When People Seek Revenge In The Aeneid

Humans are one of the only species to kill its own kind, but like many animals, humans seek revenge. Virgil's epic, The Aeneid is one of the best writings of all time. In book IV of the Aeneid Dido, queen of Carthage falls in love with a man named Aeneas. The gods tell Aeneas to found Rome Italy. He obeys his gods and plans to leave in secret during the night. When Dido finds him she is so hurt she swears that she will get her revenge. She eventually kills herself because she is so hurt and she believes that killing herself will allow her to haunt him. Throughout the book, Virgil shows that it is human nature to seek revenge when we have been hurt physically or emotionally. Humans often seek revenge when they or someone they love has been hurt …show more content…
Humans continue to seek revenge because it makes them feel good and feel like they are doing a positive thing. One reason Dido decides to take revenge on Aeneas is because she believes it will make her feel better. Revenge is often seen as a kind of justice. It can also be seen as helping one's personal gain. In the article "The Psychology of Revenge: Philosophical Disquisitions," "It is an effective means of deterring would-be wrongdoers". (Philosophical Disquisitions) People seek revenge again and again because they believe they are eliminating bad people. In the Aeneid Virgil is trying to show us that Dido believes Aeneas is in the wrong. Dido seeks revenge because she believes she will be eliminating a wrong-doer. To many people revenge is a dark and bad thing that makes people regret their actions, but that is not all true. According to Scientific American "MRI scans have revealed that thinking about revenge activates the reward center where… dopamine is lodged." This quote proves that when we are planning our revenge our brains reward us with dopamine. Mainly our brains work on a reward and punishment based system, so when someone rewarded for planning revenge they are more likely to do it