Understanding C.S Lewis' "Till We Have Faces"
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To many people, "Till We Have Faces" is THE C.S Lewis work they most love.
Often they say they love him and his works generally, when what they really mean is "I'm a fan of 'Till We Have Faces'."
Why?
And what did C.S Lewis really mean? Are there hidden riches in the novel that most enthusiasts overlook?
The Myth "Retold"?
Yes.
"Till We Have Faces" is C.S Lewis' retelling of an older Greek myth.
The myth of Cupid & Psyche
The Original Myth of Cupid & Psyche
(As the ancient Greeks told it)
In ancient Greek myth, Psyche was the beautiful daughter of a mortal - so beautiful that the envious goddess Aphrodite tried to murder her.She sent her son Cupid (now grown into an adult and also known as Eros) to do the deed.
But Cupid fell in love with Psyche, and resolved to protect her from his vicious mother.
He took Psyche to a special mansion (think 'Beauty & the Beast') where everything was at her command, from the beautiful gardens to the invisible attendants in the palace. Eros/Cupid visited each night and won her love. There was only one condition: "You must never see my face."
Psyche loved Eros, but pinned for her two sisters. Eros/Cupid feared the worse. From his experience with his own mother, he knew the damage an envious nature would bring. And Psyche's sisters had always been envious of her, and wished the worst for her. In fact, the sisters' envy gave 'power' to Aphrodite's own envy. That was how Aphrodite had wrecked such havoc in Psyche's life - she used Psyche's sisters' envy as a 'portal' for her evil designs. Yet still Psyche wanted to think the best of her sisters and longed to see them again; Eros/Cupid granted her wish, but in trepidation.
Just as Eros/Cupid feared, the envious sisters once more became a 'portal' for Aphrodite. The sisters turned Psyche against him. "Your rescuer must be a monster!" they seductively assured her, "Take our advice: Take this oil pot, and this knife.Tonight set flame to the oil pot so you may knife him as he sleeps."
But in the light, Psyche saw the true form of Cupid/Eros - as beautiful on the outside as he was on the inside. She had seen his face (in a real sense) every night but never realised it! Her hands trembled, boiling oil from the pot fell on her husband's shoulder and burnt it. The pain awoke him. In the smoking oil he saw Psyche, with the knife in her hands. He could no longer protect her. He disappeared from her.
So did the palace and the garden. Psyche found herself alone in a barren wilderness.
Determined to win back her husband, she instead found herself in the clutches of Aphrodite. Why didn't Aphrodite murder her? Because (said many Greek sages), Cupid/Eros still loved Psyche. His honest upright love protected his wife from the worst of his mother's envy and hate. Not all Aphrodite's magic could 'get through' that. So she resolved to set Psyche such impossible tasks that Psyche would die (or commit suicide) in their fruitless pursuit.
But the inner qualities that attracted Cupid/Eros to Psyche - that is her loving nature and generosity - drew good creatures to help her. When Aphrodite said "Sort this pile of hill of mixed seeds into separate piles by morning", friendly ants did the task for Psyche. When Aphrodite said "Fetch me water from the mouth of this river (which is guarded by dragons)," a compassionate eagle flew the flask to the source and collected the water himself.
The moment Cupid/Eros recovered from the burning oil spilt on his shoulder, he went in search of his wife.
And found her.
She had survived Aphrodite's worst horrors, and triumphed. Cupid/Eros knew she would be true to him ever after. He gave her ambrosia, making her an immortal like himself.
Antonio Canova's statue of the couple (above) captures the essence of the myth.
Cupid & Psyche - and Greek Myth generally - at Amazon
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Retelling Cupid & Psyche by C.S Lewis
C.S Lewis struggled to understand envy.
He knew that (in one sense) the Cupid & Cupid myth illustrated the Commandment "Thou shalt not covert (that is be envious)."
But what did that mean?
