Frank Baxter: Till We Have Faces 2 (entry 6)

Frank Baxter: Till We Have Faces 2 (entry 6)

In Till We Have Faces there is a strong theme along the lines of beauty. The main character is described as being ugly (though there is no actual description of her face.) At the vary beginning of the story there is an empathic moment when Orual describes her self becoming self aware to her own looks. It happened when the king of Glome was about to marry again and the new bride was coming. He says, “Do you think I want my queen frightened out of her senses? Veils of course. And good thick veils too.” With Orual stating from reflection, “One of the girls tittered, and I think that was the first time I clearly understood that I am ugly.”(pg. 11) This sad depiction of Orual is contrast to her first sister Redival, where people are fawning at having to cut of her curls. But Redival has a whoreish type of beauty (all the men want her for pleasure) when compared to Psyche who had the appropriate beauty at every age. Though it is interesting to note that her beauty was only noticeable to a person till after they had left.

The interesting of beauty in Till We Have Faces is that it leads to only trouble. Redival’s beauty causes a young guard to be castrated (and then a kingdom favorable to the guard retaliated), this cause her to be kept under watch the entire time. Psyche’s beauty is so great that she causes the goddess to be jealous of her and results in her sacrifice.

Furthermore,  once the outward appearance of ugliness in Orual is veiled, another aspect of her becomes beautiful. When Trunia of Phars comes sneaking into the kingdom and gets caught by Orual, he remarks “I’ll bet a girl with a voice like yours is beautiful.”  Having removed the sensation of her face, her voice is listened to by men and is seen beautiful (though deep). Furthermore, since she remains a virgin (because o her ugliness) she keeps her shape, so is seen as a beautiful Queen for the rest of her reign.

So it is interesting how in C.S. Lewis the physically beautiful are punished in life, but the ugly are rewarded, while the beautiful are rewarded in death (at least Psyche was) and the ugly are punished. This seems counter intuitive to modern society.