A painting of Psyche and her adoring crowd, created by Luca Giordano (Wikimedia Commons)
The first thing I noticed about the writing style of Apuleius's "Cupid and Psyche" is the intense level of foreshadowing. From the outset of the story, we know the eventual outcome. This is reiterated several times throughout the story both by the characters and the narration.
Another writing technique that I noticed was the constant ascription of value judgments to characters and elements of the world. Psyche's sisters are hardly mentioned without also a mention of their wickedness. We are likewise reminded constantly of Cupid's charm or to the opulence of his house. The world is rendered rich with moral and aesthetic determinations of the narrator.
As noted in the header for one section, the plot follows the archetypal "forbidden fruit" pattern in which a clear rule is established only to be inevitably broken. Here, it's unclear if there's an underlying moral message, other than to be faithful to one's spouse (especially if they're a god).
Bibliography. "Cupid and Psyche" from The Golden Ass, written by Apuleius and translated by Tony Kline. Web Link.
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