Dido Flashcards
Who is Dido?
Aeneas’ equal and feminine counterpart
antagonist
strong, determined, independent woman
heroic dimensions
How is Dido like Aeneas?
fled homeland bc of circumstances
founds Carthage, Aeneas founds Rome
embodies qualities of leader (Aeneas respects - fair, just, maintain order)
represents the best of her race
Weaknesses
manipulated by Juno and Venus
neglects building projects
-> city’s defence is not maintained
Virgil warns that love out of control can cause disorder (physically and emotionally)
“maddened lovers”
“internal wound bleeds on in silence”
lacks faith in gods and in destiny
psychological madness
Fate
relationship with Aeneas is fated to end tragically
-> Juno and Venus
-> Aeneas’ fate means he must continue on his journey to fulfil his destiny
knows relationship with Aeneas is fated to end tragically
love/lust for Aeneas in her downfall “the towers she was building ceased to rise”
unable to change course of events
“what madness takes me out of myself”
Dido’s downfall
V compares Dido’s uncontrolled passion to a consuming fire that can not be extinguished
-> Dido died on a pure used for burning corpses in funeral rites by commuting suicide with Aeneas’s sword
act of sucide, an act of courage, proves she is a tragic as well as romantic heroine
What is she a symbol of?
tragic lover and her doomed story
How is she infatuated with Aeneas?
Ekphrasis on the temple
Asks him lots of questions about the Trojan war
Claims that they are married after the night in the cave
How is she a victim?
victim of tragic love
victim of Venus and Juno’s feud
victim of Aeneas’ fate
victim of Cupid’s arrow
Carthage background
Carthage = enemy of Rome so the audience is automatically inclined to dislike her ( she and Cleopatra are both African queens which furthers their dislike of her)
-> but her story and love is so devastating that people feel sympathy for her
-> she is a victim of love that is unrequited to the same level - universal experience
Dido’s true love
Sychaeus is her true love, not Aeneas (not compatible enough)
“met her grief with grief” and they are together forever in the Underworld , when she doesn’t want to even speak to Aeneas
she originally does not want to marry anyone again and suffers deep guilt when she falls in love with Aeneas (why she calls it a marriage)
Her death
mixture of DI and Aeneas’ fate
she is striken with love like it is a madness or disease
- love presented as a madness that drives her into a frenzy, leading to her frienzied suicide
Piety
toast to the gods in Book 1
Contrast to Aeneas
qualities of passion and volitlity that contrast with Aneas’ control and order
Punic Wars and Dido
Rome beats Carthage (future in book, past for audience)
-> audience therefore smug about defeat and proud to be Roman
Carthage = reminder of the rise and fall of another great city - Troy
Dido quotes
Dido was like Diana and like Diana she bore herself joyfully among her people, urging on their work for the kingdom that was to be”
“doomed Dido” “unhappy Dido”
“unfortunate Dido, doomed to be the victim of a plague that was yet to come”
“hold a sacred disk in her right hand”
“your poor sister”
“Dido is passionately in love and the madness is working through her bones”
“overwhelmed by grief and possessed by madness”