"Precisely what the myth shows," explained C.S Lewis' elder brother Warnie. "[And think of the classic French retelling of Cupid&Psyche, I mean 'Beauty & the Beast']. Envy (almost) undid Beauty in 'Beauty & the Beast'. Because she listened to her envious sisters she nearly killed Beast." 'Beast' was not a beast at all but a kind prince turned into a Beast and forced to remain such until he found someone who loved him for his heart, rather than hated him for his face. Beauty loved his heart, but was repulsed by his face, until she escaped the influence of her envious sisters. Then she finally saw Beast for who he was (never mind his looks) and the spell on him was broken! "That's what it means to get envy (and the influence of envious people) out of your life," Warnie said, "It's (in a way) life to the dead."
C.S sulked. HE never had a girlfriend (through unresolved 'issues' about his mother he ignored women who did care about him). It was galling to see Cupid overcome his mother-issues, and so happily marry. (Sniff). And then there was Psyche. A boring legend about Psyche learning to reject the 'counsels' of the envious... 'What sort of story was that'? Not a story at all. Too much like a morality lecture. "Thou shalt not..."
Warnie, who always tried to keep the peace between himself and his brother, dropped the subject. But not his understanding. His hope was that one day C.S would understand 'stuff' the way he (Warnie) did.
How difficult was it to understand "Do Not Envy"? The ancient Greeks did. The classical French did. Warnie did.
C.S Lewis didn't.
His mother had been a creature consumed by envy, yet C.S idealised her. He insisted on ensconcing his mother on a moral-spiritual pedestal. He refused to see her as 'less than perfection'. Being very much less than perfection, her character now blinded (or 'blinkered') C.S Lewis to similar flaws both in himself and others. She had been envious. C.S Lewis refused to admit she had been envious. So he 'couldn't quite see' when other people were envious, he 'couldn't quite see' envy in himself and he 'couldn't quite understand' what "Thou Shalt Not Envy" was prohibiting.
Cupid & Psyche illustrated why envy was prohibited. But because C.S 'couldn't quite see' his mother's envy, he 'couldn't quite see' what Cupid & Psyche were trying to say.
C.S Lewis could have let Cupid & Psyche help him understand himself (and his own situation). But he didn't. He wanted to 'retell' the story - not as did 'Beauty & the Beast' but rather as he would.
Hence...
'Till We Have Faces...
A princess called Orual lives in an isolated backward kingdom called Glome. Her younger sister is Redival, their father buys them a tutor called "The Fox" who is a captured Greek. Then Orual's father marries a Greek bride, who dies in childbirth. The child is Psyche.When years later a plague falls on the kingdom, Psyche's ministrations appear to help - the populace adores her. But when the plague suddenly worsens, the populace turns against her. Following old superstitions, they are 'sure' the only way to stop the plague is to sacrifice Psyche to their gods, particularly the goddess Ungit.
Psyche is rescued by Cupid.
When Orual discovers that her sister is still alive, she is overjoyed. But visiting Psyche, Orual can not see the palace, or the garden in which she now dwells. Orual becomes convinced that Psyche is the grip of a delusion brought on by that monster of a husband, the groom who insists Psyche must never see his face. Orual convinces her sister to take the oil pot, and dagger, and murder Cupid.
Orual does not see her sister again. But she suffers nightmares thereafter - tossing and turning at night, convinced that she is the ant sorting the hill of seeds for Psyche, that she is the eagle that carries the flask to the river's source... Etc. Meanwhile, Orual becomes queen and her younger surviving sister is married to a neighbouring prince who will inherit Glome after Orual's death. At that death, Orual is herself convinced that she bore Psyche's 'punishment' (by 'becoming' the ant, the eagle etc) - and sees that "you are also Psyche."
"Till We Have Faces" concludes: "This book was all written by Queen Orual of Glome, who was the most wise, just, valiant, fortunate, and merciful of all the princes known in our parts of the world..."
A Frequently Asked Question: Is Orual naked?
No. She is always clothed except for the closing moments of the book when she sees her reflection as naked whilst her sister stands beside her clothed. What did C.S Lewis mean by this curious image? People who love Christ are clothed not only with the glory of God, they also wear the clothes of righteousness. Part of Christ's invitation to His Wedding Feast is to accept the wedding clothes He provides for all who wish to come in. Psyche has accepted these garments, so she is clothed (and gloriously). Orual is naked because, though she wants to love Christ, she has not yet come to Him and accept Him. He loves her, but she does not yet love Him in return - so as Christ said Come to Me foolish people, and buy from Me perfect clothes to cover your shameful nakedness.
