Till We Have Faces Essay -- Till we Have Faces Essays

Till We Have Faces In Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis re forks the novel of Cupid and headspring from the point of view of nouss sister, with powerful insight into the nature of gentle affection and the relationship between human and divine. In the original myth, Psyche is the youngest of three princesses, so good-looking that men begin to worship her quite of Venus. The goddess avenges herself by commanding that Psyche be exposed on a mountain to die, but her son Cupid secretly rescues her, having fallen in relish with her. He hides her in a rook where he visits her nightly, but he forbids her to see his panorama for fear of his mother. After a time Psyche is granted a visit from her sisters seeing the splendor of her palace, they are jealous. They tell her that her husband must be some horrible monster, and they persuade her to decline the gods command and light a lamp while he sleeps, to see if it is non so. This she does, but he wakes and rebukes her, and she goes into exile to be tested until worthy of her husband. Lewiss retelling makes the gods palace invisible to mortal eyes thus Psyches sister Orual, the narrator of the tale, put up insist it is not jealousy but concern for Psyche that motivates her to work out as she does. Told from Oruals point of view, the story shows her journey to self-discovery and understanding--her quest to find her face, for as she learns, the gods cannot meet us face to face till we have faces--until we hold up our own selves. Faces are thus a strong source of imaging and symbolism in the book. Ones face is a reflection of ones soul and true up character. It is, symbolically, ones identity. The faces of Orual and Psyche, of Ungit and her son the God of the Grey Mountain, give us insight into their ... ..., both(prenominal) beautiful. The faces of the gods do not change but those of Psyche and Orual do, and in their ontogeny we see the developing of character--the search for identity. Psyche, who was born n early divinely beautiful, becomes compensate more so when she is married to the god, and her brightface appearance reflects the new joy and maturity date created in her character by that union. Oruals character development takes longer, for she fights it she is unwilling to debate in the god, and even when she sees his face she becomes bitter against him for her loss of Psyche. Yet with great suffering and a long time of facelessness, she too finds her face--her identity--and becomes beautiful in the end. She is finally able to meet the gods face to face, when she has a face of her own. Work ConsultedLewis, C.S. Till We Have Faces. Harcourt Brace New York, 1980.