Comparison Essay Sample: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and the myth of Cupid Psyche

The story of Jane Eyre is about an orphaned girl, Jane, who is faced with many life hurdles since the day her parents passed on. She was raised by her mean, strict and cruel wealthy aunt. She got a chance to have an education through lots hardships, which opened a door and granted her an opportunity to venture into the outside world. From there she met with people who made her see life in a different angle. On the other hand, Cupid and Psyche is a story that rotates about the life of a beautiful princess, Psyche (Pelius, Cupid and Psyche). Her beyond explanation beauty made her very famous and a victim of envy by the goddess of beauty, Venus. She underwent a lot of emotional torture from Venus which made her forego her happiness for the sake of destiny. The two stories have a lot in common.

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The two main characters in the two stories are girls who underwent a lot of hurdles in their life. Despite princess Psyche being from a royal family, she underwent a lot of challenges which affected her mentally and emotionally. The goddess of beauty, Venus, cast a spell on Psyche, which brought her bad luck on matters about love. Despite her being beautiful, no man asked for her hand in marriage, but rather to marry a monster whom she could not resist. This brought her a lot of grief. Same case with Psyche, young Jane was mistreated by her strict aunt and her cousin John who physically abused her (Bronte 10). The headmaster at the institution where Jane received her education was strict and cruel too.

The two stories have highlighted the theme of jealousy. Princess psyches elder sisters were jealous of her magnificent life as well as her loving husband and they each wanted him for themselves especially after they heard of his charm and the way he treated their younger sister. Venus, the goddess of beauty was also jealous of Psyches beauty. Similarly, Jane becomes jealous of wealthy Blanche Ingram who received a lot of attention from the man she had helplessly fallen in love with, making her low in spirit. Jane saw that she was losing the man she loved to another woman and for that reason she had to have to pull off from Mr. Rochester whom she had loved.

The story of Jane Eyre and that of the myth of Cupid and Psyche both have happy endings. Jane had left the man she had fallen in love with because a mad woman called Bertha Mason came claiming that Mr. Rochester was her husband which he admitted, and thus Jane could not stand being a mistress. Later on, she felt that she could not live without passion and true love she found in Mr. Rochester and thus went back where they would not part ways ever again. Cupid on the other hand helps Psyche complete the task his mother Venus had assigned her with the aim of torturing her. They became united, got married and bore a baby girl whom they named Pleasure.

The main ideas behind these two stories of Cupid and Psyche and that of Jane Eyre are similar in a way and have a lot to compare. Different themes of love, jealousy, hardships, perseverance and happy endings are a highlight. They indicate that nothing good comes with ease and that one has to struggle like portrayed by Jane and Psyche in the both stories, be determined and focused so as to attain their goals.

Work Cited

Apuleius, Lucius. "Cupid and Psyche." Pitt.edu. N.P., 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

Brontee, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications, 2002. Print.