The Negative Impacts Of Love In Virgil's Aeneid

“Virgil paints his sad prophetic picture of the Underworld in shadowy halftones fraught with tears and pathos. His sources are eclectic, but his poetic vision is personal and unique” (Lenardon, 312). Despite countless writings regarding the region of the Underworld, such as Homer’s Odyssey and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Virgil bases his book upon traditional elements accompanied with his own vision of the Underworld and reincarnation. In doing so, Virgil’s book VI of the Aeneid serves as an exploration of Virgil’s concept of the Underworld and religious beliefs, one in which the hybrid of the traditional and the personal, create a more poetic vision than

This contrasts both Phaedrus’ and Aristophanes’ descriptions of love. She broadly states that “a lover does not seek the half or whole” unless it is “good” because people will even amputate, or separate, part of their own body if diseased (Sym. 205E). Aristophanes argues “love is the name for our pursuit of wholeness” but Diotima explains this cannot be true if the other half is bad, even if it seems to bring wholeness, such as bodies with a temporary veneer of beauty (Sym. 192E). So, love must be explained by separating it to an upwards trajectory, rising towards the concept of good. Otherwise love is only an impermanent “promise” (Sym. 193D). Therefore, Aristophanes’ lack of separation from the concrete cause love to come from incompleteness and a fallen condition (Dutton Lecture). Likewise, Phaedrus’ speech lacks a removal from the present and therefore fails to explain love’s effects, as seen in his Achilles and Patroclus example. To Phaedrus, Achilles still dying after Patroclus passes is love, for “no one will die for you but a lover” (Sym. 179B). But, Diotima claims this love is unhealthy as it fails to represent the abstract notion of beauty. Since beauty is something to be indirectly experienced, it is unmeasurable and instead “preserves”

Virgil’s Aeneid is considered the greatest work in Latin and it is easy to see why. With obvious references to the works of Homer and the desire to be the greatest writer, Virgil used a large portion of his life to create a captivating tale about the founding of Rome. The Aeneid was meant to be the result of a commission by Augustus Caesar to capture his greatest exploits but Virgil refused to be limited in such a way. Instead, Virgil uses history to reference issues that were current in his time in hopes that Augustus and the Roman people could learn from their past. Due to Virgil’s desire to show Romans what it meant to be Roman he captures the values that Romans held in highest esteem. The greatest value he portrays is duty to a father and duty to the fate a person has been given. Vigil also shows the Romans value of friendship and warriorship. These insights can show how the ancient Romans valued different things in their day to day lives.

Love always seems to find a place in someone’s heart not by choice but by admiration. One who admires another appears to feel something towards the person they are admiring and that feeling they have can lead into the feeling of love. Despite all of Love’s joy and excitement, Gottfried Von Strassburg’s Tristan and Thomas’ Tristan, reveals the way love overwhelms a person and the outcomes that happen when two lovers cannot be near or without each other. Love’s overwhelming feeling often associates with death, in that those in love are so consumed with emotion and the desire to be with their beloved that it can lead to their downfall. Even though the loves of Rivalin and Blancheflor and Tristan and Isolde/Ysolt are similar in ways, they also are different.

The Aeneid was written during the time of Augustus (27 BC), the first Emperor of Rome. After Caesar’s death in 44BC, Augustus had the immense task of bringing Rome back to her original stability and unity that had been shattered during the Civil Wars and decline of her Republic. In the establishment of this empire Augustus had legislation encouraging marriage and the birth of children. Thus it makes sense that Virgil’s The Aeneid promoted the theme of marriage in a beneficial light. In Book 12 Aeneas was fated to marry Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus of Latium. By marrying Lavinia Aeneas would be in alliance with Latinus, conquering Latium to further the founding of Rome. Aeneas explains this alliance with the following: “May both nations, undefeated, under equal laws, / march together toward an eternal pact of peace. / I shall bestow the gods and their sacred rites. / My father-in-law Latinus will retain his armies, / my father-in-law, his power, his rightful rule. / The men of Troy will erect a city for me— / Lavinia will give its walls her name.” This shows that through the alliance, not only would Aeneas rise in power and land, but it also describes the unity and peacefulness that would result from the alliance. Therefore, The Aeneid promoted political marriages due to the benefits and success that resulted from those marital alliances.

Queen Dido’s suicide is one of the most obvious examples of pain and suffering in The Aeneid. Dido fell in love Aeneas because Juno, the queen of the gods, wanted to distract Aeneas from his main purpose: founding Rome. Aeneas had been sent on his mission by Jupiter, the king of the gods. Juno believed that making the two fall in love would make Aeneas want to remain in Carthage, where Dido ruled, distracting him from his journey. Jupiter, however, realized what was happening and reminded Aeneas of his journey.

