Till We
Have Faces is a retelling of the myth
of Cupid and Psyche. Some say it is an
exploration of the Four Loves which Lewis wrote about elsewhere. It was published in 1956.
1.
As in Till We Have Faces the Book of Job uses
a trial format to call God to account for the events in Job’s life. How
are the motives of Orual and Job the same or different. Each of them have
changed their attitudes by the end of the book. How are their final
attitudes the same or different?
2.
Polytheistic religions
appear to take the mysteries of nature and split them into manageable units (gods
of the harvest etc). What happens when you have monotheism, everything
wrapped up into one god? Does that change the meaning and power of the
mystery?
3.
The Fox sees Ungit as
being the same as Aphrodite, goddess of love. Is this an appropriate
comparison? Compare Aphrodite, as she is in the myth of Cupid and Psyche,
with Orual.
4.
Can you find the
characters of “Till We Have Faces” in “The Great Divorce”?
5.
When Orual saw the
vision of the palace she had a chance to change. What parts of herself
would she have had to “give up” in order to believe and make the palace real?
How might the story have been different if she had accepted her vision?
6.
In Chapter 14 we see
the confrontation between Orual and Psyche. What are the different expressions
of “love” that we see in this chapter and why does Psyche finally agree to
carry out Orual’s demand?
7.
Orual tells us about
her years as queen and how she shut out Orual and became Queen. Is this
quite true? She could have made other choices as queen, she ends up being
beloved by her people. Is this perhaps a part of her true self peeking
out? Do we ever completely mask our true selves?
8.
What events or
thoughts start changing Orual’s view of her story?
9.
In “The Four Loves”
Lewis names Affection (storge), Friendship(philia), Eros, and Charity(agape). How were these distorted
and manipulated by the characters in Till
We Have Faces?
10.
How did Psyche express
these same loves? In King Lear, Cordelia says to her father . ‘I love your majesty / According to my
bond; no more nor less” How does this express what Psyche says in Chapter
14.
11.
Why
is it that holiness dwells in the dark places?
12.
Why do you think it is
her father who first appears in her visions?
13.
What did Fox mean in
the vision when he said that Orual bore all the anguish of Psyche’s trials?
14.
In the vision Fox says
“This is the last of the tasks that Ungit has set her. She must ..."
Then there is a real Ungit? “All, even Psyche, are born into the house of Ungit.”(page
301 in my book). What name would you use for Ungit?
15.
In Psyche’s journey to
get the beauty in the casket, how would you paraphrase the loves she overcomes?
