What Is Dido's Enduring Love

Before meeting Aeneas, Dido is the epitome of strength and leadership; she has ruled Carthage valiantly and helped it become a considerably powerful city. However, all this changes in an instant when Dido becomes the newest victim of the gods’ interference. After Cupid shoots her with an arrow by Venus’ commands, Dido falls deeply in love with Aeneas, despite having known him for less than a day. After hearing of the hardships leading up to Aeneas’ arrival in Carthage, it would be unsurprising for Dido to be concerned or even sympathetic. Yet because of Venus and Cupid’s interference, her newfound volatility causes her to fall further in love with him, proving that she will love him unconditionally. Rather than being peaceful and happily in love, Dido is described as being “caught between love’s pain and press” (4.1-2). Despite being unaware that her feelings aren’t of her own accord, she still manages to feel trapped within such a powerful love. Words such as ‘wound’, ‘eaten by’, and ‘strips’ contribute to the idea that Dido is so deeply in love that it is actually verging on painful for her to listen to …show more content…
Saying that “all [Aeneas] has done…come like a flood” (4.4-5) helps illustrate how completely consumed Dido is by her love along with examples of personification such as how “she is eaten by a secret flame” (4.3), “[Aeneas’] words hold fast her breast” (4.5-6), and “[c]are strips her limbs of calm and rest” (4.6). These unique descriptors help emphasize the extremities of Dido’s passion and detail how her love for Aeneas is completely taking over her actions and emotions — her entire being. In addition, these phrases are displays of detailed imagery that not only help the reader to visualize the current situation, but also to better convey the extent to which Cupid’s arrow and consequently Dido’s emotions are affecting