Apuleius: The Captive Woman: Begins with Lucius speaking in first person. I found his line, "Even to an ass like me, she seemed a girl to cover," to be hilariously ironic. I was surprised at the robbers kindness towards the girl they kidnapped. They seemed to have no intention of harm towards her. I was even more surprised by the old woman's snappiness towards the young woman (although it was quite warranted from all her crying.)
Her Dream: The young woman begs forgiveness and explains that she was so upset because she was kidnapped on her wedding day. The poor young woman envisioned one of the robbers killing her finance as he looked for her.
Psyche's Beauty: Psyche, of course, was the most beautiful of the three sisters and was a princess. She was the most idealistic version of the perfect woman; beauty beyond compare (except maybe to Venus), a "virgin flower," and gazed upon by all. Venous, mother of Cupid, was obviously not a fan of being forgotten because of a new face. Venus begged her son to make Psyche fall desperately in love with a worthless man.
The Oracle of Apollo: Psyche's beauty surprisingly was only adored and not sought after by men wishing to make her their wife. Her father went to Apollo for an oracle reading of his daughter's future and was incredibly disturbed by what he heard. I had not been expected this twist in the story. The phrase "...living corpse was led," really created a powerful image of the situation.
The Magical Palace: "Now her desire to gaze on all these beautiful things led her to examine every object closely." This phrase makes me wonder if the story is alluding to needing to look closer at her own beauty. Psyche was in a beautiful home that the "voices" claimed to be hers, although she still did not know who her future husband was.
The Mysterious Husband: Psyche's new husband remained unknown to her even after making her his wife. I found it interesting that her husband was so determined to keep his identity hidden he was willing to fall prey to Psyche's pleasantly sly words.
The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters: It's funny that Psyche had not only been tormented by the envy of Venus, but now also by her own sisters who were just recently mourning for her. The tide can turn so quickly.
Psyche's Husband Warns Her: The same two sisters that were just mourning their youngest sisters death were not plotting her murder. Psyche's husband tempts her with the promise of a divine child if she agrees not to pursue knowing his face. Psyche, in ignorance, begged to see her sisters again.
Fears and Doubts: The sisters have not tried anything violent on their first visit back. The second day they remind Psyche of the oracle and it's words that she will marry a man that is horrid. The sisters try to scare her into discovering the face of her husband. The sisters convince Psyche to turn on a light while her husband is asleep just long enough to see him and then decapitate him. She now had to choose between Family and Love.
Psyche's Husband Revealed: "The rest of his body was smooth and gleaming, such that Venus had no regrets at having borne such a child." He must have been quite attractive for that statement to be true! Anther line that I really liked came from when Psyche pricked her finger with Cupids arrow and, "fell further in love with Love himself, so that now inflamed with desire for Desire, she leaned over Cupid." Venus wanted Cupids arrow to cause Psyche to fall in love with a worthless man, so it's interesting that it caused her to fall in love with Cupid himself. Cupid was displeased and hurt and threatened Psyche and her sisters.
Psyche's Despair: Psyche tried to kill herself because of her anguish at her husbands departure, which was a selfish thing for a pregnant woman to do. Psyche wound up at her sisters castle and recounted the story of discovering Cupid. Cupid had told Psyche when he left her that he would bed her sister. When Psyche told her sister this, instead of being horrified, the sister ran to the cliff and jumped with the failed expectation of being caught my Zaphyr. The other sisters story was the same.
Venus and the Goddess: Venus learns that Cupid is (was) seeing someone and that someone was Psyche. Obviously, she was very angry at this, which is funny since she was not one to talk about married life. I loved how Juno and Ceres got onto Venus for being so blindly angry at her son.
Psyche's Prayer: Ceres, Venus's aunt, finds Psyche tidying up her temple (although Psyche did not know whose it was). Ceres warns her of Venus's wrath.Ceres turned Psyche away from her safety choosing her loyalty to Venus. Juno, Venus's aunt, did the same.
Venus and Mercury: Psyche finally stopped thinking about who could save her and starting thinking about how she could save herself. Her solution was surrender. Venus goes to Mercury (messenger god) to tell announce a reward for Psyche's discovery. Psyche shows up to Venus' home.
Venus and Psyche: Venus wants to call Psyche's unborn child illegitimate because of her illegitimate wedding. Venus tortured Psyche. Then gave her a hard task, which ants helped her with.
Psyche's Next Task: Venus kept Psyche and Cupid separated. Psyche's next task was to get wool from golden sheep, which were very hot and crazed from the sun. Psyche waited till evening and then collected wool from the tree branches were it was stuck.
The Third Task: The most dangerous yet. Providence, Jupiter's eagle, assisted Psyche.
The Jar of Beauty: Venus sends Psyche to the underworld for yet another task of obtaining more beauty from Proserpine. Another helper given Psyche very complex instructions on how to get to the underworld and back without being stuck there. Once Psyche had come back to the mortal world, Envy started to creep its way into her and she decided to take a drop of "beauty" for herself.
The Sleep of the Dead: Wen she opened the jar, it was not beauty inside, but sleep. Cupid found her and "wiped away the sleep." Cupid goes to Jupiter for help against Venus, Jupiter only asks him for a woman of "outstanding beauty."
The Wedding Feast: Jupiter marries Cupid and Psyche even though he sees Cupid as a reckless and "hotheaded" boy. Jupiter also makes Psyche immortal.
Now we are back to the story with the old woman, young woman, and ass. Lucius gets hurt and the robbers want to toss him over a cliff.
The Escape: Lucius tries to muster the courage to escape. When he tries, the old woman tried to stop him. Then out of nowhere, the young woman frees Lucius and climbs onto his back to win her own freedom as well. The "..princess fled her captors, riding on an ass." Such a funny image to leave off with.
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