Cupid and Psyche and Beauty and the Beast are both well-known tales, but differ in important ways. Cupid and Psyche is set in ancient Greece and involves gods and goddesses from Greek mythology. Beauty and the Beast on the other hand takes place in an unspecified land and does not feature supernatural beings. Both stories feature the youngest and most beautiful of three daughters as the main character. There are also similarities in themes between the stories, such as innocence versus corruption and transformation from human to immortal. Folktales can be analyzed from historical, sociological, psychological, and structural perspectives to understand what they reveal about the cultures and times they came from.

1. MYTH/ LEGEND AND FOLKTALE DIFFERENCES

2. CUPID AND PSYCHE AND BEAUTY AND THE BEAST:
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MYTH AND FOLKTALE
Cupid and Psyche
 Greece, Mount
Olympus
 sacred
 In a specific time in the
past when there were
gods and goddesses
 Cupid (son of Venus)
 Psyche (Transformed
into an immortal
 Venus (Goddess of
Love
Beauty and the Beast
 In a land far away (no
specific place)
 Secular (no gods)
 Once upon a time
 Beast (enchanted)
 Human girl
 Fathers, sisters

3. SIMILARITIES
Cupid and Psyche
 Youngest and most
beautiful of three
daughters
Beauty and the Beast
 Youngest and most
beautiful of three
daughters
Others?
Others?

4. WAYS TO ANALYZE FOLKTALES
Themes and motifs
The recurring themes
and elements of
folktales
 Historical
Perspective: What
do the folktales tells
us about important
events in history?
(War, Famine,
medical care, legal
rights of peasants,
women)


Sociological
interpretations: What
do these tales tell us
about the class
system? About
gender roles? About
marriage and
courtship practices?
What do they tell us
about the values of
the cultures they are
from? What do they
tell us about the way

5. WAYS OF ANALYZING CONTINUED

Psychological
Interpretations: How
do the folktales
reflect the fears,
desires and needs of
children? Of adults?
What are the
symbolic
representations of
these drives?

Structural
interpretations: What
are the cross-cultural
similarities of
elements of folktales?
What are the
commonalities
between Cinderellas
across cultures?
Which are the
common elements
according to Vladimir
Propp?

6. THEMES AND MOTIF
Beauty and the Beast,
Urashima the Fisherman,
The Frog Princess,
Bluebeard, The Robber
Bridegroom




Youngest and most
beautiful daughter
Monster bridegrooms
Youth = innocence and
purity
Age = greed and
weakness and hostility

7. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: BEAUTY AND THE
BEAST

Six months: In the time before
cars and airplanes, trips to other
towns were often expected to last
for months with time for traveling,
visiting and conducting business at
the destination.

Give me one of your
daughters: In the days when many
marriages were arranged, the giving
of a daughter in marriage was
common. Women rarely had any
influence over the choice of their
husbands by their parents. Marriages
were often made for political or social
reasons, especially in higher society.
Dead mothers: Childbirth was
arduous and birth unavailable.
Women often died in childbirth.



Promised: Promises, while
important today, were more powerful
in the past when honor was a great
motivator. Also, before the time of
literacy among the masses and
written contracts, verbal promises
were given greater weight. A promise
was a contract and actionable by law
if broken.
Marina Warner interprets the tale as
the historical storyteller's way of
assuring young brides that arranged
marriages in which they must go live
with their husband's families can be
survived and even happy. The bride
must leave behind her old family and
embrace her husband as a loving
wife. Mutual affection and attachment
between the husband and wife will
lend itself to a happy marriage and
life for the young bride (Warner
1994).

8. SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS: BEAUTY AND
THE BEAST



Merchant: The daughter of a
merchant, Beauty is a member
of the middle class, not a
member of the nobility.
Servants: In past centuries, the
middle and upper class
households had servants, even
if only one. The lower class
usually worked as servants. The
family's inability to have even
one servant illustrates their total
poverty.
In the past, mirrors were
expensive and a luxury reserved
for the wealthy.



In the past, mirrors were
expensive and a luxury reserved
for the wealthy.
Women are expected to obey
fathers.
The youngest is the least
experienced and perhaps most
protected of the children in a
family. The youngest is also the
child least likely to receive a
financial inheritance in the days
when the eldest son received the
bulk of a father's estate. The
youngest would consequently find
it necessary to know how to fend
for themselves in the world by
marrying well or choosing a
career.

9. PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS: BEAUTY
AND THE BEAST



Forest: According to Jungian
psychology, the forest is a
representation of the feminine
principle and is identified with the
unconscious. The foliage blocks the
sun's rays, the sun being
associated with the male principle.
The forest symbolizes the
dangerous side of the unconscious,
its ability to destroy reason.
. Mirrors: A mirror has many
symbolic meanings of truth and
representation of a person's heart.
Garden: The garden is an
important element of the tale,
appearing in most versions. It
represents the magical field and
boundaries around the Beast's
castle, immune to the seasons and
growing impossible and beautiful
fruits and flowers.




A garden symbolizes the conscious,
the soul, nature subdued, feminine
fertility, happiness, Paradise,
salvation, purity, the world, and the
place of mystic ecstasy
Rose: Roses symbolize love,
completion, perfection, beauty,
female sex organs, and the heart
(Olderr 1986).
The rose is a common element in the
Beauty and the Beast tales. Beauty
usually requests a rose from her
father, hoping to ask for a gift he can
afford whatever his success in
reviving his business. Ironically,
Beauty's request for the rose will be
the most dangerous and costly gift
the father tries to produce.
Thomas Mintz views the rose as
"representing both the Beast's
masculinity and Beauty's femininity.

10. PSYCH INTERPRETATIONS CONT’D

A fairy represents the supranormal powers of the human
soul; latent possibilities; the
personification of stages in the
development of the spirit; and
the lesser spiritual moods of the
universal spirit

The jealous sisters: Beauty is
the youngest and best-beloved
of the sisters and is thus a target
of their enmity. They want to do
away with her and make her
lose anything they feel should
be theirs


Weak fathers: fathers may be
seen to be incapable of seeing
their daughters as objects of
sexual desire. In this case the
father may be seen as avoiding
the issue of marriage of his
daughter. She takes the choice
from him. He may see any suitor
a a sort of beast.
. Silence: One can imagine a
deafening silence, filled with the
suspense of searching for an
inhabitant, be it human or animal.
In a large castle that should be
bustling with life and activity to
keep it in good shape, the silence
would be terrifying. The silence
also foreshadows that the Beast
does not have all of the traits of a
beast, including noisiness.

11. GROUP WORK

Discuss themes and
possible psychological,
historical and
sociological
interpretations of
Bluebeard and the
Robber Bridegroom.

12. HOMEWORK
From Classic Fairy Tales
Read
 Propp’sMethod and Materials
pp. 382 – 387
 Little Red Riding Hood
pp.
11 – 12
 Little Red Cap pp. 13 – 15
 Goldflowerand the Bear
pp. 19 – 20
 Hansel and Gretel
pp. 273 – 280
 Hansel and Gretel
pp. 184 – 190
 Molly Whuppie
pp. 209 - 211