In Defense of Psyche

The tale of Eros and Psyche is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, Greek myths. I like that it’s a romance that ends happily (a rarity in Greek mythology), I like that the two leads actually get to know each other and live with each other before falling in love (instead of falling in love at first sight), and I like that the heroine plays such a big role in the story. It is Psyche who goes on a journey, it’s Psyche who has to complete a series of tasks in order to prove herself, and it’s Psyche who triumphs in the end.

But, of course, Psyche is a female character and as many of us know, female characters are often subject to more scrutiny and criticism than male characters. So, of course, it wasn’t hard for me to find several naysayers on the Internet who claimed that Psyche did nothing, who say that her helpers did all the work, and say that she didn’t deserve to have a happy ending because of this.

( Here we venture into the realm of double standards... )