Till We Have Faces (Part 1)

In preparation for my upcoming discussion with David Bates of Pints with Jack, I have been listening to a number of the Pints with Jack podcast episodes. Specifically, I have recently concluded their careful reading of “Till We Have Faces,” certainly one of the most difficult and intricate works in Lewis’ oeuvre. Besides a chapter-by-chapter analysis of Till We Have Faces (TWHF), the podcast features a couple of episodes with Andrew Lazo who provides insightful analysis to the book as a whole.

Though I have only read TWHF a few times (which is clearly not enough) I would like to write down some thoughts, all subject to future scrutiny.

TWHF has been highly praised by the likes of Andrew Lazo, Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, not to mention Lewis himself. Nevertheless, there is a lot about this book that bothered me. Two issues stand out. First, there is too much paganism in this tale for my taste. Lewis himself believed that paganism was the pathway to the true religion (Christianity in Lewis’ opinion), but I have my doubts. Nonetheless, the transition from paganism to Christianity by "making the gods beautiful" is certainly a major theme of TWHF, so we’ll have to go work with this assumption.

Second, I think Lewis is too hard on his main character, Queen Orual of Glome. Yes, she made some grave mistakes, ruined a few lives, and did her best to hide her true nature. Still, at the end of the day she truly was, “the most wise, just, valiant, fortunate and merciful of all the princes known in our parts of the world.” Perhaps more importantly, she was central in the quest to "make the gods beautiful" as we will see below. Thus, I humbly suggest, even before her deathbed repentance, Orual is much more of a positive character than a negative one.

For the next handful of posts on TWHF I will assume the reader is more or less familiar with the plot. If you're not, you can find summaries in all the usual places. Either way, our focus will be on Lewis' goal of writing TWHF as a retelling of the myth of Psyche and Cupid. I'll start in this post by trying to formulate my thoughts on why Lewis wanted to rewrite the story of Psyche and Cupid.  What spiritual insight could a Christian man like Lewis gain from this ancient myth? 

The overriding theme of TWHF is that of Love. In many ways, TWHF is straightforwardly the fairytale analogue of Lewis’ “The Four Loves.” The central character, Orual, Queen of Glome, interrupts and generally corrupts, each of the loves described in the latter work. She completely disrupts the Eros love between Psyche and the god of the West Wind. She is completely overbearing in her Friendship loves with Bardia and the Fox, and she is overpoweringly possessive in her affection for her half-sister Psyche. In fact, pointing to where and how Orual turns love into a demon or otherwise attempts to get in love’s way is relatively simple.

The harder part of TWHF is to figure out what else is going on. To do so, let's quickly review the myth of Cupid and Psyche. In the myth, the human Psyche betrays the trust of her husband, the god Cupid, and is left wretched and miserable. After much wandering and misery, she falls into the hands of Venus, who is jealous of Psyche's beauty. Psyche is given a series of almost impossible tasks ending with the task to bring to Venus (the goddess of love) the beauty of the Queen of the Dead. 

We expect TWHF to tell the same story yet modified in a way that has meaning for the religious persona. How can Lewis accomplish this goal? 

Clearly in only one way. Psyche’s tasks to bring beauty to the pagan goddess must result in transforming pagan gods and pagan worship into Christian trinitarianism and Christian worship. This makes sense for Lewis was a pretty big fan of paganism and viewed Christianity as a means of curing its ills. Thus, in Lewis' myth, the success of Psyche will result in Christianity growing out of paganism. Furthermore, the attainment of the true religion will redeem paganism, retroactively casting paganism not as a dark folly of man, but as a step towards Christianity. 

Why can paganism give birth to the true religion? Because (1) pagan belief proffers a morality that differentiates right from wrong, and (2) paganism decrees that deeds matter. While perhaps ugly when still in their pagan chaff, these are seeds that can grow into the true religion. Proof that this is the primary goal of TWHF, and that the true religion redeems paganism, is practically explicit in TWHF. The following observation is put in the mouth of the (dead) Fox, “The Divine Nature can change the past. Nothing is yet in its true form.”

With this in mind, we can outline of what we expect from TWHF. We should start in a pagan world, the characters in the story worship pagan gods. The worship is, even perhaps to them, horrifying and revolting. However, the characters and their worship can be redeemed, they can be made beautiful despite their present ugliness. The question is how and by whom? 

The plot of the story should then follow the myth: there must be romance between a pagan god and the beautiful human, Psyche. Psyche should betray the god due to the persuasion of a sister. Psyche should then be punished by the gods with the tasks of making the gods beautiful, meaning, setting the stage for Christianity.

There is, however, a problem inherent in this retelling. In the original myth Psyche’s punishment is her redemption and aims to make Venus, who is jealous of Psyche's beauty, beautiful. But there is no real gain to anyone else. In Lewis’ retelling of the myth quite a bit more is at stake. Should Psyche succeed in making the gods beautiful the true religion can be actualized. This will change the future for all of humanity forever, and also beautify the past. However, this opportunity arises only if Psyche betrays the god. Had she not, perhaps she simply would have remained the rest of her life as the wife of the god the true religion would not have been born.

This ultimate purpose justifies Psyche’s disloyalty and the actions of those who convince her to perpetrate her unfaithfulness. Is this possible? Could Psyche's reliance on Orual to doubt her husband truly have been the appropriate response?  Let’s consider this as we go on.