Cupid, the boy god who makes people fall in love by shooting them with his golden arrows, is often portrayed as being either blind or blindfolded because the targets of his arrows seem selected at random. This notion gave rise to our expression "love is blind."
Cupid sometimes appears blindfolded in art. His blindfold is essentially saying that love is blind. This can have either a positive or negative meaning depending on how you look at it. In one interpretation his blindfold implies that a person's appearance doesn't matter when two people are in love.
When you are in the midst of deep love, when the world is filled with rainbows and butterflies, everything your partner does is right. This is where the term “love is blind” comes from. You are so “blinded” by love that you cannot see any of your lover's flaws.
Cupid was a god, and, as beautiful as he was, he did not want his mortal wife to see his form. Psyche's sister didn't know he was a god, although they may have suspected it. However, they did know that Psyche's life was much happier than theirs.
Love plays with people's hearts like a boy plays with his toys, without thinking of the consequences. Cupid's blindfold is also variously interpreted as positive or negative. For some, “love is blind” means that appearances don't matter in true love.
Because if Psyche saw his face she would know that he was a God and that would mean that they couldn't be together.
In fact, the work depicts Venus blindfolding Cupid, the little god of love, and two nymphs who bring Cupid's bow and arrows. The painting evokes Cupid's blind power as his mother, the cosmic divinity, blindfolds him.
From that moment on, Eros and Psyche lived happily together in their lovely palace, which was always full of roses and other flowers. Psyche persuaded Eros to forgive his mother for what she had made her suffer. As a wedding gift, Zeus made Psyche immortal and allowed her to taste ambrosia, the drink of the Gods.
They named him Cupid, a synonym for Eros that also translates to “desire.” (His mother was likewise Venus, the Roman version of the Greek Aphrodite.) For the Romans, the character of Cupid was always a cherubic little boy who followed his mother's wishes to make people fall in love. Venus and Cupid, circa 18th century.
Each night when he comes to her in bed, she's supposed to entertain him and then go to sleep without ever getting a peek at her lover. Psyche's jealous sisters eventually convince her that she's got to get a look at the dude she's sleeping with, and so Psyche breaks her word to Cupid. On one level, this is betrayal.
Reduced activity in the frontal cortex reduces negative emotions and judgements. This explains why initially people may be blind to faults in the person they are in love with.
The official answer is no, according to series creator series creator Chris Coelen. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said the show is so real they were even worried no one would get engaged during season one.
Cupid breaks into Psyche's house one night and fully intends to do just this for his mother, but he becomes so smitten with Psyche that he accidentally pricks himself with his own poisoned arrow while watching her sleep.
Perhaps Cupid is usually seen as a baby because babies represent the combination of two people in love. In Greek mythology, his mother is Aphrodite. Cupid is the equivalent to the gods Amor and Eros, depending on which myths are told. He is represented by the symbol of two hearts with an arrow piercing through them.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.470-74. Cupid = Eros = Kama.
In another allegory, Cupid's mother, Venus (Aphrodite), became so jealous of the beautiful mortal Psyche that she told her son to induce Psyche to fall in love with a monster. Instead, Cupid became so enamored with Psyche that he married her—with the condition that she could never see his face.
At the worst he was considered mischievous in his matchmaking, this mischief often directed by his mother, Venus. In one tale, her machinations backfired when she used Cupid in revenge on the mortal Psyche, only to have Cupid fall in love and succeed in making Psyche his immortal wife.
In Roman mythology, Voluptas or Volupta is the daughter born from the union of Cupid and Psyche, according to Apuleius. The Latin word voluptas means 'pleasure' or 'delight'; Voluptas is known as the goddess of "sensual pleasures". She is often found in the company of the Gratiae, or Three Graces.
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the most beautiful and sad in Greek mythology. In the story, Orpheus, the greatest poet, and musician in history tries to reclaim his wife, Eurydice, who has passed away. To save his loved one, Orpheus will travel to the underworld and back.
Psyche Betrays Eros
Scorched and in pain, Eros awoke. Above him, he saw Psyche wielding a razor and fire, so he fled. Psyche catches onto Eros as he begins to fly, apologizing for her mistrust, but he rejects. For her betrayal, Eros vows that she will never see him again.
However, when Eros laid eyes on Psyche, he was so completely mesmerized by her beauty that he forgot to carry out his mother's orders. In fact, he fell in love with Psyche himself.
Historians see Cupid wings as symbolic. And they're not unique to Cupid. Eros, too, is depicted as a winged creature in Greek mythology. “It was probably ideas about love being fleeting or capricious that are behind the representation of Eros with wings, which [goes] back to ancient times,” says Connors.
The Neglected Psyche
The real Venus was angered by the neglect of her altars and the attention given to this mere mortal. She summoned her son, Cupid, and bid him punish this upstart. As a result, when suitors came to seek the hands of the young girls, none came for Psyche.
Born of sex and war. The Romans' Cupid was the equivalent of the Greek god Eros, the origin of the word “erotic.” In ancient Greece, Eros is often seen as the son of Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, as well as sex and desire.