Scene Selection
My thanks to all of you who posted. There is much to discuss, but at this point, I would like to call our attention to a specific scene in Till We Have Faces that I find very rich. Some of you have already alluded to it:
“ ‘I know you love me, Pysche,’ I said, ‘And I think I should not live if you didn’t. But you must trust me too’. She said nothing. And now I was right on top of the terrible thing, and it almost struck me dumb.
‘You spoke last time,” I said, “of the day we got the thorn out of your hand. We hurt you that time, Psyche. But we did right. Those who love must hurt. I must hurt you again today. You cannot go your own way. You will let me rule and guide you.’
[Orual tries to persuade Psyche to leave the god, her husband, because he might not be a god. Psyche does not comply.]
‘An end of this must be made,’ I said. ‘You shall do it. Psyche, I command you.”
‘Dear Maia, my duty is no longer to you.’
‘Then my life shall end with it,’ said I. I flung back my cloak further, thrust out my bare left arm, and struck the dagger into it till the point pricked out the other side.” (TWHF 163-4)
Love is self-sacrificing. Orual’s self-butchery is certainly not love, however much she believes it to be. Her move is out of jealousy for the purpose of manipulation. Psyche, utterly cut to the heart, hotly replies that she will do it, but that her husband will know she was tortured into obeying Orual, and will forgive her. Christ’s love is starkly opposite to Orual’s “love,” and Pysche is indeed correct about His divine grace and forgiveness.
posted by mankee07 @ 3:17 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Clearly Orual and Psyche symbolize a battle between the different parts of the psyche. Psyche experiences the external pressure of her sister, forcing her to acquiesce to what Orual deems socially acceptable. Pysche feels torn to her loyalty to her mysterious husband, the god of the mountain. He symbolizes the internal drives, passions and secret wishes inside her soul. This struggle results in an imbalance that causes Orual to cut herself. (This stabbing action reveals an intense frustration stemming from her own struggle between feeling like a woman, yet looking and acting like a man.)
In my litature class, were doing this book. Can somebody give me a run down on what all happens cuz I haven’t read. thnx
This scene is definitely a favorite, but I disagree with your assumptions on Orual’s motivation to stab herself. If you are thinking about love from a siblings’s perception, or from any kind of platonic point of view, I can see your point. However, this passage is hardly platonic. Orual’s jealousy is not that of a protective sister, but of a scorned lover. Several times in this passage, Orual lashes out in repulsion at the thought of Psyche sleeping with this “lecherous ghost,” and Psyche hints that Orual knows little of love because of her virginity. The two walk on egg-shells around the glaringly obvious issue: Psyche’s having sex with someone, and Orual’s overcome with jealousy. It is quite easy to see how anybody might be induced to such an irrational action when s/he cares so much about another person.
However, jealousy in a human sense is wrong. The Bible says, “Love is not jealous.” (That can be found in I Corinthians 13, for those of us who read the Bible.)
The text of this chapter says nothing about the god of the mountain being God, nor does it imply it. I assume you think that since the god will not allow Psyche to see his face, it is much like God not revealing his visage to us because His perfection would be too much for us to handle. That however has no part in the myth. (Even if it was, the god of the mountain appears in the end. How would you justify that with your angle?) Just like the old version of Cupid and Psyche, this scene is about two sisters quibbling, because one does not have a husband and the other does. Typical. Nothing mystical or spiritual.
-Bob
I’m sure men “quibble” about similar issues. This most certainly is not a scene that purposes to stereotype “typical” womyn.
um . . . love IS jealous. that's the whole point of love!! if another man took your wife, would you not be jealous? of COURSE you would!!! because she belongs to you, she is yours and no one elses. that, brother, is jealousy. and humans feel it. now love is not envious, for sure. take a stab at the greek (no pun intended) you may find a little different twist on an english translation. orual is a picture of love gone wrong . . . but it does not make jealousy wrong. consider christianity in it's form today. we have "glimpses", mere mirror images of what's to come. i read the book through that lens . . . until we have faces, we will act somewhat like orual. isn't that lewis' point? at least one of them?
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