In Till We Have Faces, Clive Staples Lewis reworks the well-known myth of Cupid and Psyche. The piece is written from the perspective of Psyche’s sister eldest sister Orual. The story falls into the category of fantasy fiction, meaning it uses several of the ideas utilized in science fiction such as imaginary worlds, creatures, and heroes without including modern day science and technology. Thought the novel is based upon another story, it’s a unique piece of literature.
C.S Lewis, otherwise known as Jack, lived from 1898 to 1963. At the age of nine, CS Lewis’s mother died of cancer. He was then shipped off to boarding school where he began writing about fictional adventures taking place in strange lands. Soon after converting to Christianity, he authored several novels and theological books. He then married Joy Davidman Gresham, an American writer who he eventually learned to love. In 1960, Cancer once again took the primary lady, Joy, out of Lewis’s life. After her death, Lewis coped by writing the book A Grief Observed, in which Lewis observed his own grieving process. Lewis died of osteoporosis three years later, in 1963.
Lewis played a significant role in modern Christian literature. He’s authored several books including The Chronicles of Narnia series. The first two stories of The Chronicles of Narnia were eventually adapted by Disney into feature films. Till We Have Faces was Lewis’s last piece of fiction, then followed by many theological and educational works. He also played a significant role in the writings of JR Tolkien, the renowned author of the Lord of The Rings trilogy. Today, Lewis is quoted off of several pulpits in churches around the world.
In Till We Have Faces, the primary character, Orual, purposes a complaint against the gods and makes an appeal concerning her role in Psyche’s life. Orual recounts how she loved Psyche and desired the best for her. Orual is not visually pleasing, in fact, her face is awfully ugly. Orual’s ugliness plays a significant role in the story, it is mentioned countless times and not only affects her characterization but also influences the development of other characters in the story. She mentions how various soldiers don’t see her as a women, and as a result, act as if she were also a man. As a child, she is referred to as both “frightening” and “curd-face” (18) by her own father. As an adult, she veils herself without ceasing. Besides her face, Orual views herself as visually tolerable. She is of proper stature and weight, and, so long as she remains veiled, is socially accepted.
Orual, called Maia by Psyche, is brave, fearful, loving, selfish, lonely, loved, manipulative, sensible, believing, and suspicious. Like any women, she is moody and is difficult to understand. She is brave in that she is willing to battle the best swordsmen in the land, yet she weeps at the thought of losing her sister. She believes she loves Psyche yet keeps her from the god whom she loves. Orual allows herself to think she has no companions, but is comforted when she is stricken with fever. She goes to extremes, even cutting her own flesh to convince people, yet she is wise enough to lead a country. She allows herself to believe in gods, even writing a complaint against them, while she views Psyche’s belief as foolishness. It may be concluded by the preceding sentences that Orual is simply fickle and difficult to comprehend. She is far from consistent.
Orual may be described as an anti-hero. She contains the characteristics of one as she’s ugly, selfish, manipulative, lonely, and eventually known as a wicked sister. While Orual contains all of these attributes, she somewhat experiences the heroes journey a few times. First, she is called by her own loving conscious to go save Psyche’s body from the near by mountain. She then has to cross a deep dark river and surprisingly finds Psyche alive, after thinking she’d been sacrificed to the goddess Ungit. Orual returns to her land of Glome, and, because nobody knew she was gone, is not welcomed. Orual also encounters parts of a hero as she battles a swordsman to save her country from a series of wars. Though she partially experiences the hero’s journey, Orual is more of an anti-hero than anything else.
Throughout the story, Orual struggles with the conflict of human versus the supernatural. She battles with the idea of gods, then ends up writing a complaint against them. Orual is influenced by her keeper, the fox, to not believe in the gods while her soldier Bardia is a god-fearing man who attempts to convince her to respect them. She is constantly struggling with the idea and actions of the gods, especially the Brute, also known as Cupid, and his mother Ungit. The ugly princess loathes these gods for taking her beloved sister Psyche away. She mocks them, doubts them, and doesn’t understand them. She especially struggles with the gods after discovering that Psyche has become one.
The story is in first person narrative from Orual’s perspective. Orual herself is writing the story. Words including my, myself, and I are used to recount the events in the story. This means that the author doesn’t allow the reader to know what the other characters in the story are thinking. However, it creates an intimacy with Orual which could otherwise not exist. The reader is allowed to venture deep into the mind of her thoughts and ideas. Because Lewis was purposefully attempting retell the myth of Psyche and Cupid from another perspective, using a character to tell the story was an appropriate approach.
Till We Have Faces encases the universal themes of love and selfishness. One may say that the maxim of the story is that loving too much can lead to selfishness. At one point, Psyche tells Orual “You are indeed teaching me about kinds of love I did not know. It is like looking into a deep pit. I am not sure whether I like your kind better than hatred.” (165) This theme is weaved into the book as Orual tries to convince Psyche to betray her new found love. It is also laced toward the end of the story, as Orual discovers her love wasn’t as she thought it was. Her love leads to selfishness, selfishness that destroys both her and Psyche. It is difficult to understand Lewis’s perspective on this idea, as Orual herself wrote the book.
The novel has a heavy impact on the reader. There are several subtle yet significant quotes from the story that, if analyzed, make the reader think of the relevance of the quote to actual life. For exam one of the character states “Don’t you think the things people are most ashamed of are the things they can’t help?” (111) this statement could have a significant impact on anyone, allowing him or her to meditate on the relevance to that statement in real life. The story also plays on the readers emotions as the reader becomes attached to Orual. While reading the story, one can’t help but feel sorry and cheer for Orual. The story truly invites its reader to search within his or her self while digging deep into the self of an ugly princess.
