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Character Analysis of Cupid Based on Apuleius Tale “Cupid and Psyche”
Introduction
If you mention the word “Cupid” to any random person, they will straightforwardly tell you he is the God of love, but how much do they really know about Cupid. In the classical Greco-Roman methodology, Cupid means “passionate desire.” He’s the God of love, desire, affection, and attraction. Cupid is evoked as the son of Venus, the goddess of love, and Mars, the God of War. In Latin, Cupid is referred to as Amor, meaning love. In Greece, they called him Eros. Whilst Cupid is normally portrayed as a winged boy in classical Greek art, he is increasingly portrayed as a chubby boy during the Hellenistic period. Cupid had a bow and an arrow that presented his source of power; when his arrow shots someone, they are filled with uncontrollable desires. Cupid’s name rose to fame in the fictional tale of “Cupid and Psyche,” also known as “The Golden Ass.” The tale was written by a Latin rhetorician, Philosopher, Platonist, and a pros writer named Lucius Apuleius in second century AD. In his tale, Apuleius focuses on overcoming the obstacles of the love between Cupid and Psyche and their ultimate union to the marriage. Psyche is a beautiful lady whose beauty even threatens the goddess of love, Venus, that she decides to send her son Cupid to punish her with his superpowers. “My dear son, punish that contumacious beauty; give your mother revenge as sweet as her injuries are great, infuse into the blossom of that naughty girl passion for some low, mean, unworthy being, so that she may reap a mortification a great as her present exultation and triumph.” These statements made by Venus culminates the rest of the tale that help build Cupid’s character traits. This article examines the personal personality of Cupid, his strength and weakness as well as his role in the classical Greek myth. Moreover, the paper will also explain why this winged boy is God.
Cupid’s character traits
Cupid is a Kind-hearted and benevolent god. In his tale, Apuleius mainly concentrates on the issue of love. Cupid is a benevolent deity. At first, the author describes Cupid as a mischievous character who manipulates others and scorns marital fidelity. However, in the rest of the fiction tale, Cupid’s actions transform into the exact opposite of his initial description. At the end of the story, Cupid had changed from manipulative and mischievous into a mature and responsible man who was ready to marry. His transformation culminates at his “return to the wine jar.”
Cupid is also disobedient. He disregards his mother’s instructions from the start of the story and does the exact opposite of what he is supposed to do. His jealous mother wanted him to hurt Psyche so that she would marry a handsome man, but instead, Cupid falls in love with Cupid “My dear son, punish that contumacious beauty, give her revenge…” says Venus. Cupid also disregards the traditional role. Moreover, he also disobeys Psyche when she tried to hurt. He sees how she felt for him and still leaves her anyway. The above arguments clearly illustrate that indeed Cupid was a disobedient character.
Cupid is a mischievous and playful boy. “Thereupon, she calls her winged son Cupid, mischievous enough in his nature rouses, and provokes him yet move by her complaints.” From this, we get to learn Cupid’s trait; he is a naughty young God who was fond of causing trouble playfully. He is a young God who, without much, gives his blessing for all romantic affairs as long as he wanted to do so. The fact that Cupid had wings stands for the free will of the lovers. It means that lovers can always change their mind and fly away from each other. His mother, The Goddess of love, refers to him as a naughty boy. This tells that indeed he was since he later disobeyed her commands when she asks him to punish Psyche.
Cupid is loveable. Apuleius describes him as a slender and chubby boy who was loved by everyone. To begin with, Psyche loves him so much. After Cupid flew away, Psyche wanders day and night without food or repose to try to find her husband. Moreover, her sisters tricked her into hurting Cupid so that he could leave, and they would have a chance to marry him. Psyche loves Cupid so much that she did not want him to leave her. Besides, she also wanted him to “she often begged him to stay and let her whole him.” Therefore, with this said, it is evident; indeed, Cupid was a loveable person.
