Cupid and Psyche chp. 1-3

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who lived in some city. They had three beautiful daughters, the youngest possessing exceptional beauty. One day, the mother of all beauty grew jealous, and sought to ruin the beautiful girl's life. In a surprising turn of events, the girl ends up being happy and is entertained and taken care of by 'animated' things (the voices). On top of this, she is happy with her sweet husband.

Every detail just listed is very characteristic of classic fairy tales. First, there is some "rex et regina" in "quidam civitate" (line 1/ Chapter one). As most fairy tales do, Apuleius' story starts off very vague, as to make it so this could be happening anywhere, in any kingdom. Next, the king and queen have "tres filias pulcherrimas" (line 1/ Chapter one). In addition, one in particular, the youngest daughter, has remarkable beauty. In fact, she is so beautiful that human characteristics can't even describe her (lines 3 to 5). Further exemplifying itself as the classical fairy tale, Venus takes the position as the 'evil step mother' (lines 19 to 28/ Chapter one) and wishes to cause the girl harm. In Sleeping Beauty and even Shrek, the story is about the king and the queen's daughter. Also, the princess in all of these stories has too much beauty, and so was envied by some 'evil step mother' or equivalent role. Especially relating to Sleeping Beauty, some magical being is jealous and puts a curse on her. In this adaptation of Apuleius' story, the same basic thing happens, Venus takes it upon herself to ensure Psyche will not be happy with a decent husband (lines 27 to 28/ Chapter one). Moving to a more positive element of a classic fairy tale, the invisible voices help Psyche and make sure she's taken care of (lines 15 to 21/ Chapter three). This is seen in such fairy tales as Beauty and the Beast and also, less romantically, The Brave Little Toaster. The inanimate objects in Belle's scenario, or in Psyche's case the invisible voices, feed them and give them aid in every possible way. Lastly, as common in pretty much every fairy tale, the beautiful princess is happily in love with a sweet husband. Psyche is visited by her unknown husband every night, and considering she thought she was going to be alone or die, she is happy with her life (lines 24 to 26 and line 28/ Chapter three). Whether it be Cinderella, or The Little Mermaid, or probably any Disney movie, the princess has her prince.

When translating and reading this story, the parallels to other fairy tales are constant. Cupid and Psyche definitely set the fairy tale standard and can be considered the first fairy tale. Almost every detail of the story is a classical fairy tale characteristic.

Cupid and Psyche Chapter Two Q#4

4.) Describe Psyche's funeral-marriage. How is the sadness of the occasion underlined?

Psyche's funeral marriage is very dismal. First of all, it's intended for her to be taken away by some "vipereum malum" (line 14), which is not the most pleasant thing. There are also many more authorial choices setting the sad and gloomy atmosphere of her funeral marriage. Her mother and father "lamentantur dies plurimos" (line 16), putting the foundation down for the reader's sympathy for them. In addition, the torch that was supposed to light the way in the happy marriage procession "atro cinere marcescit", another very dismal and literally dark effect. On top of this, nobody is happily singing during the procession but the marriage hymn finishes in "lugubris ululatus", which more pity emerges from. And, personally, the most upsetting and flat out depressing part of this chapter that most definitely underlines the sadness of her funeral marriage, Psyche wipes her tears with her own veil! "puella nuptura deterget lacrimas ipso suo flammeo" (line 20). Also, Psyche does not get ready for a marriage but she attends to "exsequias suas". Being called a funeral marriage, it is to be expected that it will not be a very happy occasion. Apuleius definitely gets the point across that this is sad: there is crying, everybody is described as "miser" or "misella" or any other synonym for sad, and poor Psyche has to wiper her tears with her veil while preparing for her last rites, not even a marriage.

Apuleius/Question One (Prose 2010)

1.) On the basis of the first few sentences of this chapter, what sort of story do you think this is going to be?

Immediately it is understood that this is going to be a sort of fairy tale. For one thing, it introduces some "rex et regina" who are "in quadam civitate" (line 1). There is no particular king and queen and the setting is no particular place. Not only this but they have "tres filias pulcherrimas" (line 1), very characteristic of a fairy tale. A king and queen with beautiful princess daughters. The story further continues to show signs of a plot of a fairy tale, since one of the daughters in particular is the most beautiful, Psyche. The first four lines set you up not knowing exactly where this is and not knowing who it is exactly about, since in a fairy tale it can be anywhere and about anyone. Just like Sleeping Beauty or any other fairy tale for that matter, this story could be anywhere and could be about any girl who is particularly beautiful.

