Week 3 Essay: Weak Women in Cupid and Psyche

            [First and foremost, I have to say that I loved this unit. I was so excited to find a love story, and even more thrilled when it had a happy ending. That being said, when I looked through the essay prompts, this topic immediately stuck out as the one I should pursue.]

            The portrayal of women in the Cupid and Psyche Unit leans heavily toward the negative side. In the frame episode (The Captive Woman), a group of criminals steal a wealthy young woman from her family to obtain ransom money. While this is an understandably traumatic experience for the woman, she quickly breaks down, throws a hysterical temper tantrum, and starts expressing suicidal thoughts. She would rather take her own life than be brave and wait for her ransom to be paid. Her behavior is childish and portrays her as meek and emotionally fragile.

            The main character, Psyche, starts off better than the captive woman. In The Oracle of Apollo, she remains brave when faced with her cursed future. Although she is frightened, she does not complain to her parents and thus add to their sorrow. Instead, she encourages them move on from these circumstances that they cannot change. Despite this initial act of positive character, the rest of the story portrays Psyche as a malleable, undisciplined individual.  In Fears and Doubts, Psyche’s sisters (who I will attend to soon) are easily able to convince her that her husband is a monster and she should murder him. Despite the fact that her mysterious husband has been nothing but kind and loving and she enjoys the comforts of their wonderful home, it takes less than one day for Psyche to second-guess her own instincts and allow her scheming sisters to sway her feelings. Then, after Cupid leaves her, she tries or contemplates suicide multiple times (Psyche’s Despair).  Finally, although she endures beatings and tasks from Venus, Psyche’s last act of the story is to give into her vanity and curiosity by opening the jar of Proserpine (The Jar of Beauty) and falling into a deep sleep. Cupid ends up coming in and saving her and their relationship, making her immortal so they can be together forever. All in all, Psyche showed more weaknesses than strengths.

            Finally, the sisters were portrayed as greedy, manipulative, and just plain catty. Venus was very similar to the sisters, but since she is a goddess I consider her in a different category. Overall, the portrayal of women in this story focused on weaknesses. 

(Psyche, by Waterhouse)