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English 240: Ancient Literature Questions on Apuleius' The Golden Ass Alfred J. Drake. Hours: Classroom, by Appt. | ajdrake@ajdrake.com 1. Comment on the significance of desire--both in the physical and intellectual sense--as the driving force of the novel's events and the main reason for the complexity of the narrative: examine a few instances where desire clearly makes things happen and complicates the narrator's pattern of storytelling. 2. How might the story as a whole be described as a "spiritual quest"? What does Lucius' interest in magic have to do with it? How is his transformation into an ass related to the quest motif? 3. How do you understand the less serious side of Apuleius' text -- the many comic, absurd, and even obscene incidents and characters its author seems to delight in serving up? How does all this silliness relate to the spiritual journey of Lucius? 4. In particular, what benefit does Apuleius derive from his device of making Lucius turn into an ass? What perspective does Lucius gain thereby? What does he lose? What does this trick of narrative have to offer us, the readers? 5. When, towards the end of the story, the goddess Isis grants Lucius his wish for transformation, why does she give him what he wants--what has he done to merit such good fortune? 6. How does the Mystery Cult of Isis and Osiris, as you find it in this book, compare to the doctrines of Christianity? What does Isis offer her worshipers? What does she not offer them? What does the narrator seem to think of Christianity, a religion of which Apuleius himself had some knowledge? 7. How does the world Apuleius represents compare to the tragic universe of the Greek playwrights we have studied? How does a typical character in Apuleius differ from the hero in our playwrights' work?
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