Much of the Queen’s power comes from her denial of her femininity, and thus the symbolic denial of her ability to feel emotion. In this situation, her ugliness works to her advantage, even though it also causes her pain for Bardia to think of her as a man. The Queen’s face becomes a frightening object of speculation just like the face of the god was to her. At the same time, people treat her more like Psyche; they are in awe of her possible beauty, and they think it might cause conflict with the gods.