Dido's 'Aeneas': Summary

Dido first falls in love with Aeneas after being infected by Cupid at Venus’ command. When Cupid first arrives in Carthage, disguised as Ascanius, Dido watches him from afar as he interacts with deceived Aeneas. As she watches, she becomes entranced with the sight and “the more she looks the more the fire grows,” signaling that Cupid’s hold over her has grown stronger (853,71). Aeneas’ tale of woe only strengthens her adoration of him until she is “consumed by the fire buried in her heart” (3, 127). Tentative thoughts of remarrying after her husband Sychaeus’ death begin to cross her mind and she finally recognizes the “old flame” that is slowly consuming her, suddenly marrying Aeneas one night (30, 128). Yet this fire is short lived and, ultimately, Dido’s downfall. Jove grows anxious for Aeneas to continue on his journey and commands Mercury to pass along the message that Aeneas and the Trojans must leave Carthage. Aeneas pleads with Dido that he leaves not of his own volition and that he must obey the gods’ wishes, but Dido is furious, alternating between pleading with him to stay and cursing him should he go. Firm in his decision, Aeneas returns to his ships while Dido is brought to her chambers. Grief stricken and “fixed on dying,” Dido begins to construct a funeral pyre in her courtyard (595, 144). As she stands before her creation, she laments her choice to trust Aeneas and the Trojans when

A particular instance of self-indulgence shows Aeneas involved in a love affair with Dido, the queen of Carthage. Since Aeneas is distracted by this activity, he catches himself off guard when the gods intervene to direct him back on track toward his fate. "Then Aeneas was truly overwhelmed by the vision, stunned, his hackles bristle with fear, his voice chokes in his throat" once he is suddenly issued this urgent message. This detail perfectly describes Aeneas ' situation of being frozen in place and unable to make any progress on his fate. The gods ' reminder comes as a shock to Aeneas, thereby forcing him to acknowledge the consequences of his actions. His alarmed reaction

Immediately readers are introduced to Aeneas’ supernatural plight by Virgil, who states that Juno hates Aeneas. Virgil tells of the story of Paris of Troy who was chosen to

Once Aeneas is rather harshly reminded of his duty, he apparently snaps back into his role as a founder of cities rather than a role of a tame husband (in Mercury's words), and he successfully fights down his emotions and makes a clean break from Dido with no long lasting ill effects on his psyche. Dido, on the other hand, is first enraged and incredibly bitter, then desperate, and finally, crazed by passion to the point of suicide. She finds herself unable to function any longer as a successful builder of Carthage, and her honor has been tainted by her affair with Aeneas to the point where she cannot see a future for herself as a ruler. She can no longer command any respect from her people or other neighboring rulers, and in her pain, she sets up a funeral pyre for herself out of Aeneas' possessions. Here again we find the emotions of women bringing them to extreme lows as Dido's lost passion consumes her, not only spiritually, but physically in her suicidal bonfire.

As a human, Dido’s enhanced feelings of love overtake her sense of duty. Book 4 l 95-97, “unluckily Dido, burning, roams the city like a doe” illustrates how she no longer is focused on the community, but rather herself as she is blinded by the love for Aeneas inflicted by Venus. Although Venus did intervene, it is ultimately the decision of Dido as to whether she continues the course of being a leader for her people, or fall prey to love of Aeneas. As a pawn of Venus, Dido’s love for Aeneas changes her from being an equal to Aeneas; their fates do not mirror each other. As pawns of the goddesses, Dido gets the short end of the stick as her fate ends in suicide whereas Aeneas goes on to be the founder of Rome. The significance of Juno and Venus intervening and making Dido and Aeneas pawns in their dispute leaves a once stoic, strong queen a hopeless romantic who can only realize honor by committing suicide. She abandoned her people through her selfish act of falling in love, making her more of a submissive female than the dominant one she once

Dido is one of the many characters who are responsible for her own death. Before the appearance of Aeneas in Carthage, Dido was married to another man, Sychaeus. However, Sychaeus was murdered by Dido’s brother who was jealous of his power and money leaving Dido a widow (Aen, 4.23-25). As a widow, Dido made a vow “Never to pledge [herself] in marriage again” showing her commitment to her first and only husband who she passionately loved (Aen,4.19). The importance of this to Dido’s death is that she broke her vow on account that Aeneas was the first man that she has loved since Sychaeus. However, this love is artificial because it is not her love but love created by Venus. Even though she has this passion for Aeneas flowing through her veins, she questions herself and whether it will be worthy to love this man and break the vow. Dido is responsible for her own death because she was unable to clear her mind and see the dangers of falling in love with Aeneas and the greater the danger of breaking her vow to Sychaeus. One reason that she decides

