Gioia simulata e gioia indotta. Il godimento della vendetta in Seneca tragico

This paper aims to examine the perverse form of joy produced by revenge, focusing the attention on three Senecan tragedies: Thyestes, Medea and Agamemnon. The analysis of the theatrical dynamics and that of the lexicon used by Seneca allows to distinguish different types of joy: a “sincere but induced joy”, that is born by the unawareness of reality and that is for this reason unstable and destined to despair (this is the case of Thyestes, Jason and Agamemnon); a “sincere but equivocal joy”, whose real motivations are disguised (like for Atreus and Clytemnestra, who are really happy to meet their relatives, but for other reasons than those they admit); a “simulated joy”, the Medea’s one, who hides her furor and pretends to be understanding and affable with Jason before killing their children; a “consequence-joy”, like for Cassandra in the Agamemnon, who benefits his death and explains it like a revenge for the whole Troy.