La legge del desiderio. Soggetto e genere nei miti di Adone e Pigmalione

Through the analysis of a representative case study, this paper argues the op- portunity of including gender among the relevant parameters for a comparative analysis of mythical characters. A comparison between the myths of Adonis and Pygmalion is particu- larly productive since it is based, beyond apparent differences in the narrative, on a common historical-religious origin of the two main characters. By considering issues like gender identity (masculine/feminine) and position (subject/object of desire) the two myths can be shown to build a system of meaning which displays an interesting classification of desire according to its subject’s gender: when the desiring subject is male, the “naturalness” of the situation is confirmed through a happy outcome (the statue Pygmalion loves becomes a liv- ing being); on the other hand, when the desiring subject is female, her desire is stigmatized as unnatural and dangerous: far from being an enlivening force, the love of an active female subject is shown to weaken, and ultimately destroy, its object.