Today, Cupid is known as a symbol of Valentine’s Day. The myth contends that when one is struck by Cupid’s arrow, that person will fall in love with the next person he sees. But Cupid wasn’t always a winged cherub. He once was a handsome god, pierced by his own arrow and doomed to love the beautiful Psyche.
The Tale of Psyche and Cupid
Cupid and Psyche’s love story was found in the novel Metamorphosis, (also known as The Golden Ass), written by Apuleis in the second century, AD.
Psyche was a beautiful mortal woman, so lovely that she eclipsed Venus, the goddess of love and beauty and Cupid’s mother. Venus became jealous and sent her son to make Psyche fall in love with a horrible monster but when Cupid saw her, he couldn’t follow his mother’s instructions. He pricked himself with one of his arrows and fell deeply in love with her.
To protect her from his mother, Cupid hid Psyche in a beautiful palace where all her needs were taken care of by invisible servants. Her husband visited her only at night and forbade her to look at him, convincing her he was a beast. But she disobeyed and brought a candle to their bed so she could see him. A drop of wax fell on his shoulder and Cupid awoke. In his anger at her disobedience he made the palace, his home, disappear and left Psyche.
She looked and looked for Cupid but couldn’t find him. Finally she asked Venus where he was. Venus said she would tell Psyche only if she passed a number of tests. Although they seemed impossible, Psyche did. For the final test, Venus sent Psyche to the Underworld to retrieve a box. When Psyche opened the box she fell into a deep sleep. When Cupid heard how his mother had been treating Psyche, he asked the gods to make her a goddess. They agree and Cupid and Psyche, who was awakened, were reunited.
Cupid and Psyche’s love story formed the basis for fairy tales, ballets, operas, Broadway musicals and movies:
- The Tale of Cupid and Psyche is the earliest known recorded version of Beauty and the Beast. The fairytale has taken many forms from 17th century French novel to 20th century Disney movie. It has been included in collections of Grimm’s Fairytales and presented on stage as ballet, opera, and musical.
- King Kong is the classic story of a beast in love with a beautiful woman.
- Shrek, an ogre, wins the heart of the comely Princess Fiona.
- In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo loves the gypsy Esmerelda.
- In The Phantom of the Opera, the disfigured Erik kidnaps the lovely Christine in hopes of persuading her to marry him.
Where there is love there is heartache, even for the God of Love himself.
