The Aeneid: Literary Analysis
During the rule of Emperor Augustus, Virgil began composing The Aeneid, an epic about a hero Aeneas. Through the poem, Virgil provides his audience of how Rome came to be and the characteristics that were inherited as its identity. Virgil uses his work to convey to readers, certain Roman virtues, such as Pietas (duty to the gods and family), Labor (tireless striving) and Fatum (need to bring peace to the world) all Romans should have had. Along with virtues, Therefore, the poem served as a reflection upon what individual identity and the identity of Rome should be like.
However, through the poem Virgil subtly enforces negative gender stereotype that existed at that time, such as women being inferior to men and shown as irrational decision makers. And through this paper, I would like to focus on how Virgil represents women as irrational and subordinate to men, by focusing mainly on Dido, the Queen of Carthage and how she is portrayed in comparison to Aeneas. To this end, I will first analyze the representation of Aeneas and the attributes of leadership with which he is closely associated and then proceed to draw a comparison between the portrayal of Aeneas with that of Dido.
Virgil’s …show more content…
Even though gods like Juno interfere with Aeneas’ life to distract him from his course. When she tells Aeolia, God of the winds to “thrash your winds to fury, sink their warships” by bribing him with “some sea-nymphs” who are all “finest of all by far” or when she tells Allecto, the mother of sorrows, “Now at a stroke make young men thirst for weapons, demand them, grasp them now!”, in other words, to turn people in Latium against each. The obstacles that she creates eventually help him fulfill his destiny. And it is this ability to be able to accept his destined path, despite the hardships, that makes him a graceful hero and worthy of the honor the gods have bestowed upon
During the rule of Emperor Augustus, Virgil began composing The Aeneid, an epic about a hero Aeneas. Through the poem, Virgil provides his audience of how Rome came to be and the characteristics that were inherited as its identity. Virgil uses his work to convey to readers, certain Roman virtues, such as Pietas (duty to the gods and family), Labor (tireless striving) and Fatum (need to bring peace to the world) all Romans should have had. Along with virtues, Therefore, the poem served as a reflection upon what individual identity and the identity of Rome should be like.
However, through the poem Virgil subtly enforces negative gender stereotype that existed at that time, such as women being inferior to men and shown as irrational decision makers. And through this paper, I would like to focus on how Virgil represents women as irrational and subordinate to men, by focusing mainly on Dido, the Queen of Carthage and how she is portrayed in comparison to Aeneas. To this end, I will first analyze the representation of Aeneas and the attributes of leadership with which he is closely associated and then proceed to draw a comparison between the portrayal of Aeneas with that of Dido.
Virgil’s …show more content…
Even though gods like Juno interfere with Aeneas’ life to distract him from his course. When she tells Aeolia, God of the winds to “thrash your winds to fury, sink their warships” by bribing him with “some sea-nymphs” who are all “finest of all by far” or when she tells Allecto, the mother of sorrows, “Now at a stroke make young men thirst for weapons, demand them, grasp them now!”, in other words, to turn people in Latium against each. The obstacles that she creates eventually help him fulfill his destiny. And it is this ability to be able to accept his destined path, despite the hardships, that makes him a graceful hero and worthy of the honor the gods have bestowed upon