Till We Have Faces - literary analysis

C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces, possibly his most mature work, portrays its heroes more humanly than the typical god-like characters found in similar stories. The story is set in the imaginary country of Glome, on the outskirts of the Hellenistic world and Greek culture, about 200 years before the birth of Christ. Orual, the eldest daughter of the King of Glome records her life story in Faces.

After his wife's death, The King of Glome wants a male heir and quickly remarries. But his new wife dies during the birth of a baby girl, Psyche. This child is unbelievably beautiful. The ugly Orual, the King's daughter from his first marriage, loves the beautiful Psyche and devotedly acts as her mother. The people of Glome come to worship Psyche for her beauty and healing touch—instead of worshiping the local goddess of nature, Ungit.

After a horrible plague, drought and famine, the Priest of Ungit tells the King that relief will only come if Psyche is sacrificed to Ungit's son, the “Brute.” The King complies and sacrifices his daughter. Orual goes to bury Psyche's bones and finds Psyche alive and clothed in rags. Psyche invites Orual to her palace—invisible to Orual—and speaks of a husband she has never seen. Orual convinces Psyche to take a lamp in at night and look at her husband, the “Brute.”

Psyche looks on her husband and is sent into exile. From this point on Orual starts wearing a veil to hide her face and feelings from others. The King dies and Orual becomes Queen of Glome – becoming more like a man and less like a woman.

Till We Have Faces is a story quite unlike many others of its kind, and shows its “heroes” with less god-like qualities and more human traits. Orual's father continually threatens his servants and overall, Orual herself. Yet he is not the “villain”. Often times the person with the loathsome mannerism is the one whom everyone is supposed to hate. But aspects of this alleged “villain” are contained in every character in Faces.

Perhaps the main point C.S. Lewis was trying to get across was that even through all of humanities good traits, no person is perfect. The truth is evident – humans are predominantly sinful beings, with more wrongs than rights. Faces gives clear examples of this fact while creating tension in the mind of the reader by showing unclouded sides of the character.

Psyche, however, was a fascinating character, with more god-like traits then anyone else. Yet among all these people with their mistakes and dark sides, she often felt pathetic and small. In the time of drought and famine, Psyche did not become more alert or focus on problems, but seemed to be drawn to less important things. She conformed to other's opinions to often and almost fed off the praise she received from others. Even when being taken to her alleged death, she was happy to “die in such a noble way.” I, as even Orual, do not understand fully Psyche's character, and perhaps that was Lewis' intention – not everyone always understands others.

In the final chapters of Faces, Orual, close to death, sets off to find any trace of her long-lost step-sister Psyche. After months of search Orual, along with an escort stumble on a shrine to a goddess of extraordinary beauty. The resident keeper of the shrine tells them a story of this goddess who grew up in a royal family, and who was set to marry a god himself. He goes on to tell of her jealous sisters and how their selfishness and overall cruelty led the princess to a life of paying off her debt to Ungit, the god's mother. Orual there realizes that it was her ignorance that led to Psyche's exile. This raises many questions as well. Would I make excuses to myself for the rest of my life that I didn't do anything wrong? Would I allow my guilt to take over me and would I give up living? Or would I understand my mistakes and live on?

Till We Have Faces is definitely a book that focuses on character development. Lewis has done an outstanding job at having contrast in his characters, while still keeping his characters at a human level, unlike so many often unrealistic literary heroes of today.