Cupid Returns: An Analysis of Cupid’s Metamorphosis in Apuleius’ ‘Cupid and Psyche’

In this paper I focus on Apuleius’ presentation of Cupid, arguing that Cupid rejects his traditional role and transforms into a more benevolent deity. I first analyze the way that his divine peers describe him in traditional terms: a mischievous figure who manipulates others and scorns marital fidelity. A close reading of the text shows that his actions in this story actually convey the opposite. These descriptions in fact better suit Apuleius’ Venus. I then examine Cupid’s “return to the wine jar” (6.22.1), a phrase that indicates a return to vice. Cupid’s vice, as we learn from the traditional descriptions, is his manipulation of others. At the end of the tale, Cupid returns to this vice but in the service of a new goal: marriage to Psyche. I argue that Cupid’s return marks the culmination of his transformation and that Apuleius presents Cupid as the personification of Unconditional Love.Master of Art