I know that C.S. Lewis is best known for his Christian and allegorical novels such as Narnia, the Space Trilogy and the Screwtape Letters, all of which hold stunning merit based on faith. But Till We Have Faces doesn't live up to a Christian reputation. In fact, the subject of religion is not expressed throughout this tale as much as faith is expressed.
The story of Cupid and Psyche is as follows: A king has to sacrifice his youngest and most beautiful daughter to a hideous monster so Aphrodite can bless his lands (Aphrodite is envious of young Psyche and her beauty and good nature). When she does, she sends her son Cupid to make her fall in love with the first ugly monster that she sees but falls in love with Psyche instead and rescues her from sacrifice, marrying her and giving her happiness under one rule: she should never see his face. When her two sisters come to visit, they see the life that Psyche is blessed with and are instantly jealous of her. For revenge, they devise a plot to end said happiness by telling their gullible sister that she needs to know who she is really married to, convincing her that she married the monster that she was going to be sacrificed to. When Psyche goes with a candle to her husband's room and sees Cupid, she is shocked to see that she is actually married to a God and feels ashamed for breaking her husbands trust. Cupid wakes up and sees what Psyche has done and leaves her heartbroken. Determined to get Cupid back she goes to Aphrodite, asking for help and Aphrodite sets her out to four tasks, each one more incredulous than the rest. Upon the final task, Psyche finishes and Cupid reunites with her, asking the Gods to make her immortal, pleasing Aphrodite and they live happily ever after. For once, it is a happy ending to a mortal.
In the novel by C.S. Lewis, they events are similar, in which there is a Psyche, and two older sisters. The way that it is presented however, is entirely different. Told from the sister's perspective, you see the way that some people are possessive and determined to bring a person back even if it means their happiness is less important than yours. Upon realizing the demand that Psyche's sister is asking of her, Psyche still disobeys her husband and still is left destitute. Psyche's sister Oruole as she is called (Maia by Psyche) is torn apart from her sister on something that she did.
As time passes, Oruole goes on with her life, trying to forget about her sister and the injustice that she feels that the Gods put on her. It is a blindsided perspective that Oruole has been seeing all these years and stays in that denial until her final revelations that she encounters in the second book.
Her revelations are that just because someone cannot see something does not mean that it isn't there. And trying to keep someone, even though they were never yours to begin with shouldn't mean that you want to destroy their happiness either.
The other revelation that she comes to terms with was that she was just as demanding as the Gods that she has forsaken for all these years, but Psyche, being determined to her faith in her husband, persevered. It was a beautiful retelling of being strong and dedicated to faith, never questioning what you have and what you believe above all else to be true. And to not be the ones to disuade what you believe in versus what others believe in. Keep with your faith and let others practice theirs.
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