Greek Mythology ENGLI-1159 04/12/21

Leo, Mars and Luna’s Research Essay on the of and

Abstract:

The Tale of Cupid and Psyche was a research topic easily curated by the three of us. We as a collective decided upon which rendition of the story we would like to reference from, as well as represent details from other renditions that fit our analysis. We all had specific details in mind that we wanted to discuss and represent, specifically Cupid’s relation to as well as Psyche’s butterfly wings. Before we began conversing on ideas about individual topics, we all discussed what the story meant to us, and why we wanted to research it. Our biggest inspiration was the idea that this was Luna’s bedtime story, something so beautifully attached to her childhood that she wanted to represent the story and discuss it in further detail. Mars and Leo were both interested in the story for various reasons, but the sentiment Luna had solidified the decision on Cupid and Psyche.

After knowing our true thoughts towards the story and its renditions, misrepresentations, and additions to society, we wanted to discuss its overall impact on the world. “Psyche” in Greek culture represented the soul, and has changed to a synonym of the mind and its state of being; the interconnected relationships between Cupid, Psyche, and Venus are diverse and details about misrepresentations of Venus through misogyny can be highlighted, and further illuminate how these relationships have inspired modern media. Luna discussed Psyche and the definition of her name, and how it has changed throughout time, Leo analyzed Venus and Cupid, as well as went into detail about the relationships between Cupid, Psyche, and Venus, and Mars delved into the aspects of modern media and how the tale of Cupid and Psyche has been adapted to fit different cultures and generations. To truly discuss the ideas of each person’s work, we decided to individually write our research from our point of view as well. The foundation of Luna’s research question was essentially to answer “How has the meaning of “Psyche” changed throughout time from its original Ancient Greek definition. Luna’s research question never altered throughout her studying however, as she began to uncover the dichotomy between the psyche of old versus the psyche of new, precise details came forward in both determinations that she knew she was going to have to study further in order to obtain a fully comprehensive definition. She realized she needed to research factors like the people involved in defining “psyche”, whether it was understanding the “Map of the Soul” that Jung understood the psyche to be or the undetermined non-corporeal part of the body that Aristotle, Socrates and Plato understood it to be. There were many other philosophical branches with their own ideas of the Psyche, one of the most interesting being in Stoicism. In Stoicism, the psyche was said to be made from “Stoic Pneuma” which was a combination of the elements fire and air bestowed upon humanity by the gods as their Soul, or Breath of Life.