Cupid is a loving god. The whole story was based on love that revolves around the love between a human and a supreme being. Venus sends her son Cupid to punish Psyche, but instead, he falls in love with her. He is referred to as a God of love, affection, and attraction. Cupid loved Psyche; he falls in love with her at first sight. Cupid addresses Psyche with respect; he refers to her as a sovereign lady. Also, when Psyche betrays, he is hurt instead of hurting her back, he chooses to leave. He says, “Oh foolish Psyche, is it thus you repay my love? After I disobeyed my mother’s commands and made you my wife, you think me a monster and cut off my head?”; this is the fact that he disobeys his mother’s command shows the extent of his love for Psyche.
Another personal trait of Cupid is that he is a doubtful god. He questions Psyche’s reaction. He is not sure whether she loves him or not. Cupid is afraid to let Psyche see him in his physical form because he thinks that she can behold him, he immediately questions her “Why would you wish to behold me? Have you any doubt of my love? Have you any wish, ungratified?”. This shows that he was indeed an irresolute and questionable character. “If you saw me, perhaps you would fear me, perhaps adore me, but all I ask for you is to love me.” These words illustrate that Cupid is unsure if Psyche Reilly loves him; he is uncertain whether Psyche will continue to love him if he reveals himself.
As much as he is disobedient to some point, Cupid is also obedient. He obeys his mother when his mother asks him to use his skills on Psyche; he agrees without an object. His mother asks him to do the wrong task, and he still goes ahead to do it; this shows that Cupid obeys his mother. It was not until his love changed his mind. Also, Lucius Apuleius says after marriage, the young couple lives a happy life after. Marriage is indeed built by trust, respect, faithfulness, and obedience, and the fact that their marriage lasted shows that Cupid was obedient. When he was young, Cupid blindly follows his mother’s instructions; this shows that Cupid was indeed an obedient character.
Other personal traits of Cupid that are worth mentioning is that Cupid is careless. When he is supposed to execute his mother’s plan, he instead wounds himself. “…which so startled him that in his confusion he wounds himself with his arrow.” Moreover, Cupid is also furious. When he found out that Psyche’s intentions, he gets angry and flies away. Besides, Cupid illustrates that he was indeed handsome. He was the most beautiful and charming of all the gods. He has a “Golden ringlets wandering over his snowy neck and crimson cheek, with two dewy wings on his shoulders, white than snow and with shining feathers like tender blossoms of spring”; this description demonstrates that he is beautiful. Finally, Cupid was also forgiving. When he finds Psyche lifeless on the ground, he gathers the deadly sleep from her body and puts it in the box. He then forgives her.
Strength and Weaknesses of Cupid
Cupid was more of a human than a God. Although he has supernatural capabilities, he also had other flaws like any other human being. Starting with his strength’s cupid has a bow and arrows; these two were the source of his supernatural abilities. When he shoots someone with an arrow l, the person is filled with an uncontrollable desire. Cupid is also a symbol of love. Moreover, he is also capable of striking passion in the heart of a person. Cupid is a very classic traditional character; he is both mythical and spiritual character. In the tale of cupid and psyche, he demonstrates infinite love for Psyche to the extent of disobeying his mother. Other than that, Cupid has no power and wisdom to influence any farther actions. He is also a careless God since he harms himself from his arrow. Besides l, he also could not control his anger when he finds out about psyche attempt to cut his head off and decides to fly away.
What makes Cupid a god?
Cupid is known as a mischievous winged god with arrows and bow. The arrows signify emotions and desire for love and affection. He aims those arrows at both gods and humans to make them fall deeply in love; because of these, he’s referred to as God of love, desire, and affection. Cupid also has other supernatural powers, such as the ability to be invisible to the human eye. In the tale, he appears to psyche several times, but she could not see him. These supernatural powers make him God.
Conclusion
In summation, Cupid is a winged handsome, fictional character who possesses a likable personality such as loving, forgiving, kind-her, and obedience. He transforms from being mischievous god into a mature and benevolent God. He is associated with love, counter-love falling in love, and desire.
Work Cited
Kenney, Edward J. “Apuleius: Cupid and Psyche.” (1990).
Edwards, Mark J. “The tale of Cupid and Psyche.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (1992): 77-94.
Apuleius, Lucius, and Edward John Kenney. Cupid and psyche. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Hooker, Ward. “APULEIUS’S CUPID AND PSYCHE AS A PLATONIC MYTH.” The Bucknell Review 5.3 (1955): 24.