(Cupid and Psyche by Alphonse Legros: Wikimedia Commons)
There are
many cultural and generational differences illustrated in the story of Cupid
& Psyche, but the one that popped out to me the most was what many would
perceive today as superficiality. While my opinion on this is rather neutral
given the context of the story, I find it interesting how different love was
portrayed in stories back then as compared to today.
There are,
of course, novels written today which contain characters who fall in love with
each other mainly because of physical beauty or money. But even then, it seems
that there is usually some insight given into the character’s personality. It
could be the method of storytelling that made details difficult, or that the
story was shortened in the written version, or even that they truly did not
care for such things. Either way, the romance in Cupid & Psyche was cute
but it did not seem believable. They barely know each other and they have to be
together for all eternity. What if Psyche takes too long putting on her makeup
in the morning? What if Cupid snores loudly and has to sleep on the couch every
night? These things are not exactly relevant to the story, but they were on my
mind the whole time.
(You are Beautiful: Wikimedia Commons)
We live in a society where you can
walk into a public bathroom and see “smile, you’re beautiful!” written on a
mirror. Emphasis is put heavily on the beauty that is “skin deep,” and even
soap commercials exist that attempt to empower women of all types for who they
are on the inside. These things are more blatantly aimed at women, but I think
most in our society would take a man’s personality into consideration before
marrying him for all eternity as well.
So, I’m curious as to where the
difference lies. Arranged marriages were, of course, “the thing” back then, but
from the way the story was told it seemed that Psyche and Cupid were deeply in
love. Did Psyche fall in love with Cupid because she knows she was lucky enough
to be in an incredible situation? Was there truly so little emphasis on this “inner
beauty” idea that we see today that people could tolerate each other without
needing to really like each other
first? Or is it just a matter of how the story was told, and they really did
love each other for reasons beyond physical beauty and wealth?
The story of Cupid & Psyche may
be a bad example for this since Cupid is known for shooting people with arrows
to make them fall in love, and at one point even regrets doing so to himself
and Psyche in the story. But this same kind of “superficial” love is seen in
many older stories, like those that have been turned into Disney movies. I know
very little about relationships (especially arranged marriages) in the past, so
I would love to know more about the mindset of the people in these kinds of
situations.
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