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Myth vs Lewis
The ancient Greeks understood "Thou Shalt Not Envy" - the 'essence' of their myth of Cupid & Psyche.C.S Lewis decided to replace envy (as a theme) with "failing to appreciate miracles."
An entirely different theme, and one which leaves both Cupid and Psyche asking "What have you done to our myth?"
In myth, the envy of Cupid's mother (Aphrodite or Venus) is mirrored in the envy of Psyche's sisters. Whether 'divine' or mortal, envy destroys. Envy is (in a real sense) Narcissistic. If it 'can't have everything all to itself' then it wants that 'everything' destroyed for everyone else. Envy demands "No one may have anything except me."
An inability to understand miracles is an entirely different, and far less damaging, moral failing. Simply: If inability to understand miracles is a gun, then envy is a thermo-nuclear bomb or a vial of savrin gas.
Indeed, some people who claim 'not to understand/believe in miracles' are actually suffering from envy. Why should God do miracles? (fume these people). That implies God is more important than me, because He can do miracles whenever He chooses and for whomever He chooses. He cares about the sparrow, He cares about His human followers. And He moves Heaven and Earth (His own creations) whenever He chooses, in a miracle even for the least of His servants. Huhm! I don't like God being more important than me. But I'll be ever-so-clever and hide that under a veil of 'I don't believe in miracles'. Then everyone will spend their time trying to show me how God works in the world - which I already know - and they won't find out the root cause of my unbelief. Ha! Ha!
But because C.S Lewis did not understand envy, he failed to understand that he couldn't justify/explain miracles without taking up sword against the envy that denied miracles.
That there is 'no room' for envy in the story of Orual from Glome does not mean there is no envy in the world generally.
The ancient Greeks understood the corrupting force of envy; hence the myth of Cupid & Psyche.
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Hidden Riches in "Till We Have Faces" (by C.S Lewis)
Too often, they think it's 'really about what C.S Lewis worshiped, I mean Ungit. Not Ungit under that name, actually Ungit is a form of Asherah. All that stuff about C.S Lewis worshiping Christ and God - that's just public show. He said that to fool people, to stop other people supplicating his god Asherah-fictionalised-as-Ungit'.
Quite the opposite. C.S Lewis saw Ungit as a personification of all the false gods the nations worshiped UNTIL God revealed Himself perfectly in the earthly ministry of His Son Christ. Thus the people of Glome struggle and fail to 'make a religion out of Ungit' - this thing can't answer their prayers or their inner needs. It's all show. Yet the people want to believe, because humans need God and if they can't find Him they make images 'to be gods in His place'.
Here are some other themes often misunderstood in "Till We Have Faces."
- 1 Incest Destroys. Warnie Lewis loved and cared for his younger brother C.S in a thoroughly normal way. Warnie was so normal, he was aware that other sibling relationships could (and did) degenerate into incest. C.S admitted: Yes, it could happen. Hateful that it did, but it could happen. But what did the Bible mean when it said "Siblings who commit incest shall be driven from the community"? Warnie explained that "It's not so much 'the community will drive you out'. So much as: Incest isn't natural. Everyone else in the community 'feels' that something's not right between the incestuous siblings. So they 'aren't really part of the community' and perhaps they drift away from it... Sometimes the punishment for an unnatural practice - when its consensual on both sides - comes 'without anyone consciously punishing it'. That's God's Hand in action." This made sense to C.S. He wondered how to share this truth with others. In "Till We Have Faces" he saw his opportunity. So as Psyche grows up, Orual has incestuous wishes about her sister - and look what happens as a result! Psyche is ejected from the community - innocent Psyche who was simply the victim of her sister's incestuous thoughts. Then Orual finds herself ejected from the one community that matters to her, herself. She is alienated from herself for the rest of her life. "One who commits incest shall be driven out of the community..."