Conversely, Virgil depicts Aeneas as a more civilized leader. Aeneas gets detoured on his trip to Italy and finds himself in Carthage. He falls in love with Dido after being stuck with her in a cave and their relationship progress quickly. Aeneas plans to stay with Dido and help rebuild her city instead of continuing his journey to conquer his own. Mercury is sent by Jupiter to remind Aeneas what he was sent out to do in the first place. “What about your own realm, your own affairs?” Mercury asked Aeneas (Virgil, 83). Aeneas was stunned, but he knew Mercury was right. This meant that it was time for him to leave

Virgil has dramatically depicted the animosity between Rome and Carthage through the unfortunate and disastrously fated romance between Dido, queen and widow of Carthage and Aeneas. This is done both by vilifying Aeneas and exposing his character flaws to mutually illustrate both Aeneas’s human and Roman characteristics. This is also accomplished through the downfall of Troy, consequently, bringing his compatriots’ apprehensions and worries to the audience’s forethought. Aeneas reciprocates Dido’s affections and allows her to assume that they are a wedded couple, which as her sister Anna’s insistence that wedding Aeneas would not only have been to her benefit but to her people as well. At which point the gods then declare that Aeneas must leave Dido post haste to complete his conquest, guilting and coerces Aeneas into prompt action by means of using Aeneas’s son’s future and filial duty as the motivator.

In his journey, Aeneas encounters a multitude of trials and tribulations, each refining an integral characteristic of his role as a hero and leader. “Duty-bound Aeneas”, as Virgil regularly describes him, chooses to end his affair with the Carthaginian Queen Dido, appointing duty to a higher level of importance than love (I.519). The remorse displayed by Aeneas as he placates her spirit in the Underworld demonstrates his sincere regret for having hurt her. With regards to Dido, Aeneas chooses to fulfill his divine responsibility rather than succumb to emotion. However, in his struggle with the Latins, Aeneas displays inconsistent behavior and a lack of such a defined moral code, culminating in the killing of Turnus. Turnus pleads with Aeneas to return his body to his father , yet instead of honoring Turnus’ request for a proper

Dido’s relationship with Aeneas causes her to experience a series of internal struggles. Virgil uses platonic philosophy in order to illustrate the negative affects that love can have on a person. At first, Dido is so jovial about being in love that the only thing she can focus on is Aeneas; this causes the citizens of Carthage to feel like their queen is shirking her responsibilities by indulging in love. This does not seem to phase Dido until Aeneas tell her that he must leave Carthage in order to fulfill his destiny of founding a city for his people. The text verifies this when Dido says, “Do you flee me? By tears, by your right hand- this sorry self is left with nothing else-… because of you the tribes of Libya, all the nomad princes hate me, even my own Tyrians are hostile; and for you my honor is gone and that good name

Their love is only met with pain and agony. Dido allows her burning desire for Aeneas to distract her from her duties, and Ceres is brought to a crippled state because Dis has stolen her daughter. In both Virgil’s The

She confronts him asking, “Can our love/Not hold you…?” (Virgil 983). She says that if Aeneas leaves her, then she is a “dying woman” (Virgil 984). When Aeneas persists in his decision to leave, she insults him and angrily sends him away. She calls him a “liar and cheat” (Virgil 985). Dido’s heart is broken at Virgil’s forsaking of her. She becomes inflicted by a “fatal madness” and is “resolved to die” (Virgil 988). After praying for enmity between her descendants and Aeneas’, she climbs atop a pyre of Aeneas’ belongings and stabs herself. Love becomes an obsessive passion to Dido; her life is empty without it. She does not have the will to live forsaken by her lover. She kills herself for love. The poet exclaims, “Unconscionable Love,/To what extremes will you not drive our hearts!” (Virgil 986).

(topic)Rumor reaches Iarbas, and he learns of this affair between Dido and Aeneas. (ex 1) This fills his mind with disruptive thoughts which fuels his anger at both Aeneas and Dido. (ex 2)He prays to Jupiter, and tells him of this woman, Dido, who has scorned marriage with him and taken Aeneas as lord of her country and master of her heart. (ex 3) Jupiter hears Iarbas and knows that Aeneas is the chosen one to rule Italy. (transition)Calling for his son Mercury, he tells him to go to Aeneas and, “Let him sail: that’s it in total, let that be my

I feel that this question is almost unanswerable because if you so no, due to everyone has the choice of free will coupled this the fact that she was carrying his unborn child and not to mention their deep love for each other, then that alone should have been reason enough for him to stay and not treat her in such a deplorable way. With that being said, then you have the other side of the proverbial double edged sword. The yes side, here if you look at the line from the Aeneid that states “Apollo orders, and his oracles call me to Italy.” So therein lies the true question, Did Aeneas really have a choice? If the Gods truly had a hand this, then his fate was sealed from

As time goes by Aeneas and Dido fall in love. Dido neglects her territory, and Aeneas ignores his quest. However, Jupiter, King of Gods, insists that Aeneas get back to his destiny and find a new home for his people. Aeneas obeys, and Dido kills herself with his sword.