The Golden Ass By Apuleius: An Analysis

Like prostitutes, the women in “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess” also violate traditional gender roles. For that reason, the men take it upon themselves to bring the power relation back to that of convention, where men are bearers of power and have control in relationships. The means by which this power reversion is accomplished, however, are subject to examination.

a story that reflects the subordination of woman in marriage. By the time of the early

Our modern world is parallel in some points to the world of Theseus and Hippolyta – the rules of behavior for man and woman, “But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off; in human modesty, Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid ”. Female tolerance can be noticed in the next lines, “Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it, Though I alone do feel the injury”. Classical ideals are still appreciated even in the contemporary world.

Throughout this course, we have explored both ancient and contemporary worldviews that have helped us answer the question: “What is the Self”? Apuleius had a very different approach to formulate an answer to this question then did other contemporary authors which will both be discussed in length.

His lust contradicts the divine will, where sex is only functioned as the tool of procreation (Confessions, Book II, Chap. 2). Even after Augustine arrives at Carthage, where he is supposed to study, he is surrounded by a hissing cauldron of lust (Confessions, Book III, 1). The increased level of devotion to sex and more undisguised ways Augustine utilizes to express his horny minds indicate his developing enthusiasm in lust. He says, “to love and to have my love returned was my heart’s desire, and it would be all sweeter if I could also enjoy the body of the one who loved me” (Confessions, Book III, 1). Not as later when he realizes that truth of God and knowledge of wisdom are more important, he still adores the shallow fleshy satisfaction. At the early stage of his life, Augustine uses sex to satisfy his personal demand and commits this sinful act against God. He prioritizes his personal satisfaction beyond his pursuit of God. Similarly, Aeneas arrives at Carthage and is trapped in the love of Queen Dido. He falls into the abyss of love and lust, where he commits illicit sex with Dido in the cave (Aeneid, Book IV, 219). He experiences transient diversion from his purpose to build his lineage in Rome. His people build city walls for Carthage instead for

The authors writes many different kinds literatures, some literatures are about exploring the world for unknown things, and some literatures are about showing some people’s mind. But the essence of these different kinds literatures are the same that it is people’s desire to learn and know the world. In Apuleius’ The Golden Ass, Lucius shows very interesting after he hears the story about the magic from these two travelers, “Already on tenterhooks, then, as I said, in my hopes and my enthusiasms all at once, I went about sticking my nose into everything I saw, detail by detail.”(The Golden Ass 2:1), and his desire for the unknown power, the magic, push him to get the feeling trip of the magic in his further life in the book. So Lucius’ story is the exploring the world for unknown things. In The Answer/ La Respuesta: Including Sor Filotea’s Letter and New Selected Poems (English and Spanish Edition.), this book is about Sor Juana’s mind, she is very lovely to learn knowledge and she hits back at her church in the literature of disapproval, she embodies the ideological fight for women’s liberation, the requirements of gender equality. Although both The Answer/ La Respuesta: Including Sor Filotea’s Letter and New Selected Poems (English and Spanish Edition.) and The Golden Ass, both of the authors use desire to be the base for their literatures to push the stories developing, especially at the points those can decide the story could be long or short. At the beginning of Apuleius’s The Golden Ass, when Lucius turns in ass, he has many choices to eat fresh flower to help him turn back in the human, but Lucius’s desire for unknown magic stops himself and to watch what can happen in the further. In Sor Juana’s literature, she has the choice to stay in palace and keep far away from the church that against her mind because at 17th century people don’t like women learning knowledge. So both of the two literatures, The Answer/ La

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

While Agamemnon believes that Clytemnestra has sinned by having a sexual relationship with another man, he evidently does not view his own adultery as a negative action. The stark contrast between how Agamemnon views his own adultery of that of his wife exposes the complicated nature of adultery and sexual relations in The Odyssey and Stanton echoes a similar stance in her document. Stanton details how “the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of behavior that is required of women in the social state, should also be required of man, and the same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on both man and woman” (36). Stanton’s desire to add a

Thorough examination of the character's perspective, themes of insecurity, and the authors implicated message from text to reality reveals that "They're not my husband" by Raymond Carver is bleak and weak in comparison to Dino Buzzati's “The Falling Girl” when discussing the adversity of women to uphold appearances in society.

Ancient Rome was a society dominated by reputation and status, where sexual scandal could break one’s career. The key primary source on sexual scandal in the Roman world comes from the second century CE ancient historian, Suetonius. In his most popular work, The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius shows the scandal and offensive sexual behaviors of numerous emperors, including the infamous Julio-Claudian line. From Nero’s supposed castration of a male lover, to Caligula’s alleged incest with his sister, Suetonius’ writings are steeped in character assassinations and scandalous sexual allegations. While Suetonius has been considered an important source for the history of Roman emperors, numerous scholars such as Catherine Edwards, Kirk Ormand, Tamsyn

American Literature has always been about men and for men. In this essay, we are going to analyze the women’s role in the book, as inferior and weaker gender.

Junot Diaz, the author of “A Cheaters Guide to Love” writes his short story with many different references to anti-feminism. He writes about women in different ways to show them as powerless, and un-superior to the main character in the short story. From this short story, Diaz conveys the main characters ways when he shows the him talking about, the girl he calls to have sex with, the women at the yoga class, and the files read at the end of the story that show the fifty girls he cheated on his fiancé with. Diaz creates his main character and puts him in the second person to relate to the reader, but show his anti-feministic signs.

The discussion of the Wife’s five husbands describes her evolving role as a woman and how she overcame the most ridiculous obstacles to maintain this idea or illusion of marriage. The Wife’s depiction of her marriages was that three were good and two were bad. The initial marriages were to older rich men where she kept up this idea of marriage in order to receive money, but was not faithful by

This protection instilled by Zeus is related to the notion that the end result for Semele and Dionysus was subject to a sexual matter. Another key erotic relationship can be observed in the dominantly female following of Dionysus or the Bacchic women he employs to his worship. Of these women, Agave is noticeably the most important member. Dionysus did not choose her as one of his maddened women by coincidence, and the madness he inflicts could be seen as erotic in itself. The irony of Dionysus exploiting Agave in this way stems from Pentheus’s assumption that his mother along with the other Bacchic women are raving in sex and drunkenness.

Fulfilling the image of a corrupt and sinful world, society devalues women and demeans their existences, oppressing them into a world of submissiveness and destruction. The patriarchy not only have detrimental effects on women, but the entire world as well. However, women have always exhibit strength and development despite the lack of opportunities, and they reveal the virtuousness of moral character. In the 19th century dark romantic novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals the atrocities of the patriarchy and masculine hegemony in society and thereby perceive women as the current redeemer of humankind’s sin. He, thereby, urges individuals to deter from the idea of women solely carrying the burdens of humankind’s sin and to