Couples Therapy with Cupid and Psyche
Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013). Cupid and Psyche
Psyche: I'll go. It all started when people started taking notice to my striking beauty. Although it sounds like a blessing, it felt more like a curse. Despite the hoards of admirers I acquired, no man wished to take my hand in marriage. It was because of this that my father went to an oracle and received an ominous warning about the hideous creature I was destined to marry. Hearing this, I accepted my fate and said goodbye to my parents before making my way to my mysterious future husband. Before I knew it, I was being transported by a magical wind that eventually deposited me in the most beautiful place I had ever seen. Then, I enjoyed beautiful music and an amazing feast until I was greeted by an unknown figure. We lay together and after, he warned me not to look upon him. Although this was challenging for me, I did it, for I already loved him and wished to do as he said. Every night, I laid, anxiously awaiting his arrival. One night during one of our visits, I asked if I could see my sisters, whom I hadn't seen since the day I was married. My husband warned me not to let them convince me to uncover his identity, but I begged him to let them come and he obliged. This is when it all started to go down hill. Our relationship was amazing before my sisters convinced me to hold a lamp to his face as he slept. When he found out what I had done, he told me that I had violated his trust and left me all alone. I have never been so heartbroken. I became so desperate that I went to his mother, Aphrodite, who has hated me from the very beginning to try and get him back. She beat me, ridiculed me, and made me complete nearly impossible tasks and I STILL did not get her approval. So now, even though we have been married for a couple months and I know that he loves me, my dear Cupid still sides with his mother. Now, we fight all the time and I fear he could leave me at any moment. I am just not sure what to do at this point.
Therapist: Thank you for sharing, Psyche. Your feelings are valid and I am sure Cupid appreciates your transparency. Cupid, you can go next.
Cupid: From the beginning of our relationship, my mother has not liked Psyche. She felt threatened by her beauty and because of this, she told me to shoot Psyche with my arrow to make her fall in love with the first hideous person she saw. Instead, it was I who fell in love with her. The first bump in our relationship was when she betrayed my trust and revealed my identity. Everything was going so well before she went against my word, and the start of the downfall was all because of her meddling sisters. This betrayal of trust hurt me so deeply that I had to leave immediately. I realize that this was hurtful but it was all I could do. Also, I have apologized so many times for the evil that my mother has done to Psyche, and it has never been enough. My mother and I have had many discussions about how she needs to treat my wife and although it has not improved by much, she is getting better. Psyche, I want you to know that even though she is my own blood, my love for you transcends my loyalty to her, and I will never leave you. I did everything in my power to rescue you from my mothers wrath and I will love you like this forever. I had no idea you felt this way and I will do my best to make you feel secure in our relationship from this point on.
Psyche: Thank you, my love. I feel so much better! This was extremely helpful.
Therapist: I am glad I could be of assistance! Thank you for coming in!!
Cupid and Psyche in their garden, Flickr
Author's Note:
After reading about the tumultuous love story between Cupid and Psyche, I knew that this would be the perfect format to retell this story. After all that this couple endured, from betrayal to problems with in-laws, I figured introducing a third party to help them resolve some of the issues in their marriage that occurred as a result. As you can see, couples therapy proves to be very helpful, as both Cupid and Psyche are able to speak their mind and be transparent with one another, without Aphrodite interfering.
Hi Emily!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to start by saying your idea for this story is really creative and helped "humanize" Psyche and Cupid to make their situation more relatable. Having each character tell his or her side drew me in while I was reading because I wanted to know what happened in their relationship and why they ended up in couple's therapy! My questions that I have after finishing your story is if breaking up each character's explanation and giving the therapist more dialogue and having the characters go into less detail would be a good idea? The ending felt a bit abrupt when Psyche forgave Cupid and the therapist let them leave, so possibly having the therapist ask specific questions to each character and allowing them to respond would help the ending flow better! Also, along with breaking up each character's explanation, the characters could spare some detail such as the music and feast Psyche enjoyed before meeting Cupid so that the reader doesn't have to get through large blocks of text. Overall, your retelling was fun to read and I enjoyed learning about the rocky relationship of Cupid and Psyche!
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI think it was fantastic that you used this method to retell this story. It made the vibes very conversational and I think that showed through the conversational language you used as well. I think that style can be really useful in creating a story that is engaging and interesting to read! You hit all the great points of the story in a unique way. Great job!
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your idea to crate a story that combined both Psyche's and Cupids's perspective. I think it is a great way to condense the story and also explain all how both characters truly feel. I think that this switch in perspective is the strongest point of your story. Did you consider possibly breaking up the two large dialogs? The continuous dialogue for each character right now is quite a bit. You could create a playful banter in the text between Psyche and Cupid or even just select one topic of the story for them to discuss. If you stuck with the therapist theme, which is very insightful, you could create a storybook of three to four different sessions. That would be a great method to avoid rushing a story and it gives the opportunity to give the therapist more dialogue. There are endless possibilities and you did a great job!