CUPID

and

PSYCHE

B a c k g r o u n d o f t h e A u t h o r :

Lucius Apuleius was born about c. 124

C.E

He was an African, an excellent

follower of Plato his sect, born in

Madaura, a Countrey sometime inhabited

by the Romans, and under the

jurisdiction of Syphax, scituate and lying

on the borders of Numidia and Getulia,

whereby he called himself half a

Numidian and half a Getulian.

After he went to Rome, and studied

there the Latine tongue, with such labor

and continually study, that he achieved to

great eloquence, and was known and

approved to be excellently learned,

whereby he might worthily be called

Polyhistor, that is to say, one that

knoweth much or many thing.

LUCIUS APULEIUS

The account of Cupid and

Psyche is presented in his

novel The Golden Ass (also

titled The Metamorphoses) as

an "old wive's tale" told by an

old woman to comfort a young

woman who has been

abducted by a band of robbers

and is being held for ransome.

SETTINGS

Cupid’s Palace

The Underworld

Mount Olympus

CHARACTERS

AND

CHARACTERIZATION

CUPID

The Roman god of

love and desire; son of

Venus; the beautiful

winged youth.

PSYCHE

The Greco-roman

goddess of the soul;

youngest daughter of the

king; the most lovely

maiden exist that

surpass the beauty of

Venus.

VENUS

The Roman goddess of

love and beauty; also

called Aprodite in Greek;

mother of Cupid

APOLLO

The god of Greek

prophecy and

healing.

ZEPHYR

The sweetest and

mildest of winds.

CHARON

The ferryman.

CERBERUS

The three-headed

dog.

CERES

(Mercury)

The goddess of

agriculture, grain

crops, fertility and

motherly

relationships.

PERSEPHONE

(PROSERPINE)

the goddess queen of

the underworld ; wife

of the god Hades.

JUPITER

(ZEUS)

The god of the sky

and ruler of the

Olympian gods.

KING

Father of

Psyche

TWO SISTERS

OF

PSYCHE

The Story of Cupid and Psyche….

There was a king who had three daughters, all lovely maidens…

But the youngest, Psyche, excelled

her sisters so greatly.

The fame of her surpassing beauty over the earth, and everywhere men journeyed to gaze upon her..

Venus was enraged by

this and sent her son Cupid to make the

girl fall in love with the vilest and the most despicable

creature there is in the whole

world.

Venus showed Psyche to

Cupid. As he looked upon

her it was as if he had shot one of his

arrows into his own heart. He said nothing to

his mother.

Psyche did not fall in love at all.

Apollo told her father that his daughter was doomed in a prophecy. He commanded the girl to be left at the edge of a cliff. Psyche waited there

for her doom.

On the hilltop in the darkness Psyche sat,

waiting for she knew not what

terror. There she wept and

trembled, a soft breath of air came

through the stillness to her,

the gentle breathing of Zephyr, the

sweetest and mildest of winds. She felt it lift her

up.

Psyche woke up beside a bright river and on

it’s bank was a mansion stately and beautiful as though built for a god, with pillars of gold and walls of silver and floors

inlaid with precious stones.

Throughout the day, except for the strange companionship of the voices, she was alone,

but in some inexplicable way she felt sure that with the coming of the

night her husband would be with her. And

so it happened.

When she felt him beside her ear, all her

fears left her. She knew without seeing him that there was no monster or shape of terror, but the lover and husband she had longed and waited

for.

One night, he warned her that her sisters were coming to visit

her. She promised to do as he asked

but eventually begs him to allow

her to see her sisters. He

relents and the next day they are

carried to the house by the

same wind. They saw her wealth

and were immediately

jealous.

Psyche asked Cupid the next night if she might see her sisters again and he gives in to her but warns her that they are

planning evil. When they came, they

reveal the oracle of Apollo and convince

her that her husband was not a

man, but the fearful serpent.

When he lay sleeping quitely,

she summoned all her courage and lit

the lamp. She tiptoed to the bed and holding the light high above, she gazed at what

lay there. The relief and the rapture that filled her

heart. NO MONSTER WAS REVEALED, BUT THE SWEETEST AND FAIREST OF ALL CREATURES.

Some of the oil fell from the lamp upon his shoulder. He started awake: he saw the light and knew her faithlessness, and he fled from

her.She rushed out after him into the night. She could not see him, but she heard his voice

speaking to her. “LOVE CANNOT LIVE WHERE THERE IS NO TRUST.”

“The god of Love!” he was my husband and I wretch, that I am could not keep

faith with him.

“I can spend the rest of my life

searching for him. If he has no more love left for me, at least. I can show him how much I

love him.”

And she started on her journey. She

had no idea where to go; she knew

only that she would not give up looking

for him.

