter and explained many times over as being the ugliest.

From the very start, her father has told her that she had better study up as she would not have any use to a husband. When Orual is given love from her closes friends Psyche, a slave and mentor known as the Fox, and the captain of the palace guard Bardia, she guards their love jealously as she finds it hard to believe anyone loves her. Orual wears a veil to cover her face soon after Psyche is exiled to hide her face from not only others, but herself as well. The veil comes to represent mysteriousness to those who do not know her face, separation and power over the common people, and, near the end of the story, making her believe that she has rid herself of Orual and has become the face of Ungit, the almighty yet jealous

god.
Judgements derived from looks are inescapable, even in current day to day life. Although worshipping gods of immense beauty is not quite as commonplace, beauty and looks are found in every nook and cranny. Celebrities are adored and placed upon pedestals due to their subjectively good looks along with the common people’s aspiration to look like them. It seems the popular cliques in high school are always filled with better looking individuals. Although current culture may not like to admit it, those that have better looks definitely have more opportunity and room for error while those deemed unattractive do not.