Reading Diary A: Cupid and Psyche

For this week I chose to read Apuleius' Cupid and Psyche.

The Captive Woman:

• The story began with a man named Lucius that had been magically transformed into a donkey and was held captive by a band of robbers. 
• The robbers then come back to their cave with a girl they kidnapped.
• An old woman tried to console the girl, but when she didn't stop crying she got annoyed and threatened her.

Her Dream:

• The young woman dreamt of her kidnapping at her wedding and that her husband tried to follow them and was killed.
• The old woman then begins to tell her the story of Cupid and Psyche to distract her. 

Psyche's Beauty:

• Psyche was so beautiful that people began to believe she was Aphrodite, which we should all know caused Aphrodite to be furious since she is the goddess of beauty.
• Aphrodite tells her son cupid (who commits shameful acts & ruins marriages) to make her love the worst possible man ever.

Oracle of Apollo:

• Psyche's father went to the oracle and it was prophesied that she would give birth to a dragon-like creature. 
• She was brought to the mountain crag to fulfill the prophecy of the oracle. 

The Magical Palace:

• Psyche was lifted by a the chief of the west winds, Zephyr, to a valley. She then saw a magical palace and walked into it. The palace was beautiful and loaded with treasures. 

The Mysterious Husband:

• Her husband only came in during the dead of night and would not allow her to see him in the light. He promised if she ever saw what he looked like she would never see him again.
•  He made her his wife and he warned her that her sisters would be coming to the mountain to look for her and she could not reach out to them.
• She then convinced him to let her see them and the husband commanded Zephyr to bring the sisters to the valley safely.
• The sisters saw the palace and money and were immediately envious. 

Psyche's Husband Warns Her:

• She becomes pregnant and the sisters go home planning how to destroy Psyche's marriage, so that they can marry her husband. They are often compared to harpies, sirens, and furies.

Fears & Doubts:

• The sisters go to her house and convince her that the husband she has never seen is a serpent because of the prophecy. 
• They then tell her to use a lamp to see what he looks like while he's asleep and to murder him. 

Psyche's Husband Revealed:

• She lights the lamp and she sees cupid lying asleep on the bed. The oil from the lamp falls on his shoulder and burns him. He wakes up and sees that he has been revealed and flies off.

(Psyche Abandoned, by Coypel)

Psyche's Despair:

• Psyche leaves the house in despair and tries to kill herself in the river. The river stops her from doing it and Pan comes up and begins to comfort her. 
• She travels to her sisters kingdoms and says that cupid abandoned her and wanted them to come be his wife. They eagerly ran to the cliff and jumped off expecting for Zephyr to catch them, but they were not caught and were killed by jagged rocks.