The Golden Ass
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In Apuleius’ tale of life among the Roman ruins before they were ruins, we are presented with a series of stitched together tales that affirm the importance of chastity, dedication and piety. However, we are not presented with typical tales of Rome common to the period. There is no omnipotent military machinery to coerce neighbors to the Roman way of life, no presence of tax collectors weighed down with gold, and no typical picture of elite Roman society presented here. There is a satirical view of Roman romance and society presented, however. False prophets abound, infidelity runs rampant and trickery, witchcraft and magic are alive and well. We come to understand this tongue-in-cheek perspective of Roman society through the perspective of an ass, literally. Lucius is the hero of our tale, and he is transformed into an ass after a whimsical desire made in haste to study magic. By accident he is turned into an ass instead of an owl, and through a succession of different owners, we are able to view Roman society with a fly-on-the-wall perspective so-to-speak, “…when I was an ass, hidden under the ass’s skin, I experienced all life’s variety and acquired much knowledge if little wisdom” (Apuleius 192). However, before Lucius is transformed back into a human, he must travel a long, challenging road to awareness that chastity, dedication, and piety are crucial moral aspects of human development.If one were to use The Golden Ass as their only so
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ily, cast aside with contempt all the charms and comforts of town-life…she…partook of all [her husband’s] perils, kept unceasing watch over his safety, and endured incessant hardships with the spirit of a man” (Apuleius 151).
However, even though Lucius believes that Plotina is rare among her sex in these qualities, he still contends that when he must disguise himself as the opposite sex (as Plotina has just done) he is pushing the down elevator button where character is concerned, “…thus blurred and disguised as one of the worser sex, I mounted on an ass carrying barley-sheaves and rode clear through the lines of the enemy” (Apuleius 152). Of course, Plotina is a parallel figure for Charite, a truly virtuous women revealed in the novel, one who is also dedicated to her husband and will have to disguise herself as a man to avenge her husband. However, Cherite must die as a martyr for her husband in order to stand as a temple of morality worthy of Lucius’ respect. While the behavior of Cherite is admirable, if this is the kind of fidelity expected by Apuleius in mere mortals, it is no wonder he found ancient Rome so lacking in virtuous women. His ideals of worthy womanhood are on such a high pedestal, it is no wonder many
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Approximate Word count = 1322
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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