Il sangue e l’oro. Venere gelosa come dramatis persona nelle Metamorfosi di Apuleio

The Venus that the reader meets in the Metamorphoses is the blending of several epic and drama characters who share a series of negative founding emotions: among others, jealousy. This work will examine these theatrical figures and the kind of jealousy – that of a goddess, of a woman, or a mother – that the author highlights each time. Furthermore, partly by analyzing the schemes of literary allusion, the paper will dwell upon the topic of repressed identity and upon the wounds that jealousy can cause within a character. Actually, among all the others, it is specifically this emotion that enables Apuleius to bring modernity and innovation into the myth of Aphrodite.