Retelling Of An Old Myth

C. S. Lewis was a famous English scholar of the20th century, he was also a great Christian writer, literary critic, and author of fantasy literature. He has an honorable reputation and important position in the history of British Christianity and Literature. In recent years, his influence has been growing rapidly worldwide because of his Chronicles of Narnia series. Till We Have Faces is C. S. Lewis’ last novel, and it is generally considered to be his best one as well. Till We Have Faces is a successful example of merging literature and religion into a unified whole, it also represents the highest level of the author’s literary achievement and religious assertion. The novel is an altered retelling of an ancient Roman myth, the story of Psyche and Cupid, though employing literary methods, such as adding new characters and changing the plot. Lewis converts the original myth into a Christian allegory which is full of religious insight.The love story between two main characters is the most important aspect of Psyche and Cupid. By showing the light and dark sides of humanity, represented by characters such as Psyche, Cupid, and Venus, the story glorifies those who admire humanism and glorifies the optimistic spirit of fighting with destiny, exemplified by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Till We Have Faces kept the outline of the old myth, but Lewis gave different characteristics and connotations to each character, thereby imbuing the novel with new theme.In Till We Have Faces, Psyche is a Christ-like person, willing to devote herself to the God. She is a symbol of the novel’s theme of redemption. Cupid is called the God of the Grey Mountain in the novel, he is a metaphor for the Christian god. The, very jealous, Goddess Venus is replaced by a primordial Goddess Ungit who is full of mysticism, she is also a symbol of heathen Gods, at least as seen through Christian eyes.In order to reveal the theme better, Lewis added a series of new characters, for example Orual, Fox, and Bardia. Orual is Psyche’s elder sister; she is also the main character and the narrator of the novel. The whole novel is presented as Orual’s memoirs. Orual hides from her true self, insulating her real personality behind layers of self-deception; she spends her whole life doubting God, opposing God, and accusing God. In order to fight against God, she even covered her face with a veil all the time; she lived in a world that was a creation of her own mind. Orual did not take off her veil until very late in the novel, at that point she finally returned to her true self and faced her real life bravely. She admitted the existence of God, released herself from self-imposed suffering, and was accepted by God again too. Through Orual’s experience, Lewis meant to tell readers:facing the truth and your real ego is the premise and foundation of walking into the God; on the other hand, only by admitting the existence of God can people realize their, whole and entire, real personality, and become truly themselves.Fox is another new character in Till We Have Faces, and he represents rationalists. Fox admired reasoning and logic when he was alive, and he disbelieved in the existence of any supernatural power, including God. After his death, his soul converted to God, and confessed his previous crankiness and conceit. Through the character Fox, Lewis showed his thoughts about the relationship between rationalism and Christianity:reasoning covers modern people’s eyes; they cannot see the existence of God.Besides, Till We Have Faces is full of all kinds of love. C. S. Lewis’s discussed his views on love in another book, The Four Loves. In Till we have Faces Orual is surrounded by love. This love can be divided into:the affection between her and Psyche, the friendship she has with Fox, and the. eros she and Bardia feel between each other. Even though all these kinds of love are charming, hey all have a shortcoming too, they carry the risk of becoming depraved. Only when charity, the love of the God, is involved, can these mortal loves be right and safe. Redemption, conversion, and love are the three themes of the novel, they are also the three legs which support the novel. The sparks of Lewis’ religious theory are shining between the lines. Till We Have Faces changed the basis of the marriage between Psyche and Cupid from physical desire to Spiritual yearning, this is also a new characteristic of Christianity compared to the classical culture of Greece and Rome, the "natural human being" became "spiritual human being". Lewis also used Ungit and the God of Grey Mountain as a metaphor for the developmental process of religion, from original (pagan) religion to Christianity.Lewis displayed the most central of Christian doctrines in many ways in Till We Have Faces, and through his arrangement of characters and plots, eventually revealed the most important theme of the book:know yourself, embrace God, and know charity-the love of God-in return.