This article sets out to analyse the ambivalent relationships between douceur (sweetness or gentleness) and violence in La Fontaine’s works, focusing specifically on Les Amours de Psyché et de Cupidon : promised to a “monster” by an oracle, Psyche is in fact married without her knowledge to Cupid, who surreptitiously submits her to his desire. Analysing the sweet violence of love, I also explore the sweet violence of the novel, leading readers to confront truths that are frowned upon under rules of propriety, which the novelist feigns to uphold.