II.14 haiku

Omnis linquenda est,

frustra evitAmus mortem,

mors facienda est.

Everything must be left behind,

we avoid death, in vain,

death must happen.

haiku I.11

CapiAs diem,
moriAris hodiE,
ita vive nunc!

You should seize the day,
for you may die today,
so live now!

(while you can...)

Epicurus' Philosophy & Modern Philosophy

To start, there is Epicurus' philosophy. His basic philosophy was to not worry about the little things in life and to just be happy by enjoying pleasures that outweight the pain in life. He believed people should live more in the moment and not get too worried. In modern philosophy, it seems his ideas live on. The three philosophy excerpts I have chosen are "A List", "Mouse Cookies", and "Verdi".
In "A List", Toad makes a list of things to do for his day and crosses each one out once he has done it. When he goes out with Frog, though, his list blows away. Once this happens, he feels as though he is unable to do anything else since he can't remember what was on the rest of the list. Obviously, this is not what Epicurus would have wanted him to do. Toad should not worry so much about all the little things, like his list, and just enjoy his day. In the end, although technically he is still worrying about his list, he kindof does just enjoy his day. Him and Frog go to sleep, and are happy. This shows that once you just relax and don't worry so much, you can enjoy lifes pleasures and be happy.
Next, there is "Mouse Cookies". In this story, once the mouse is given one thing, he keeps asking for another. The cycle goes on, and, it probably never ends. This definitely goes along with Epicurus' philosophy: temporary pleasures do not give you happiness. This concept really is self explanatory, considering something temporary cannot last forever. The mouse gets something like a cookie or makes a picture, but, he always wants more. People always want to get things that will make them happy, they just go about it the wrong way, like the mouse. Instead of focusing on the big picture, living in the moment, and enjoying true pleasures, he asks for little things that won't last forever and won't really even make him that happy. Epicurus believed that you must get real hedone, true pleasure, in order to be happy, and in being happy, you live a full life.
Lastly, we read the story "Verdi". Here, Verdi starts out as a young snake and wants to avoid being like the old, lazy 'greens'. He tries incessantly to keep from getting old. He tries to be the fastest he can be to not get old, he tries to jump the farthest to not get old, he even tries covering himself in mud to not be who he truly is. Clearly, he spent too much time worrying about this instead of just enjoying life. In the end, it seems as though he realizes his mistake. First, he just stays in the trees and examines the wild he is in. He enjoys the moment, he experiences true pleasure. Once he is completely old, he meets young snakes, trying to avoid the same thing he tried to avoid. He sees this and then plays with the other snakes. Thus, he really did experience hedone. Once he stopped worrying about getting old and trying to keep his stripes, he really enjoyed the pleasures around him and in his life. He sat back, relaxed, and was happy. This was true pleasure and so he ended up following Epicurus' philosophy and really did live a truly happy life.

Horace I.9 (Epicurus)

Horace's poem seems to be the quintessence of Epicurus' philosophy. He starts out with telling the fictitious Thaliarchus to look at what is around him and how to dispel the cold, while still enjoying pleasures(fire and wine). He further goes on to say to him, "Quid sit futUrum cras, fuge quarere" in line 13, basically to live in the now and to not let the worry of tomorrow get in your way. Epicurus' philosophy was just that, to not fret upon tomorrow or the pain that may be in the future. His philosophy was to enjoy the moment and enjoy the pleasures of today. Horace's poem is about not letting the cold get in your way and not letting the pleasures of "dulcIs amOrEs", line 15, slip past you. To wrap up, Epicurus' philosophy is that of living in the moment and just trying to be happy, with as little pain as possible. Horace's poem is a direct relation to this philosophy, as if Horace had Epicurus' lesson plans in front of him while writing this poem. Horace does not want love to be looked past and also, he does not want "quem Fors diErum cumque dabit" to be worried about. When analyzing Horace's poem as Epicurian philosophy, the relations and connections are present through line 1 to line 24.