Mikaela Martinez Dettinger: Rituals of Ungit and Myth Became Fact

 In Myth Became Fact C.S. Lewis's friend argues that no one is a true Christian. One of the examples used for this argument is that in Christianity, like a monarchy, "the forms of kingship have been retained, but the reality has been abandoned." This brings up a relation to the universe of Till We Have Faces in which the literal kingship in the story is also a myth, but in a different way. While the King and eventually Orual have rule over the people it is truly the priest of Ungit and the gods who have supreme power. In some ways, even the people hold more power than the monarch does. This is seen when the people begin calling Psyche the cursed on which eventually spirals into a nonsensical sacrifice of both the best and the worst to the gods. This relates to C.S. Lewis' point that the barbaric nature of religion is not fully cut off by those who may even think against it. With this statement Lewis is proposing the question of why people hold on to the rituals of Christianity. This same question is posed by Orual when they move to sacrifice Psyche. Even the King was hesitant to sacrifice Psyche and questioned its necessity. It is Orual who attempts to make the final cut and sever the power of the gods when she formulates her complaint, but still she reigns as monarch which must have the gods' approval for the people to accept them. 

Lewis' Till We Have Faces, with the context of Myth Became Fact, can be read as a reflection on how rituals can be a source of myth. Take again when the Priest of Ungit moved to sacrifice Psyche. There was no strong reason he provided. He labeled her as both the best and the worst and said both justified being sacrificed. This is a myth told to appease the people and make them believe that their circumstances will get better. The truth revealed by these rituals is that circumstances are out of our hands to control sometimes and that all we can do is something, anything, to make it better. While this is not advocacy for human sacrifice, Psyche's sacrifice appeased the people from their fear because it revealed to them the truth that something could be done. 

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