Essay on Fate and Human Responsibility in the Aeneid

Fate and Human Responsibility in the Aeneid If youre going to write an epic about great heroism, dont use the Aeneid as your primary guide. Its not that heroism cant be found in the Aeneid, its just hard to prove. First off, Virgil writes a story in a fatalistic universe, wherein every action and every event is under Jupiters divine thumb . Fatalism is all-pervading in Virgil . . . in it [the Aeneid] the words fatum and fata occur some 120 times (Bailey 204). And in the first three books alone the word Fatum or Fata occurs more than forty times (Sellar 334). Venus praises Jupiter as one who: command[s] and govern[s] the events of gods and men . . . (1:321-21). Furthermore, Phoebus tells Aeneas that†¦show more content†¦Anderson notes: Everything that Aeneas does seems to have its cruel price; every time he promotes the destined future he also hurts the present condition of someone else (26). Yet, out of all the characters in the Aeneid, readers will pity Dido the most. Turnus could fight back against fate, but Did o cant. In fact, Poschl argues that the book of Dido can be considered the climax of the whole poem (91). Didos death is by far the most problematic because through her death, which she didnt deserve , ushers in the future death of everyone in Carthage . The idea of a praiseworthy hero, who incites the suicide of an innocent Queen, becomes highly suspect. We want to cheer along Aeneas through his adventures, but it becomes increasingly hard knowing that he is the cause of Didos suicide. Even though Venus and Juno engineered Didos love affair with Aeneas, our view of Aeneas is damaged because he wasnt forced to have sex with Dido. Dido was spellbound, but Aeneas wasnt. Aeneas could have been heroic and refrained from fornication, but he didnt. Aeneas enjoyed his love affair with Dido until incited by Mercury to move on. Though some critics have seen Aeneas love spree with Dido as a tragic flaw that is redeemed through his act of leaving , he is the major cause of Didos suici desomething that isnt redeemable. This essay will explore the problem of fatum in the life of Dido, and seek to understand how Dido canShow MoreRelated The Roles of Greek and Roman Women Essay1665 Words   |  7 Pageswere sheltered. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were anticipated to be good wives and mothers, but not much of anything else. The roles of women are thoroughly discussed in readings such as The Aeneid, Iliad, Sappho poetry, and Semonides essay. Most women in ancient Rome were viewed as possessions of the men who they lived with. Basically they were handed from their father to their new husband at the time of their marriage and submitted any property they ownedRead MoreFate and Destiny7886 Words   |  32 Pages\\server05\productn\T\THE\26-1-2\THE1203.txt unknown Seq: 1 26-FEB-07 9:49 Fate and Destiny: Some Historical Distinctions between the Concepts Richard W. Bargdill Saint Francis University Abstract There has been a great deal of attention given to the â€Å"free will versus determinism† debate. However, little attention has been paid to the most common expressions from this controversy—people’s everyday experience of fate and destiny. In fact, fate and destiny are terms that are often used as synonyms as if thereRead MoreAnglo-Saxon Heroic Poetry5673 Words   |  23 Pagesfollowing criteria: such a poem must be related in an elevated style, and centered upon a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human race. The hero, usually protected by or even descended from gods, performs superhuman exploits in battle or in marvellous voyages, often saving or founding a nation or the human race itself. The main characteristics of the Epic Hero include the following: 1.The hero is introduced in the midst of turmoil, at a point well