The Golden Ass Themes

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of Apuleius’s The Golden Ass is that it contains several self-contained stories nested within the main story of Lucius and his quest to transform from a donkey back into a human. These nested stories-within-the-story (sometimes called “inset tales”) often help illuminate part of the main plot, and—in some cases—they even contain their own nested stories. The tone and content of the inset tales varies greatly, ranging from the tragic to…

Many of the tales within Apuleius’s The Golden Ass deal with romantic and sexual relationships, and in particular with characters who go to great lengths to try to hide their infidelity. A different but related issue is the relationship between mortals and the gods, where mortals are often asked to offer proof of their faithfulness. From the baker’s wife to Psyche to the fuller’s wife, one thing is clear: in both romantic relationships and…

Many of the stories in Apuleius’s The Golden Ass illustrate how greed often has consequences and can lead people to make bad decisions. The central conflict of the story—Lucius’s transformation into a donkey—is arguably caused by his greed to experiment with the witch Pamphile’s ointments and take some of her power as his own. Others face similar and even more direct consequences for greed, such as the thieves who rob Milo…