Till We Have Faces Literary Analysis
“Every human love, at its height, has a tendency to claim for itself a divine authority. Its voice tends to sound as if it were the will of God himself. It tells us not to count the cost, it demands of us a total commitment, it attempts to override all other claims and insinuates that any action which is sincerely done ‘for love’s sake,’ is thereby lawful and even meritorious" (Lewis, The Four Loves 18). C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces is the tale of Cupid and Psyche retold through Psyche’s sister, Orual’s perspective. Unlike the envy, malevolent sister in the original myth, Orual’s abusive manners are driven by her “love”. Through the destructive impact of Orual’s love, Lewis delivers his message that possessive …show more content…
Orual has a pathological love in which jealousy dominates it; her jealousy, fused with selfishness, drives her to irrationality, which results in Bardia’s early demise. Bardia gives Psyche full faith and loyalty: he is the first supporter of Orual’s queenship; he devotes his days to counsel Orual; he is so steadfast a servant that in his dreams he is still fighting for Orual. Ironically, Orual, being consciously aware of her devouring, jealous love, refuses to mend her soul. Instead, she continues craving for him by “heaping up needless work to keep him late at the palace” (266). Her logic “because he had loved her she was, in a way, surely enough the enemy” (259) indicates that she envies Ansit for being Bardia’s wife, revealing the other reason for her to occupy Bardia: to separate him from Ansit. While hating Ansit for “stealing” part of Bardia’s love, Orual tries to convince herself that she gets more from Bardia, and thus Bardia loves her more: “I have known, I have had, so much of him that she could never dream of. She’s his toy,… I’m in his man’s life” (233). She also punishes Bardia for loving someone else than her by “pushing the talk in such the directions as… would make others mock him” for loving his wife too well (266). Her erroneous understanding of love suggests not only that her love is full of grudge, but also that she is so egocentric that she completely disregards …show more content…
Gorged with other men’s lives, women’s too: Bardia’s, mine, the Fox’s, your sister’s- both your sisters’” (265). Psyche and Bardia are the only ones suffering from the destructive effects of Orual’s love- Orual consumes everyone around her. As with Psyche, Orual spends most of her childhood with her mentor, a Greek slave nicknamed the Fox. She frees him when she becomes the queen, never thinking that he may want to return to his homeland. When she discovers Fox’s will, Orual’s internal monologue, again, reflects her jealousy and insecurity: She cannot help thinking “if she [Psyche] were still with us, he would stay. It was Psyche he loved. Never me” (209). Her tactic of weeping and evoking Fox’s sense of guilt contrasts vastly with Fox’s teaching- it is “wrong to weep and beg and try to force you by your love; love is not a thing to be so used” (204). Consequently, Fox stays “in pity and love” for Orual (296), demonstrating his selfless love. The comparison of Orual’s love and the ideal standards of love which Lewis delivers through Fox’s deeds accentuates that love is not to demand, but to give. Another character affected by Orual is her other sister Redival. Orual recalls that she and Redival have been close before Fox and attribute their estrangement to Redival’s “terrible” change (254). However, Tarin, Redival’s lover, provides another aspect to Redival’s transformation. He tells Orual Redival once says “First of all Orual loved me much; then the Fox
“Every human love, at its height, has a tendency to claim for itself a divine authority. Its voice tends to sound as if it were the will of God himself. It tells us not to count the cost, it demands of us a total commitment, it attempts to override all other claims and insinuates that any action which is sincerely done ‘for love’s sake,’ is thereby lawful and even meritorious" (Lewis, The Four Loves 18). C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces is the tale of Cupid and Psyche retold through Psyche’s sister, Orual’s perspective. Unlike the envy, malevolent sister in the original myth, Orual’s abusive manners are driven by her “love”. Through the destructive impact of Orual’s love, Lewis delivers his message that possessive …show more content…
Orual has a pathological love in which jealousy dominates it; her jealousy, fused with selfishness, drives her to irrationality, which results in Bardia’s early demise. Bardia gives Psyche full faith and loyalty: he is the first supporter of Orual’s queenship; he devotes his days to counsel Orual; he is so steadfast a servant that in his dreams he is still fighting for Orual. Ironically, Orual, being consciously aware of her devouring, jealous love, refuses to mend her soul. Instead, she continues craving for him by “heaping up needless work to keep him late at the palace” (266). Her logic “because he had loved her she was, in a way, surely enough the enemy” (259) indicates that she envies Ansit for being Bardia’s wife, revealing the other reason for her to occupy Bardia: to separate him from Ansit. While hating Ansit for “stealing” part of Bardia’s love, Orual tries to convince herself that she gets more from Bardia, and thus Bardia loves her more: “I have known, I have had, so much of him that she could never dream of. She’s his toy,… I’m in his man’s life” (233). She also punishes Bardia for loving someone else than her by “pushing the talk in such the directions as… would make others mock him” for loving his wife too well (266). Her erroneous understanding of love suggests not only that her love is full of grudge, but also that she is so egocentric that she completely disregards …show more content…
Gorged with other men’s lives, women’s too: Bardia’s, mine, the Fox’s, your sister’s- both your sisters’” (265). Psyche and Bardia are the only ones suffering from the destructive effects of Orual’s love- Orual consumes everyone around her. As with Psyche, Orual spends most of her childhood with her mentor, a Greek slave nicknamed the Fox. She frees him when she becomes the queen, never thinking that he may want to return to his homeland. When she discovers Fox’s will, Orual’s internal monologue, again, reflects her jealousy and insecurity: She cannot help thinking “if she [Psyche] were still with us, he would stay. It was Psyche he loved. Never me” (209). Her tactic of weeping and evoking Fox’s sense of guilt contrasts vastly with Fox’s teaching- it is “wrong to weep and beg and try to force you by your love; love is not a thing to be so used” (204). Consequently, Fox stays “in pity and love” for Orual (296), demonstrating his selfless love. The comparison of Orual’s love and the ideal standards of love which Lewis delivers through Fox’s deeds accentuates that love is not to demand, but to give. Another character affected by Orual is her other sister Redival. Orual recalls that she and Redival have been close before Fox and attribute their estrangement to Redival’s “terrible” change (254). However, Tarin, Redival’s lover, provides another aspect to Redival’s transformation. He tells Orual Redival once says “First of all Orual loved me much; then the Fox