- 2 Christ died as the Final Sacrifice for Sin, that's the sacrifice on which everyone should rely; 'making another sacrifice for sin' will avail nothing. In Glome, the priestclass spread a lie that the plague will stop only when (innocent) Psyche is sacrificed to the god/s. How convenient to believe it! C.S Lewis was pointing obliquely to the (fallen) human desire for scapegoats; in his lifetime, C.S saw Hitler scapegoat the Jews 'for the good of the country, for the good of Europe, for the good of the world...' So said Hitler, and millions of his subjects believed him. How 'tidy', to blame the nation's suffering on the Jews... But (as C.S knew) the real cause of suffering in the world is sin, and fallen human nature that wants sin. Including the sin of saying "Forget about Christ, His sacrifice 'isn't enough'. We need more sacrifices - so who can we murder next?" However many dozen, hundred or thousands one 'sacrifices in Christ's place', that 'isn't enough'. Why? Because Christ already died and rose again ONCE. His sacrifice and resurrection happened ONCE (explained Paul's Epistles) because they only needed to happen ONCE. ONCE AND FOR ALL. And it 'doesn't seem enough' to fallen human nature, because fallen human nature doesn't understand either sin OR why Christ's sacrifice (of Himself) to forgive sin was enough. Glome doesn't understand. Psyche is offered up as a sacrifice for sin, but Christ's sacrifice has already been offered up for sin - Psyche's death is unnecessary, Christ already died that death (and rose again). So Psyche is rescued. This is Lewis' way of saying "God took pity on Glome's ignorance and so saved Psyche's life as a sign to them not to make any more human sacrifices."
- 3 In some ways we are too spiritually hard on ourselves, in other ways not firm enough. C.S Lewis knew the (fallen) human propensity to (as Christ put it) "strain out a (spiritual/moral) knat but swallow a (spiritual/moral) camel." Incest is Orual's spiritual/moral camel. But meanwhile she decides to wear a veil because she is convinced she is physically ugly. That physical ugliness is her knat. The real veil is she wearing is over her own moral understanding - which escapes her all through her long reign and (Lewis implies) only became clear to her in her last days.
- 4 Temporal power isn't enough by itself, but sometimes we fail to see the good to which temporal power can be put. Orual, as queen, feels hollowed out. She increasingly feels herself nothing but a vessel for work, work work. But she equally uses the fact she has temporal power as an excuse 'not to feel a full human'. Power is not enough by itself, but Orual has made it a rod for her own back. Is she blind to the benefits she brings to Glome, benefits her own people can see and for which they admire and revere her? Doing good for others builds one up, not hollows one out - provided one isn't 'determined to be hollowed out regardless of everything else'. Yet Orual insists on not feeling/experiencing the blessings that come from being a just and upright ruler. She has veiled herself from feeling/experiencing these blessings. Perhaps the real reason she wears a veil is to put a barrier between herself and her people's love for her.
- 5 Sometimes, God answers us but the answer is so incomprehensible (to us) it seems as though God has not answered. Just as Orual wears a physical veil to 'obscure' herself from her people, so she wears a metaphysical veil to veil herself from herself. Just as she convinces herself that the physical veil is a source of power, so she also feels about her metaphysical veil. Both are lies. But she is so wedded to both lies that when God - As He Really Is - confronts her in her last days/months about it, it seems (to Orual) as though He has brought her into His presence BUT said nothing Himself. He HAS spoken to her, it is just she has a veil so thick over her undertanding that she finds His voice muffled to the point of silence. But she still understands that she has been in God's presence. And even though she cannot (truly) hear His voice, something inside her responds to His love. Tragically, she does not live long enough (on earth) for that Love to work through her life and heal her. But that she experiences, and responds likewise, to His Love is enough to ensure her salvation. Ultimately, "Till We Have Faces" is about the tortures fallen humans endure before they finally admit "This is pointless - all these tortures are self inflicted" and so turn for relief to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Why "Till We Have Faces"?
(And not some other title?)
Paul's Epistles show us we can do the same, without any physical or metaphysical veil in the way.
But Orual veils her own face, a physical symptom of the veil she has put between herself and her people (she can't feel their love for her) and herself and God (she can't feel His love for her).
C.S & Warnie Lewis both say: Foolish people, take off your veils and show your faces to each other. And turn your unveiled faces towards God.
