Week 3 Story: Cupid & Psyche go to Couples Therapy
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| (Cupid and Psyche, Wikimedia Commons) |
Cupid: I don't think we need this-
Psyche: You don't think we need couple's therapy? Don't be stupid, Cupid. Do you remember when your mother tried to kill me on multiple occasions? She sent me to the underworld and told me to my face that she wished I would just die? You don't remember that, Cupid?
Cupid: Okay, I mean I think everything's okay now! We don't have to worry about her because that's all in the past. All that matters is that we are happily in love.
Therapist: Wait, his mother tried to kill you? That might be worth discussing.
Psyche: YES! She was jealous of my beauty and wanted me to stay far away because I was getting so much attention. Then, after she found out I was dating Cupid, she made me perform nearly impossible errands in hopes that I'd give up and die. She would rather me be dead than end up with her son.
Therapist: And how does that make you feel?
Psyche: Bad. Like I'm not good enough for you, Cupid. I try so hard and no matter what I did your mother hated me. It's not even my fault, I did nothing wrong! I think she's prettier than me anyways...
Cupid: I didn't know you felt that way. I think you're absolutely beautiful and I wouldn't trade what we have for anything else. My mother and I have always had a bad relationship, and if anything, meeting you made me realize I don't need her in my life. You are my family now.
Therapist: Thank you both for opening up to me. I hope that the rest of your marriage-
Psyche: Hold up. We aren't done here. You literally would not show me your face for the first months of our marriage. We only spoke at night and I had no idea what you looked like for a good chunk of our lives together. I was convinced our baby would end up being a hideous green sea monster because I had no idea what was going on. I WAS LITERALLY LEFT IN THE DARK.
Cupid: You know that if I had shown my face earlier, my mother would have killed me. I was trying to protect you. I cared so much about you.
Psyche: I know you were. But it still was a bad period in my life. My family abandoned me and I was living in a mysterious castle with invisible servants and a husband I couldn't look at.
Therapist: Psyche, what do you want from Cupid?
Psyche: I don't know, I just wanted him to know how hard that was for me. I'm very happy now, but I think about when we first met a lot.
Cupid: That was a bad time for me too, Psyche. I was in love with you but knew that you could never know because either one of us could have gotten killed. I know how our relationship had a rocky start, but without it we wouldn't be here today.
Therapist: Exactly. You two need to recognize the pain of the past and talk about it, but it's most important to stick by each other and celebrate what you have now.
Cupid: I love you, Psyche;
Psyche: And I Love you, Love.
~the end~
Authors Note: I really liked the story of Cupid and Psyche. The characters and plot line were both very developed, and it was romantic yet adventurous. I think it ended kind of abruptly, and even though it was a happy ending that I wanted, a lot of things were left unsaid. I wanted my story to touch on some of the issues in their relationship because they are kind of a weird couple. Everything works out in the end, but I thought it was important that they at least discuss and confirm that their relationship had a rough start.
Bibliography
Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche from The Golden Ass, Source
Hello, Hayley! Your idea to have Cupid and Psyche go to couple's therapy is very creative. Your dialog writing style was well done and easy to follow. You could try making the names bold so that they are easier to distinguish. It made me laugh when the Therapist said, "and how does that make you feel?". You further grabbed my attention when Psyche was explaining how Cupid's mom sent her to the underworld, had her do crazy errands, and wanted her dead. The jealousy aspect reminds me of Snow White and Cinderella's stepmother.
ReplyDeleteI understand that Cupid feared for he and Psyche's lives, but how were they married/living with each other without the mother knowing and her never seeing his face? How would the mom know if he showed his face? Did they run off together? Did they stay in separate rooms? Also, I thought an interesting twist/add-on to your re-telling would be to include Cupid's mother in a therapy session. I feel like you could get a lot of funny drama from that, since the tension between the three is so high!
Hi Hayley!
ReplyDeleteI read Cupid and Psyche this past week, and I love this addition to the story! I think it’s creative and hilarious (and those two probably really did need couple’s therapy). I also thought the story ended rather abruptly, so I appreciate this exploration.
One thing Psyche doesn’t mention is that she was made immortal. How does she feel about that? And how does she feel about causing her sisters’ deaths? There’s just a lot of things for her to unpack.
What if Cupid had a few more things to bring up? It seems like he’s on the defensive for most of this conversation, but a lot of things happened to him, too. Also, what if you had a little scene setting at the very beginning of the story? I like the pure dialogue, but I think the scene could be improved with a short description of what the surroundings looks like. I think it would be really funny if you made this “couples therapy for immortals” and the therapist had spoken with Venus and Vulcan before and was familiar with Venus’s eccentricies.
I really enjoyed this! Keep it up!
Hey Hayley! I really enjoyed your story! It was super creative and funny. I wish it was longer! I really liked the track it was on. I loved how easy it was to read, and the setting this dysfunctional couple was placed in. Definitely expand more, because your writing and creative process for this was really good. I'm excited to read more from you!
ReplyDeleteHi Hayley! I haven't gotten the chance to read Cupid and Psyche's original story, but reading your story makes me interested in it for sure! Your way of telling this story was very outside of the box and creative. I think for their relationship, therapy would be absolutely necessary haha. I also enjoyed the little bit of humor you added in with the stereotypical therapist's line of "How does that make you feel?" Great job overall!
ReplyDeleteI found this story to be very effective and appropriately humorous. I really like the idea of them going to therapy (because most of the Greek gods and goddesses could definitely use it)! You managed to retell the story in an interesting and captivating way. I didn't find myself board reading this and thought that you talked about all of the important points of their story. Really good job!
ReplyDeleteHello Hayley! I like how you added more info about Cupid and Psyches relationship within the story. There is often so many questions that I have after reading a story and is aggravating when there is no answer to them. So I really liked that you added the detail in between the lines for the story. Overall I really enjoyed the story, keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI love how you made the story seem so down to earth and realistic, especially through using dialog. A god and his wife going to therapy, who would have thought of that! I like how you also expanded on the story of Psyche and Cupid and didn't allow them to get away with having the fairytale happily-ever-after ending. I would have loved to see a story that was a lot longer, a whole transcript of a 30 minute therapy session; but that is way out of bounds for this class! I am glad I got at least a little bit of an insight into their relationship.
ReplyDelete- Anna Margret
Hey Hayley! This was a great story! I liked the dialogue between the characters. The dialogue was clear and easy to read. I also thought this was a creative way to tell the story. The whole time I was reading, I was picturing a couple sitting on a couch in an office.This would be a fun story to continue with. Do the couple live happily ever after? Does the relationship with the mother ever get better? Nice job!
ReplyDelete