Final Assignment

Dido and Aeneas

Submitted to
Prof. Kaiser Hamidul Haq

(Epics of World Literature ENG331)

Submitted by
Bushra Ahmed

ID#102013030
Department of English and Humanities

Date: 20th December, 2013

Dido, the queen of Carthage to whom Virgil portrays with the equal qualities of Aeneass and presents her as his feminine counterpart. She is a competitor with strong, determined, and independent mind who is blessed with heroic dimensions as well. Dido runs away from her homeland because of circumstances as Aeneas does. She leads her people out of Tyre and founds

Carthage. She is their leader and possesses all the qualities of a leader that Aeneas respects and hopes to employ when he founds Rome. She is fair and just to the countrymen. Like Aeneas's character, Dido's character represents the best from the lot of her race. In the epic the Aeneid, we see Aeneas plays the main role and thus becomes the protagonist who is the son of Anchises, a Trojan prince, and Venus, the goddess of love. Virgil portrays Aeneas as a Trojan hero. He is a warrior who will guide his people to safety, found a new Trojan state, and establish order in his and his countryman's lives. He symbolizes the Roman virtues who is subject to the hands of gods and fate. He is the role model of a leader and he is a devoted father and son. He is devoted to his family, country, and mission. Aeneas's character is not detached from human qualities as well. He is a flawed man with feelings and logical drawbacks.. Throughout the beginning of the Aeneid Dido and Aeneas share an intimate relationship that ends in death. The relationship commences in Book I when Venus, the goddess of love uses her other son Cupid to fill Didos heart with passion for Aeneas, to ensure Aeneas's safety in this new land. Venus played this trick to protect Aeneas and his son, in fear that Dido would have been cruel to them. Aeneas tells his story in such a way that he portrays himself as a hero, which makes Dido even more infatuated with him. The couple instantly discovers that they have many things in common. At this time Aeneas notices that Dido is fair and just to her people which qualities he is willing to have for the people of Trojans. Aeneas is mainly ruled by fate and his job is ultimately more important than his social life. Dido, as the ruler of Carthage, does not have an unyielding destiny like Aeneas which made it easier on her part to forsake her duty for her husband. Her work is never as important as his. Dido loses her land and life as it is decorated by the fate of Aeneas. Yet, by his own choice, he stayed in Carthage with Dido for a long time, never telling her that someday he would be off. Aeneas decided to keep mum and chose to stay as a husband, but likely he became bored with the ordinary

life in Carthage and longed to fulfill his destiny. He had already moved slightly away from Dido by overseeing the construction of her city which indicated their final break. Except for the goddesses, the female characters in the Aeneid are, by and large, fairly unremarkable Dido stands on the contrary position in the epic. Dido is one of the few characters in the Aeneid who truly rail against the dictates of fate. She knows that Aeneas is destined to leave Carthage and to begin a new empire, but the love that she feels for him is so overwhelming that she struggles against the will of the very gods. This struggle makes her one of the strongest, most courageous characters in the tale. Dido's character serves two other distinct purposes. First, Virgil uses the Dido/Aeneas conflict to explain the antagonistic relationship between Rome and Carthage in the real world, which came to a head during the Punic Wars. The protagonist usually seems too perfect: a flawless, unfailingly moral paragon of virtue and courage. But here we find Aeneas reveals his weakness in the face of love, tempted to put aside his fate thus he proves himself Aeneas as not just a goddess-born hero, but as an imperfect man. His decision to give up love for the betterment of future generations is truly difficult for him, making his decision arguably more honorable. Aeneas is distracted from his destiny by the temptation of love, and he is only able to regain his focus when he realizes that he is depriving himself of an empire and his sons future. This circumstance recalls the importance placed on family, as has been seen in Aeneas's relationship with Anchises. Dido has become a literary icon for the tragic lover, like Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. Whereas Dido not only loves Aeneas but hopes he and his warriors will strengthen her city, Aeneass actions are the result of a momentary abandonment of his true duties and responsibilities. He indulges temporarily in romance and the pleasures of the flesh, but when Jupiter, through Mercury, reminds Aeneas of his destiny, he is dutiful and ready to resume his mission.

From Virgils perspective, Aeneas is not heartless, as Dido considers him, but merely capable of subordinating matters of the heart to the demands of duty. Aeneass reminder to Dido that they were never officially married suggests, somewhat unsurely, that had they entered into such a certain commitment he would not leave. But, he argues, without a true marriage, he is sacrificing only his own desires by leaving Dido. Dido also shows herself to be less responsible than her partner. Whereas Dido kills herself for love, leaving the city she founded without a leader, Aeneas returns to his course, guiding the refugees of a lost city to the foundation of a new city. Whereas on the other hand women in The Aeneid offers love a higher position than duty, as opposed to Aeneas, who felt that duty always comes first. The first instance shown in Book II, as Aeneas and his family are fleeing the city. It is not true that Aeneas did not love his wife, but he was busy focusing on his duty of fleeing the city caused him not to bother about Creusa for the time being. It is proved when he said after realizing his wifes death "Never did I look back/Or think to look for her," (p. 59). His love for Creusa led him to go back and search for her, but duty had already won the battle between love and duty. When Aeneas found Creusa, she was a ghost. Another great example of Aeneas care for duty is explained in Book IV. Juno hoped her plan of love for Dido and Aeneas was flawless. This goddess thought that they would make love and be married which would ultimately make Aeneas to choose the side of love. But Aeneas on the contrary repressed his personal desire to answer dutys call. Once again his obedience to the duty of founding Troy is shown in this way. He seems incapable of emotion, apologizing and so left Dido to suffer. It is clear that love and duty cannot fit together. When question arises between them, a choice must be made. And for a man like Aeneas, the choice will always be duty. On the other hand, love wins over duty for a person like Dido.