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Abstract

"In Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis draws from the mythic imagery of Cupid and Psyche to offer a potent meditation on the symbolism of gender. Through the recurring imagery of mountain, temple, and womb, Lewis reinterprets classical archetypes within a Christian imagination to reveal gender not as a social construct or biological accident but as a spiritual polarity woven into the fabric of creation. In this symbolic cosmos, mas- culinity and femininity signify the dynamic interplay of divine initiative and creaturely receptivity—the eternal rhythm of giving and receiving that structures both nature and grace. Read in this light, Lewis’s last novel can be understood as an artistically refined restatement of the sacramental view of gender which he developed in the Ransom Trilogy and sustained throughout his life. In both the Ransom Trilogy and Till We Have Faces, Lewis affirms the goodness of both holy masculinity and holy femininity. For him, the sword dividing good and evil does not fall between the sexes but rather divides each created thing from its own original goodness. Thus, the central conflict that emerges in Till We Have Faces is not ultimately between male and female but rather between the devouring feminine and the sacred feminine, between Lilith and Mary, between the body that takes and the body that gives.   Based on this symbolic reading, the following essay will first situate Lewis’s view of gender within his broader sacramental theology before turning to examine its mythological antecedence in Ancient Near Eastern temple symbolism. I will then consider how Till We Have Faces composes these symbols into a narrative form, reimagining the cosmic drama of gender through the contrasting images of Psyche’s mountain and Ungit’s house. In tracing this movement from theology to myth to modern fiction, this essay aims to show that Lewis’s last novel reaffirms his lifelong conviction that gender is part of the language through which creation reflects divine love."

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