C.S Lewis, otherwise known as Jack, lived from 1898 to 1963. At the age of nine, CS Lewis’s mother died of cancer. He was then shipped off to boarding school where he began writing about fictional adventures taking place in strange lands. Soon after converting to Christianity, he authored several novels and theological books. He then married Joy Davidman Gresham, an American writer who he eventually learned to love. In 1960, Cancer once again took the primary lady, Joy, out of Lewis’s life. After her death, Lewis coped by writing the book A Grief Observed, in which Lewis observed his own grieving process. Lewis died of osteoporosis three years later, in 1963.
Lewis played a significant role in modern Christian literature. He’s authored several books including The Chronicles of Narnia series. The first two stories of The Chronicles of Narnia were eventually adapted by Disney into feature films. Till We Have Faces was Lewis’s last piece of fiction, then followed by many theological and educational works. He also played a significant role in the writings of JR Tolkien, the renowned author of the Lord of The Rings trilogy. Today, Lewis is quoted off of several pulpits in churches around the world.
In Till We Have Faces, the primary character, Orual, purposes a complaint against the gods and makes an appeal concerning her role in Psyche’s life. Orual recounts how she loved Psyche and desired the best for her. Orual is not visually pleasing, in fact, her face is awfully ugly. Orual’s ugliness plays a significant role in the story, it is mentioned countless times and not only affects her characterization but also influences the development of other characters in the story. She mentions how various soldiers don’t see her as a women, and as a result, act as if she were also a man. As a child, she is referred to as both “frightening” and “curd-face” (18) by her own father. As an adult, she veils herself without ceasing. Besides her face, Orual views herself as visually tolerable. She is of proper stature and weight, and, so long as she remains veiled, is socially accepted.
Orual, called Maia by Psyche, is brave, fearful, loving, selfish, lonely, loved, manipulative, sensible, believing, and suspicious. Like any women, she is moody and is difficult to understand. She is brave in that she is willing to battle the best swordsmen in the land, yet she weeps at the thought of losing her sister. She believes she loves Psyche yet keeps her from the god whom she loves. Orual allows herself to think she has no companions, but is comforted when she is stricken with fever. She goes to extremes, even cutting her own flesh to convince people, yet she is wise enough to lead a country. She allows herself to believe in gods, even writing a complaint against them, while she views Psyche’s belief as foolishness. It may be concluded by the preceding sentences that Orual is simply fickle and difficult to comprehend. She is far from consistent.
Orual may be described as an anti-hero. She contains the characteristics of one as she’s ugly, selfish, manipulative, lonely, and eventually known as a wicked sister. While Orual contains all of these attributes, she somewhat experiences the heroes journey a few times. First, she is called by her own loving conscious to go save Psyche’s body from the near by mountain. She then has to cross a deep dark river and surprisingly finds Psyche alive, after thinking she’d been sacrificed to the goddess Ungit. Orual returns to her land of Glome, and, because nobody knew she was gone, is not welcomed. Orual also encounters parts of a hero as she battles a swordsman to save her country from a series of wars. Though she partially experiences the hero’s journey, Orual is more of an anti-hero than anything else.
Throughout the story, Orual struggles with the conflict of human versus the supernatural. She battles with the idea of gods, then ends up writing a complaint against them. Orual is influenced by her keeper, the fox, to not believe in the gods while her soldier Bardia is a god-fearing man who attempts to convince her to respect them. She is constantly struggling with the idea and actions of the gods, especially the Brute, also known as Cupid, and his mother Ungit. The ugly princess loathes these gods for taking her beloved sister Psyche away. She mocks them, doubts them, and doesn’t understand them. She especially struggles with the gods after discovering that Psyche has become one.
The story is in first person narrative from Orual’s perspective. Orual herself is writing the story. Words including my, myself, and I are used to recount the events in the story. This means that the author doesn’t allow the reader to know what the other characters in the story are thinking. However, it creates an intimacy with Orual which could otherwise not exist. The reader is allowed to venture deep into the mind of her thoughts and ideas. Because Lewis was purposefully attempting retell the myth of Psyche and Cupid from another perspective, using a character to tell the story was an appropriate approach.
Till We Have Faces encases the universal themes of love and selfishness. One may say that the maxim of the story is that loving too much can lead to selfishness. At one point, Psyche tells Orual “You are indeed teaching me about kinds of love I did not know. It is like looking into a deep pit. I am not sure whether I like your kind better than hatred.” (165) This theme is weaved into the book as Orual tries to convince Psyche to betray her new found love. It is also laced toward the end of the story, as Orual discovers her love wasn’t as she thought it was. Her love leads to selfishness, selfishness that destroys both her and Psyche. It is difficult to understand Lewis’s perspective on this idea, as Orual herself wrote the book.
The novel has a heavy impact on the reader. There are several subtle yet significant quotes from the story that, if analyzed, make the reader think of the relevance of the quote to actual life. For exam one of the character states “Don’t you think the things people are most ashamed of are the things they can’t help?” (111) this statement could have a significant impact on anyone, allowing him or her to meditate on the relevance to that statement in real life. The story also plays on the readers emotions as the reader becomes attached to Orual. While reading the story, one can’t help but feel sorry and cheer for Orual. The story truly invites its reader to search within his or her self while digging deep into the self of an ugly princess.
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