Luna began her research using the library databases and then tracking their own references/sources for their articles diligently. She read the online pdfs of philosophical anecdotes, like Pheado (Plato) and On the Soul (Aristotle) in order to fully comprehend the ancient philosophical definition of the word “psyche”. Whenever she came upon a gap in her understanding, she tried her best to organize her thoughts and be strategic on what exactly she needed to use the database to determine, in order for her to move forward in her understanding. At times that meant, looking up a small biographical account of a certain Psychologist's life, then at other times it was more vague of a concept in the attempts to determine how certain things about the psyche were related or connected. For example the word psyche has about 4 definitions just in greek alone. Luna wanted to make sure that she understood how it could be used all four ways as well as, how it accumulated all four meanings throughout time. She also stumbled upon a very enlightening master’s thesis (that is cited below) about the of the butterfly that has attached itself as one of the definitions of psyche. Throughout the thesis, the symbolism was not only elaborated to Luna in a way she could understand but she also learned that it was Aristotle himself that actually named the butterfly “psyche.” Finding this thesis completely clicked the puzzle pieces of Luna’s understanding about the psyche together. Luna’s research strategy began with the intent to establish two clear definitions of the difference between what the Ancient Greek’s built psyche to mean versus how the modern world has created the empires of psychology, which is the study of the human mind. (prefix of psychology deriving from “psyche” itself). From that point on her research became focused on elaborating on the specific details of each of the unique definitions. In finishing her research, her strategy was that my study of both of these “psyches” would come together in order to establish a bridge of how one “psyche” transformed into the other throughout time. This was a vital goal for Luna when she began researching the question “How has the meaning of “Psyche” changed throughout time from its original Ancient Greek definition?” The Stanford Dictionary of Philosophy was an incredibly informative source that provided Luna with all the details that allowed her to elaborate on how certain philosophers/branches of philosophy understood the psyche, whether to them it was more of the “Soul” or the “Mind”. My mind immediately went to “ triangle” when I first heard the story of Cupid and Psyche. I had discussed the initial meaning of a love triangle, and said that the term shouldn’t only have to represent romantic love. It’s ironic how Cupid or is the creator of love, and here I am trying to dismantle it to represent different aspects of love. To discuss the relationships between Cupid and Psyche, Cupid and Venus, as well as Venus and Psyche, I first had to analyze them individually. With Luna’s work on Psyche, I was able to analyze Cupid and Venus quite easily. With each character, I created a list of characteristics that I saw, and tried to find commonalities within each character. Cupid is strong like Venus, Cupid is romantic like Psyche, and Psyche is vain like Venus. The question that may be asked is “why is Psyche vain?” Which is what made me discover another trait, which is the blatant misogyny inserted onto Venus and Psyche as women. Venus is discussed as a jealous and self-absorbed Goddess, when in fact, she was being thwarted of worship by a mortal who didn’t understand what beauty and power she had. Venus was disappointed, which turned into fury. Psyche was a mortal woman with beauty, who was represented as a damsel in distress, unable to handle her beauty, when truly Psyche is a woman who was harassed by men for only her looks, which drove her to loneliness out of the hatred for being desired and not loved. This discussion created my traits of Maternal love, Romantic Love, and Vanity (the love of oneself to an unhealthy level). I put the individual characteristics I had in mind for each slide discussing the characters, and then inserted my largest points onto my love triangle slide. Along with the triangle, I focused on a lot of the aesthetics to represent the characters and their individual traits through an artistic form.

I (Mars) chose to tackle the modern impact of the story of Cupid and Psyche. It began with my interest in the art of the couple. I enjoy seeing different artists interpretations of any story throughout the ages, and this story was no different, especially since I wanted to see how beauty standards over time had changed Psyche’s presentation. So, I began there. I looked at what felt like hundreds of interpretations of the couple, from webcomics to oil paintings to marvelous sculptures. For our presentation, however, I had to narrow down my choices of art. I chose ones spanning a large era of time, mostly in the same medium, that showcased the couple in all their glory.

Next came the harder part, modern interpretation. To research this, I started with what I knew. There were some obvious parallels between some well known fairy tales; the secret beauty of the beast in , the jealous sisters in , and the forbidden love of Romeo and Juliet. I recapped the stories I knew to delve deeper into these analogous themes before moving on to stories I didn’t. The research of lesser known parallels began with the story of the White Bear King Valemon. I had heard the tale years ago, and reading about Psyche dripping wax or oil on her sleeping lover stirred the memory in me, but I was nowhere near familiar enough with the folktale to make any major conclusions about its connection to the tale of Eros and Psyche. I read a few versions of the Norwegian myth before eventually feeling confident enough to compare the two. Finally, I wanted one more example. Something modern that would show my listeners the impact that Eros and Psyche have had on media for generations. Then, Leo mentioned Shrek. Joking, at first, I latched onto the idea. I rewatched the film, analyzing it against the story of Eros and Psyche. I kept a keen eye for themes of a disguised lover, impossible tasks, or a character that felt entitled to the love of another. To my surprise, I found all of that. I had found my perfect final example. A modern classic that, hidden behind a new coat of paint, was the same story as the myth written millenia ago. It was the perfect closer, the ideal “mic drop” to shake up the idea that we left history in the past. Much of my research was analysis of art and other forms of media, but through this analysis I was able to not only showcase wonderful art of the classic love story, but bring its influence into modern times and share a few modern examples of the numerous troupes that the story of Eros and Psyche defined, showing the ripple effect of these two lovers that will stretch far into the future.

Works Cited Page

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