The opinion and image that most people have of Eros, the god of love in Greek mythology, often reflect the view and representation that people have for love itself. Since love is such a puzzling matter, people quickly form an ambivalent opinion toward Eros. Robert Bridges and Anne Stevenson reveal these uncertain feelings toward Eros in their poems directed to the Greek god of love through their diction, allowing readers to notice similarities and differences in their works. Although Bridges and Stevenson expose a level of uncertainty and sympathy toward Eros in their poems, both poets different inquisitive interpretations of Eros divulge their true and differing feelings toward

Virgil’s The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The poem details the journey of Aeneas and his men after they are forced to flee burning Troy and as they wander the seas in search of land suitable to found a new Troy. Throughout the many books, the Trojans suffer through the Trojan War, the loss of their home, fierce storms, horrible monsters, and the wrath of the gods. A major theme of The Aeneid is human suffering as the characters in the poem experience the full front of despair and pain.

    The meaningful term “love” can be applied to differing relationships in Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello. In this essay let us examine under a microscope the “love” that we find throughout the play.

Love, in classical Greek literature, is commonly considered as a prominent theme. Love, in present days, always appears in the categories of books, movies or music, etc. Interpreted differently by different people, Love turns into a multi-faceted being.

In calling love “a serious mental disease,” Plato inspired centuries of authors, doctors, and philosophers. Unlike romantic comedy movies and the Top 40 pop songs chart, which idolize love, literature frequently portrays it as a sickness. Both love and mental illness affect brain chemistry, mood, and behavior. In pieces such as Euripides’ Medea, symptoms of love range from mental illness-like ailments to physical manifestations such as a vanishing appetite, concentration, and apparent sanity. In Longus’ work, love is described as having similar traits. Throughout the story of Daphnis and Chloe’s pastoral romance, love drives both of them mad with longing. Love amplifies their innocent feelings for each other, resulting in a disorienting combination of depression and mania. The affliction goes deeper; their total devotion to each other and pastoral

Intro – Begin by talking about how people often see Aeneid by Virgil as focusing on the events surrounding the Trojan war, but an equally important part of the story is the prevalent theme of duty. For instance, if one looks at Aeneas one can see his devotion towards caring for his people, and his persistence to follow his duty. Because of the emphasize that Virgil places on Aeneas devotion to his people and his duty to obey the gods, one can begin to theorize that Virgil believed duty was the most important quality a man could possess. Thesis: Often times, the Aeneid carries the reputation as a book centering around the founding of Rome, however, without the constant reminder of duty, one cannot fully view Virgil’s story as he intended.

When people fall in love, they are willing to give up things they otherwise wouldn’t. In the Aeneid book IV, Queen Dido was so willing to give up duties such as running her kingdom of Carthage, to be with Aeneas. Instead of taking on her important duties and trying

Sophocles first displays the failure of love through the war and deaths of Polyneices and Eteocles. Polyneices, the brother of Antigone and Eteocles, has broken familial ties and gone against his own people, as he is a commander in the Argive army that attacked his home city of Thebes. With this background, Sophocles is able to reveal how anger can be a stronger emotion than even love as the two brothers met “face to face in a matchless rage” (195). Here it is emphasized that love can be overshadowed by rage and greed as both brothers neglected their shared blood and history and instead were motivated by a place of hate as they fought for power. Rage not only overtook filial love between Polyneices and Eteocles on the battlefield, but before this. Eteocles and Polyneices were unable to share the crown after their father Oedipus’ death. The fight for power ultimately led to Polyneices being exiled from Thebes. This fight for the crown functions as a smaller internal war between the two brothers. Both the internal and external wars allow for love to be exposed as fickle. Love is fickle as it can easily be transformed into hate and this is shown when to loving brothers are torn apart by a single quarrel. With love comes strong emotions and when these emotions are transformed to hate, such hate is unconquerable just as “love (is) unconquerable” (224).

The term “Eros,” referring to passionate love in English, has long been the mainstream of themes in drama, literature, arts, and cinematic media. The fascinating power of love has been exhaustively publicized, and the pursuit of love is diffused in streets and lanes. Conversely, in ancient times, many poets, especially Virgil, Ovid and Apuleius, described eros as such an evil spirit that it will destroy the female soul thoroughly, except for the one in Apuleius’ story of Cupid and Psyche. Even if taking into account the historical background of a patriarchal community and therefore the esteemed male dominance, the particular case of Psyche’s surviving and even thriving her encounter with eros