I thought it was brilliant how the story was told inside of another story. The transition from the story to the tale of Cupid and Psyche was so seamless, which just shows the talent of the writer. In Her Dream, the young captive's recounting of her dream provides the idea stage for the beginning of the story.
The tale of Cupid and Psyche was excellently told, with imagery being the strong point throughout. One setting that particularly stuck out to me was the description of the palace that Psyche is brought to after descending from the cliff in The Magical Palace. The writing paints a beautiful picture that entices the reader as much as Psyche and perfectly sets the scene for the future events in the story.
(Psyche in the Magical Palace, Source)
It frustrated me that Psyche did not heed her husband's warnings and broke her promises to him. Despite his warnings, in Fears and Doubts we learn that her sisters deceive her and mess with her head enough to forget everything her husband said. To me this made me doubt just how much she loved her husband. Here he was, providing for her and showing her all of the love he possibly could, yet she could not just trust him. I did really enjoy being immersed in her thoughts and fears, which is something that made the story personal and relatable.
Hi Tatyana! This is just a quick note to say that I am so glad you like the idea of story-within-a-story (sometimes called "frametale," like the way a picture frame goes around a picture). I really debate about whether to include that part in the reading unit, but since I absolutely love frametales, I decided to include it! If you are interested in frametales, take a look at Arabian Nights when that option comes up, and also Panchatantra. The frametale tradition is really strong in India, and the Panchatantra is one of the very oldest examples... and that, in turn, influenced the Arabian Nights and so many other literary works that use the frametale device. To me, it is like life: when you meet somebody, they all "contain" stories of their owns. So life is like this giant frametale that we all live inside, if you see what I mean. But luckily, we have not all been turned into donkeys, like poor Lucius in this novel! :-)
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