Week 2 Essay: Cupid and Psyche

This week I chose to read Cupid and Psyche from the classical stories reading unit option. I'm glad this was the story I picked because it really was a lot of fun to read. At first I was worried it would be a chore because it had over 20 chapters, but I found that it was a fast read and kept me interested. I knocked out both reading diaries relatively quick because I was so engaged and genuinely wanted to move on and read the next section. I liked that this story had elements of other stories i've read in it, particularly elements similar to Cinderella. I also liked that it was classically Greek, that is to say that there are so many large personalities and the gods are causing mischief like they always seem to do. Plus, it featured Venus, a vengeful but very interesting goddess. I'm thinking about integrating her into my storybook but am not sure just yet if I am going to.

Psyche and Amor, also known as Psyche Receiving Cupid's First Kiss (1798)

by François Gérard, found on Wikipedia

I enjoyed this unit and as such wouldn't change much about it. The story is great and the snippets of background information given before each section were a big help! I appreciated the links to wiki pages about the characters, the pictures, and the quick blurbs about details we might need to know to better understand what's going on in the story. The only thing I really wish I could change about this unit is the introduction/ending that focuses on a kidnapped girl, an old woman, and a donkey-man/hero. It just seems kind of random and unnecessary to me because we don't really know much about this donkey-man or any of the other captives. For that matter, we don't know much about the kidnappers; why are they doing this? What's their story? Anyway, I think it would be nice to just cut out those bits and focus entirely on the Cupid and Psyche story (but that's just my opinion).

Check out Alicechan's rendition of Cupid and Psyche

Found on DeviantArt