Amor & Psyche

if i could marry a tumblr...



Anonymous asked:

Thank you for Bride of the Monstrous! It helped me articulate why I love this trope, even though I had previously considered it "problematic" because it seems to make the monster's redemption the responsibility of the woman. That's not what it's really about at all; it's about *mutual* transformation! But, I can't help but wonder about two problems that remain: 1) Why, in ATU 425 stories, is the heroine punished when she breaches the arranged marriage to see her family? That seems regressive.

Thank you for asking some great questions! Here’s pt. 1:

You’re absolutely right that this part of the story feels regressive, the main reasons being:

the trope of women’s curiosity leading to ruining everything is as old as talking snakes and apples
keeping women isolated from their family/the world is genuinely a “monstrous” trait, shared by fictional (Bluebeard) and real-world abusers alike

But let’s look at the context using Eros & Psyche first:

Eros’ has created a fantasy-world for them both knowing full well what would happen if their families (mortal and immortal) were to find out. Not only is he avoiding responsibility for his actions, he’s avoiding criticism of them (not uncommon for the Greek pantheon).
Eros’ love is conditional at this point, meaning it is self-serving. He demands but does not give. Love is selfless (but not self-destructive).
It is impossible for Psyche to remain in this state because it is trading one form of loneliness for another (i.e. denying romantic love for familial and vice versa).
Eros eventually allows Psyche to visit her family/her sisters to come to their sanctuary but warns that if she heeds her jealous sisters’ advice it will doom their love and child to mortality. I didn’t focus too much on the sisters in my meta as I think they are fairly negative representations of the “inner instinct” of women in a psychological context–one which is explored better in Bluebeard/Fitcher’s Bird of all places.
While choosing between her family’s fears and her love would appear to put the burden of choice on Psyche, she actually does not have one. It is her nature to seek a knowing (mind/soul), and desire cannot become love without it.

The real choice here isn’t Psyche’s choosing of family over love or her revealing of Eros (because both are inevitable) but instead is her decision to return for him and free him from Aphrodite’s control. Some might argue that’s a bit unhealthy on Psyche’s part (and motivated by new-found desire) but considering the myth is sourced prior to written language I’d have to say at least the idea of it is progressive in the heroine seeking what she wants.

That said, Beauty and the Beast presents a variation which empowers the heroine in her love for family, rather than criticizing her for her curiosity.

To begin, Beauty is forced to trade places with her father and remain as the Beast’s prisoner. While she grows accustomed to this prison and even enjoys it (as Psyche does hers), her heartsickness for her family requires her to return home. She must go back, and the Beast—with the new-found understanding of love as selflessness—must let her. In this variation, the Beast is the one without a choice. And while she ultimately chooses to return to him, because she wants to and because she cares for him, this choice on the Beast’s part is understood as the catalyst for the transformation of both characters.

This to me is the heart and soul of the ATU 425. The onus isn’t on either character to save the other–its for them to confront and accept their differences and change as a result of them.