David Thornton - Pysche and Sehnsucht

“Do you remember? The colour and the smell, and looking at the Grey Mountain in the distance? And because it was so beautiful, it set me longing, always longing.” (Lewis 74) Pysche had always dreamed and imagined a life beyond her own. She had dreamed of having a palace and a lover. This longing represents the idea of “Sehnsucht.” Sehnsucht is the german noun for longing, which in a wider sense connotes “intensely missing.” Lewis’ use of Sehnsucht in Till We Have Faces can be seen as the “inconsolable longing” that Pysche has of life with the god of the Grey Mountain. Not until Pysche is sacrificed does that dream and inconsolable longing become a reality. Her longing is that of a far off country, but not of earthly land. For Pysche longs to be on the Grey Mountain or with its god in his palace, which is not natural but supernatural. Psyche eventually writes, “The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing – to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from.” (Lewis 75) Sehnsucht is unique because people are not necessarily conscious of what it means or represents. Rather, it becomes a serious reality for Pysche as she is left on the Grey Mountain for Ungit. Also, it must be understood that Orual also seemed to have this longing, but it was caught up in her rational conception of life. Therefore, Orual didn’t allow that inconsolable longing to be something that could take her and lead her in life, rather she suppressed it and chose to live autonomously as queen of Glome.