Research Paper On The Aeneid

Many people try changing their destiny to better suit themselves, whether through studying more to earn better grades and have a brighter future or taking action to face obstacles around them to accomplish what is desired. The majority of the human race holds guilt to this, even the ancient Greeks and Romans. Listening to the wise Mahatma Gandhi, people try to “be the change [they] want to see in the world.” Gandhi’s words may not have been known during the time in and around the Trojan War, but that does not mean it held no truth. From the Greek side, Oedipus took every precaution possible trying to avoid his destiny, yet while doing so, acted self-centered and with no rational. On the other side, Aeneas had all intention of completing his …show more content…
Aeneas, a Trojan warrior, is made for fighting, but at one point he took the deaths of his men personally showing how he cared for his people and the standings of those around him, but at one point everything changes. When the battle between the Trojans and Latins broke out, Evander gave Aeneas his son Pallas to help fight on behalf of the Trojans. Aeneas was grateful and wanted to grant Evanders’ wish of keeping his “Pallas safe” (Virgil, XIII.547), but, unfortunately, Aeneas failed and Pallas dies at the hands of Turnus. Aeneas grieved and “raised a great cry to the heavens” (Virgil, XI.36), as he could not keep Pallas, the son of the King of the Arcadians, safe. This shows good leadership, but the fact that after he grieved, Aeneas followed on a killing streak, taking down anyone in his way, even a priest. How does a leader go from protecting the son of a king to killing a priest? The loss of a friend caused Aeneas to lose all morality and again act with pure anger. A man who lets furor take over him should not be considered a good leader. A good leader needs to know how to stay calm and rational in times of terror, not act out. The whole purpose of this fighting is to create peace for Aeneas, but peace cannot be obtained through violence and when things take a wrong turn, Aeneas turns to violence for the answer. This is not a quality of an efficient …show more content…
The main difference between Aeneas and Oedipus is at least Aeneas acts selflessly whereas Oedipus only cares about himself. Oedipus tries to make himself seem like a good leader when he tells his people he will exile the person causing the plague, but he does not do it for the people, he does it for himself. Oedipus announces to his people “whoever / he was that killed the king may readily / wish to dispatch me with his murderous hand; / so helping the dead king I help myself” (Sophocles, 138-41). If Oedipus left his announcement at whoever killed the king may want to dispatch him, he would be doing it for the good of Thebes, but the fact that he shouts helping the king will “help myself” shows that he does not care about the good of his people as he does the standing of himself as a new ruler. The sole purpose of finding the killer is to benefit himself and no one else. Not only was Oedipus acting selfishly here, but also irrationally. He knows he murdered someone before coming to Thebes but does not take a moment to think about it before he announces to the world that he will exile the killer. Oedipus speaks before thinking just as he accused his brother in law of trying to steal his thrown. Again, before thinking about who he killed earlier on, he attacks Creon thinking Creon “secretly / desires to drive [him] out” (Sophocles, 386-7). Creon just tries to act like