Throughout Apuleius' novel, there have been many instances of fear. For example, in Chapter two, of lines 33-35, Psyche is awaiting her fate with an monster and she is "paventem and trepidam." This shows fear because she is trembling and scared by what could possibly happen to her on the cliff. She is worried about what the Oracle said because her fate did not look too promising. Also, in chapter 3 lines 23-24, Psyche is fearing her own virginity. She is afraid that she could be hurt by the "serpent" that will come into her bed at night. It is ironic how she fears for her life and Zephyrus leads her to a beautiful palace and then she fears for her virginity, only to be married to the god of love himself.
In chapter 5, Zephyrus, on page 117 in the packet handed out, is fearful about bringing the sisters to see Psyche. He reluctantly received the sisters and this shows fear being this wind knows what the sisters are up to and how jealous they are of their younger sister. In chapter 7, lines 12-13, the sisters are describing the fact that she could be buried in the guts of the savage beast! That should create a fearful tone in the story because no one would want that to happen to them! In Chap 7, line 16, this is an excellent example of Psyche showing fear because the word, "formidine," is used since she is so scared with fear of so many sad words that her sisters tell her. Near the end of the chapter,in line 33, the sisters fearing that something bad would happen, they flee from the scene after they told Psyche to kill her husband. The word used is "metuentes" and they are fearing that they might get in trouble so they leave as soon as they can.
In chapter 8, there are signs of indirect fear. For example, Psyche in line 9-10 she said that the sword fell from her rash hand. That shows that she was trembling in fear by what she was about to do, which was kill her own husband. Also in line 8 she was, "perterrita" or frightened by his appearance so much. Therefore, there are many examples of fear in Cupid and Psyche.
Based on how Apulieus uses fear...I feel that the opposite of fear is love. This could be true because she fears her life in the beginning and the loving wind carried her to a safe place. She fears her husband and he is the god of love. The wind fears the sisters will affect Psyche and she is taken back by his beauty and love that she doesn't follow through. And she fears the words of her sisters and ends up not killing herself or her husband. So, I think Apulieus is trying to have desire/love as the opposite of fear in the story and how love conquers fear.
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