aeneid - useful analysis Flashcards
camilla and dido - use in the aeneid
-have a role in the story and are presented as strong characters
-bc they act like men
-however as soon as they start acting like stereotypical women they die and are taken out of the narrative
lavinia role in the aenied
-object of war - doesnt even have any lines altough she is central to plot of book 7-12 - presents her as even more of an object
-prize to be won - wallows virgil to create a reason for the war to be fought
-quiet + does as she is told - ideal roman matrona
women as villians and victems
-Dido - Villian- - “forgetting about their kingdoms and becoming the slaves of lust”
- she puts a curse on Rome & Carthage. “Let there be war between the nations and between their sons forever”.
^ However, this is only because she is entirely overcome by her emotions, which are not even her fault as she was made to fall madly in love with Aeneas.
-Victim -
- Cupid’s poison
^ Dido, stricken by love, is compared to a wounded doe who has been shot with an arrow “that will bring her death”. Her love is frequently referred to a wound. We know from the beginning that when Cupid breathes “fire and poison into her”, this will lead to her death. Dido was “infected by this sickness”
- Aeneas leaving her
^ she thought they were married.
^ Dido “was the first to catch wind of their plans to leave”. She was “already in a frenzy” - “burning with passion, she raged and raved round the whole city like a Bacchant”
- her suicide
- in the underworld.
we certainly pity with Dido, even Virgil does.
- it would be entirely wrong to blame Dido for distracting Aeneas from his duty, as not only was she made to love him by Cupid, Aeneas is equally to blame and chose to stay with her, rather than search for Italy
Amata
Villian - does not support Lavinia’s marriage to Aeneas and thus she directly oppose fate. “The queen Amata longed above all things to see him married to her daughter”
- she tries to dissuade Latinus from giving Lavinia up to Aeneas and says “have you no feelings for your daughter or her mother?”
- incites the other women of Latium to rebel.
“the same passion kindled in the hearts of all the mothers of Latium and drove them out to search for new homes”
Victim - - she was made like this by Allecto.
When she kills herself, we are reminded of Dido & we pity with her as we know she has been made this way by Allecto.
- “when the maddening poison of the serpent had soaked deep into her flesh…the unhappy Amata…raged in a wild frenzy”
“threw it on Amata’s breast to enter deep into her heart, a horror driving her to frenzy and bringing down her whole house in ruin”. This quote shows that she may be a villain, but only because of Allecto’s poison, in reality, she is much more a villain.
Women as victims of war
- On the temple of Juno, Aeneas sees depicted the women of Troy, supplicating Athene in vain and beating their breasts in grief. These are the faceless and nameless victims of war, and in the Aeneid the grief of war is seen in part by its effect on women
- In book 11, during the war, Virgil writes, “here were the mothers and heart-broken wives of the dead. Here were loving sisters beating their breasts, and children who had lost their fathers, all cursing this deadly war”
how does Juno get involved in the events of the aeneid
-puppeteer of the epic
-makes Allecto put furor in Amata and Turnus - contibuting to the outbreak of the war -‘The fearsome goddess flew down to earth and roused Allecto,bringer of grief’
-Dido and Aeneas - bk 4 Juno - ‘Dido ad Aeneas will both take refuge in the same cave’ - a few lines later Vrigil wirtes - ‘Dido and Aneas took refuge in the same cave - copied Juno almost exactly - makes us realise that everything has been scripted by the gods - Dido and A may think they are in control but they are just Juno puppets
COUNTER AURGUMENT
Juno cares abt Dido - plan to unite d and A in a cave during the sotrm when they are hunting - shelter
As in bk 1, the storm here is a physical manifestation of the destructive passion Juno stirs - J pity for D seems genuine however as she releases D from her body when she dies to end her sufferent and egt Iris to cut a lock of her hair - ‘All powerful Juno then too pity on her long anguish and difficult death’ - bitter irony in her pity as she has been aprtly respnsible, through conniving with Venus, for d destruction by making her fall in love with A - used Dido for her own ends but still feels pity for her
COUNTER ARGUMENT
Hupiter does not get involved and he acknolodges that he is not above the fates - in bk 10 urges the other gods to steo back from intervening in the war - ‘the fates will find their way’ - ‘there will be the time for pillaging, and for hate to vie with hate. But now let it be’