For we will remain restless and without peace UNTIL we have faces.
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Make C.S Happy!
(Complete this crossword puzzle to show you've read his book)
Clues Across
- ONE - Finish the sentence: "You also shall be..."
- TWO - Psyche's other name
- FIVE - Narrator of "Till We Have Faces"
- SEVEN - "The two temple girls... gave me... a drug... Soon after I had swallowed it, everything went..." Went what?
- NINE - "We have made little use of the Fox's teaching if we're to be scared by..."
- ELEVEN - Official divinity of land of Glome
Clues Down
- ONE - The narrator and Psyche are both...
- THREE - Narrator's Greek tutor
- FOUR - Narrator's soldier and later adviser
- SIX - Fill in the missing word: "Nature knows [..?..] of these names."
- EIGHT - The straps of Psyche's sandals are red with what?
- TEN - Name the Eunuch
- Till We Have Faces Crossword
- See this puzzle online
A Note of Self Discipline
Some readers venerate C.S Lewis' "Till We Have Faces" through their own mistaken notions as to his message. To them "Till We Have Faces" is a 'justification' for seeing the world as a dreary place overseen by uncaring god/s which can only be endured if it is 'forgotten' in orgy-like 'booze&sex'. Is this C.S's message? No. Why (then) do some readers choose to see it as 'what C.S really meant, underneath all the religious stuff'? Because to someone with this world-view, everything - even things that are innocent - are 'nothing but dreariness that can only be endured through self indulgence'. This was the view of King Solomon, after he abandoned God for the pagan gods of his pagan wives. As C.S Lewis declared in another of his books: Heed this warning.
Warnie & C.S Lewis - Brothers Who Sometimes Disagreed but Always Loved Each Other
Here's a photograph of C.S & Warnie Lewis together.
Lewis has his hands behind his back - perhaps a metaphor for how he could have asked more from God, but didn't.
Warnie chews on his pipe (a human weakness!) but looks confidently forward to the future - with Christ and God in Heaven.
A neat picture, don't you think?
The brothers differed in many things, but Warnie - with his stronger faith - still loved his brother C.S. And C.S, though he often refused to understand what Warnie could, still loved his brother. Both showed their love in their actions towards each other. Though they sometimes argued, they reconciled afterwards because God's love ran truly through them both.
Let's Have a Show of Hands
S.
Please Sign the Guestbook
(And share whatever you like about "Till We Have Faces")
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Tangled07
May 25, 2012 @ 3:21 am | delete
- I'd also like to add that I wholeheartedly agree with theme # 5
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Tangled07
May 25, 2012 @ 3:15 am | delete
- I do wish one could like lenses more than once or relike lenses because this lens simply deserves it.
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trendydad
May 20, 2012 @ 12:20 am | delete
- great lens
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Tangled07
May 11, 2012 @ 2:58 am | delete
- Hmm very interesting. I'm definitely inspired to read more of his works now! On a side note, I think it's good that C.S had Warren, the two just seem to go together in that last picture. I loved the analysis of the picture :)
Great lens :)
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stonehengebaby
May 7, 2012 @ 1:58 am | delete
- favorite moment...after reading her complaint over and over and the gods finally ask her, "do you have your answer?"
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joyldev
Apr 11, 2012 @ 2:36 pm | delete
- Great lens. God bless!
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joyldev
Apr 11, 2012 @ 2:36 pm | delete
- Great lens. God bless!
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happynutritionist Apr 10, 2012 @ 8:45 am | delete
- When going to a college for Bible and Liberal Arts I took a course just on C.S. Lewis's books, and this was one of my favorites. I think you've inspired me to re-read it, as whenever I think of the book, I think of the fact that we have many pretentious layers to ourselves that cover the "real" us, and thought the book was about getting past those layers to the real "face"...us. Don't recall the connection to mythology. Have read and love so many of Lewis' books, "Mere Christianity", "Surprised by Joy", "A Grief Observed", the Narnia series, etc., there is quite a wonderful list of them.
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by SRitchieable
I'm passionate about classic art, economics, history and current events. I'm an LLB (law & economics) and a member of the Golden Keys Honours Society.
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