The Golden Ass: Book 5 Summary & Analysis

Psyche falls asleep on the soft greenery of the valley. She wakes up refreshed and then walks around to find a mansion, which has such splendid architecture that it seems to have been built by a demigod. As she’s exploring the mansion, she suddenly hears a disembodied voice who tells her that the riches she sees are all for her. Psyche continues to explore before finally going to bed.

That night, Psyche hears a low sound in the darkness, and she fears for her virginity. Psyche’s unseen new husband climbs into bed, seems to have sex with her, then takes off again before dawn. The process continues for several nights, and Psyche begins to enjoy it. Meanwhile, her parents don’t know where she is and mourn her, believing she may be dead.

One night, Psyche’s husband (whom she can hear but not see) warns her that her sisters are coming to find her and that if Psyche hears their voices, she shouldn’t respond—otherwise, it will lead to sorrow. Psyche pleads to be allowed to see her sisters. Her husband allows it, but he warns that her sisters have a plot and will try to get Psyche to investigate his appearance, which will lead to no good. Psyche promises that nothing will ruin their marriage.

Psyche greets her mourning sisters and invites them back to her husband’s mansion. One of the sisters asks who the husband is, and Psyche lies that he’s a young man who’s out hunting in the fields. She sends the sisters back on the West Wind before they can ask more questions. As they leave, the sisters find they are jealous of Psyche.

The jealous sisters hatch a scheme to pretend that Psyche is still dead. They hide the lavish gifts Psyche gave them. Ultimately, their plan is to murder Psyche. Psyche’s husband warns her of the plot. He reveals to Psyche that she is about to have a child and that if she is silent and keeps her husband’s secrets, the child will be divine, but if she doesn’t, the child will be mortal.

Psyche is overjoyed to learn she’s pregnant. Time passes until Psyche’s husband warns her that danger is at hand and that she’ll have to resist being tempted by her wicked sisters. Psyche argues that she has proven her loyalty to her husband so far and that she should be allowed to at least see her sisters, and her husband finally agrees.

The sisters come to greet Psyche and pretend to be happy about her pregnancy. Psyche is fooled and greets them warmly. When they ask about her husband, Psyche forgets about her previous lie and says he’s an old merchant. One sister notices this lie and points it out to the other. The sisters head back, jealous because they’re convinced that their sister has married a god.

The sisters come to visit Psyche again. They pretend they’ve been crying. They tell her she’s married an atrocious beast and that her husband is only keeping her around to eventually eat her and her child. Psyche is terrified and admits that she’s never seen her husband’s face. The sisters help her devise a plan: she’ll hide a lamp and a sharp razor in her bedroom. When her husband’s asleep, she’ll light the lamp, then cut off his head.

Psyche is afraid but goes ahead with the plan. When she lights the lamp, however, she finds that her husband is not a snake-like beast as prophesied, but in fact the beautiful god Cupid. Psyche is unsure what to do, and the razor slips from her hands.

Psyche examines Cupid’s belongings and, in the process, accidentally pricks her finger on one of his arrows. This causes her to fall madly in love with Cupid, and she immediately rushes to kiss him. Cupid is splashed by hot oil from the lamp and wakes up. The lamp helps him realize that he has been betrayed.

Cupid explains to Psyche how he ignored his mother, Venus, when she commanded him to make Psyche fall in love with the most pathetic man alive. Instead, he took Psyche as his own wife. He says that as punishment, he will simply leave Psyche alone. He flies away while Psyche watches.

Psyche throws herself into a river in despair, but the river is afraid of Cupid’s retribution and tosses Psyche back out on a shore. There, she meets the he-goat peasant god Pan. Pan says he can tell that she is suffering from too much love but encourages her to stop mourning. He advises her to try to get on Cupid’s good side because he might take her back.

Psyche goes back to one of her sisters and tells her about how the sisters were wrong: her husband wasn’t a snake but in fact Cupid. She also lies and says that Cupid divorced her and said he wanted to marry one of the sisters. The sister immediately goes to the crag where Psyche met Cupid and throws herself over the edge, but the West Wind doesn’t catch her, and her body is torn to pieces on the crag. The other sister dies because of a similar trick.

Psyche travels widely in search of Cupid, who is in the bedroom of his mother, Venus, recovering from the wound the lamp inflicted on him. Meanwhile, Venus hears from a bird about nasty rumors going around about how she and Cupid have abandoned their duties. The bird tells Venus about Cupid’s relationship with Psyche. Venus goes back to her bedroom and finds Cupid there.

Venus scolds Cupid for disobeying her orders. She threatens to have another, better son in order to humiliate him. She talks about how Cupid has never respected her. She storms out but is greeted by Ceres and Juno. They ask her why she’s angry, and Venus describes what Psyche has done. But Ceres and Juno defend Cupid, saying that he’s still young. Venus doesn’t want to hear this argument and turns her back on them.