Psyche came into Venus’s presence the

goddess laughed aloud and asked her

scornfully if she was seeking a husband

since the one she had had would have nothing to do with her because he had almost died of

the burning wound she had given him.

Venus gave some tasks to Psyche.

Psyche’s First TaskVenus took a great quantity of the

smallest of the seeds; wheat and

poppy and millet and so on and

mixed them all together in a heap.

Psyche was heartbroken and could

not start her task, but a group of

ants performed the task for her.

And mass lay all ordered, every

seed with its kind.

This was what Venus found when

she came back, and very angry she

was to see it.

Second Task

The next morning, she devised

another task. Down the riverbank,

where the bushes grow thick, are

sheep with fleeces of gold. Psyche

must fetch some of their shining

wool. And Psyche accomplished

this by pulling the wool from the

sharp briars.

Venus received it with evil smile.

And said that, someone helped her.

Third TaskNext, Venus made her get a vile of black water from terrible which is called hateful, the River

Styx. This time her savior was an eagle, who poised on his great wings beside her, seized the flask from her with his beak, and brought it back to

her full of the black water.

Venus kept on and one cannot but accuse Psyche

of some stupidity. The only effect of all that had happened was to make

her try again.

Venus gave Psyche a box which she was to carry to the underworld and ask Persephone (Proserpine) to fill with some of her

beauty.

Psyche found her directions how to

get to Persephone’s palace, first

through a great hole in the earth, where she must give the ferry

man, Charon, a penny to take her across.

From there, the road led straight

to the palace, Cerberus, the three-headed dog, guarded

the doors, but if she gave him a cake he would be friendly and

let her pass.

Proserpine was willing to do Venus a service, and

Psyche greatly encouraged. Bore back the box, returning far more quickly than she

had gone down.

Her next trial she brought upon herself through her curiosity and still more, her vanity. She felt that she must see what that

beauty-charm in the box was; and perhaps, use a

little of it herself.

She was unable to resist the temptation and

opened the box. To her sharp disappointment she

saw nothing there.

Immediately, however, a deadly languer took possession of her and she fell into a heavy

sleep.At this juncture, the god of Love himself stepped forward.

Cupid was healed of his wound by now and longing for Psyche. She was lying beside the palace, and he

found her at once. He had wiped the sleep

from her eyes and put it back into the box.

Then waking her with just a prick from one of his

arrows, and scolding her a little for her

curiosity, he bade her take

Proserpine’s box to his mother and

he assured her that all thereafter

would be well.

While the joyful Psyche hastened on her

errand, the god flew up to Olympus. He

wanted to make certain that Venus would

give them no more trouble, so he went

straight to Jupiter. The father of gods and

men consented at once to all that Cupid

asked.

Jupiter called a full asssembly of the gods, announced to all, including Venus, that Cupid and Psyche were formally married and that he

proposed to bestow immortality upon the bride.

Mercury brought Psyche into the

palace of the gods, and Jupiter himself

gave her the ambrosia to taste which made her

immortal.This of course changed the

situation.

So all came to a most happy end.

Love and the Soul (for that is what

Psyche means) had sought and, after sore trials, found

each other; and that union could never be

broken.

Theme:“Love cannot live where there is no trust.”

As in the story of Cupid and Psyche, Cupid, the god of

desire and love, falls in love himself, you’ll guess that the major

theme of the story is romance. Of course, it wouldn't be much of

a story if Cupid and Psyche just fell in love and everything was

immediately happy ever after. But when Psyche shows distrust in

Cupid and gets a glimpse of what he looks like against his wishes,

Cupid abandons her, showing that love cannot survive if there is

no trust between two people. After determinedly completing a

series of tasks, however, Psyche eventually regains Cupid and

finds eternal bliss, perhaps teaching the lesson that lasting love

can only be attained through dedication and struggle.

Implications of the story:The story implies that in a relationship, in order to have a

harmonious relationship with your partner you must have love.

Love is the most important ingredient in a relationship. Without

love, your relationship has no direction. And the other thing is

trust. If you really love your partner have trust on her/him.

Nothing can be taken from you if you trust each other.

Especially, now a days, what so-called Long distance relationship

in engaging in this kind of relationship, trust is the primary

value to be projected by the two lovers. They don’t know what

the other one is doing because they are not right beside each

other, so the important thing to do is you trust one another. To

build a strong and long lasting relationship you need love with a

trust. “Love cannot live where there no trust”, as what the

theme of this story.

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING AND LISTENING..

Reported by:

GROUP 5

Arandilla, John

Cristal, Frinces Mae

Cortez, Mary Jo

Cuachon, Rona Mae

Decena, Cyril

Despi, Leizel A.

Edollantes, Mary Joy