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the story about Aeneas
the story about Aeneas
the story about Aeneas
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Dido: Queen or Drama Queen?
In The Aeneid by Virgil, the protagonist Aeneas journeys from his fallen city of Troy to Hesperia, the place we now call Italy, to start a new city. Along the way he encounters Queen Dido, the founder and ruler of the city of Carthage. When Aeneas meets Dido he learns some of her history and how she came to be the ruler of Carthage. Meeting Aeneas affects Dido’s leadership and people in dramatic ways. Because of an affair the have together and the resulting drama, the question is raised as to whether or not Dido is a good leader. To determine if she was a good leader or not, I will examine her character and actions in the text The Aeneid.
When Aeneas first learns of Dido, it is from his mother the goddess Venus.
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City building is no small task. It requires intensive planning, an organized labor force, and an immense amount of resources to build the city as well as feed, clothe, and house the workers building it in the meantime. In addition to building the city, the laws must be carefully planned out as well. When Aeneas arrives in Carthage, he sees all of these things taking place. “The Tyrians press on with the work, some aligning the walls,... some picking building sites and plowing out their boundaries, others drafting laws, electing judges, a senate held in awe,” (Virgil, 61). Dido is a good leader because she has the intelligence and skill required to plan out a city and organize a workforce to build it. She was able to get its future residents to cooperate in working towards a common goal. Dido is a good leader because she was able to start building a city from the ground up with no one to advise her, she did it with her intellect and ability to inspire her …show more content…
Though she was a woman, she rallied her people together and led them out of the land controlled by her brother who betrayed her by murdering her husband for his money. She orchestrated the building of Carthage out of nothing, starting a city that would later go on to be a major world power and opponent of the Romans. She organized her people to work together to build Carthage, and she worked to make strategic alliances for the betterment of her people and to ensure her city’s safety. Although she had an affair with Aeneas, tarnishing her name and forgetting her people, then killing herself when he left her, she did these things only because of meddling of the gods. For these reasons, she was a good
Dido is portrayed as a character driven by emotion, and that her actions are out of her control. For example her actions when she discovers that Aeneas is to leave Carthage as Bacchic. This is emphasised even more by the fact that Dido is made to love Aeneas by Venus. It as if Dido has no agency in her life.
In both characters loyalty and dutifulness is a central ideal that they stick to. In The Aeneid Aeneas’ loyalty and sense of duty is seen in many instances, such as when they arrive on the shores of Italy and takes refuge Dido’s city of Carthage. While there, Aeneas and his people feast and live well, and Aeneas has the opportunity
...ow Greek civilization was founded by women; they were the ones who gave birth to the heroes. Similarly, The Odyssey is a story created by women. The plot revolves around the actions of women. Athena orchestrates all the events. The seductresses, such as Circe, the sirens, and Calypso, attempt to stop Odysseus from reaching home. The helpmeets, such as Nausicaa, Arete, and Athena, aid Odysseus in his homecoming. The wise and virtuous Penelope is the object of Odysseus’ quest. Unlike Helen who forsakes her husband, Penelope remains faithful. Unlike Clytemnestra who assassinates her husband, Penelope patiently waits for Odysseus. She becomes a model of female patience and of female intelligence. Her craftiness is the only one which can match up to Odysseus’. The Odyssey presents a wide array of women and demonstrates the influence that women have in the life of a hero.
There are a few strong female figures in this unit. One of whom being Circe. Circe is fearless, proving this by turning odysseus men into swine and then seducing odysseus. She manipulates and influences Odysseus into staying on the island with her and abandoning his quest. Penelope is also a strong female character. She leads Ithaca alone for many while her husband is gone in an era when women were seen as weaker, or counterparts to their husbands. Penelope, unlike odysseus, waited for her husbands return and stayed faithful despite many suitors. This shows her to be admirable and strong willed, considering it would have been much easier to just take a husband. The two female characters stand out as being powerful and
There have been many great leaders in stories, one of the greatest of them, would be Odysseus in The Odyssey. The poet, Homer, wrote the epic poem known as The Odyssey. Through his actions during the Trojan War, and in the Cyclops’ island, Odysseus demonstrates the characteristics of a tremendous leader. A primary example of Odysseus’ leadership skills, was when he came up with the idea of using the Trojan Horse to invade Troy. The Trojan war had been going on for around ten years, until one person, Odysseus, came up with the idea of using a wooden horse to invade Troy. This shows that he was a great leader, because he thought outside the box, and ended the war. Moreover, Odysseus demonstrates the qualities of a great leader when he gets him
First things first myself and odysseys share this trait called leadership the first reason I say that we both have leadership. Well you see odysseus and his crew went threw this cave and faced scylla which is a 6 headed monster he said to his crew nothing because they could do nothing.Just like at one time me and my team had a deadline for a project and nobody was motivated to do it. The deadline was in a couple days and we finished and got a okay grade. Still not convinced that we share this trait? Fine then what about when Odysseus showed leadership when they were trapped in a cave with a man eating cyclops and Odysseus could have killed him for killing his men but he held back. Because he knew that they would die if they killed him because
A true leader should offer help to others before they think about doing something for themselves. Circe is a nymph who lives on the island of Aeaea who has tricked some of Odysseus’ crew members into drink a special wine that turns them into animals. One crew member that is loyal to Odysseus, Eurylochus, knows about the trap Circe has for the men then goes back to Odysseus to tell him what has happened. Odysseus wants to go save his crew members to make sure everyone is alright: “But I shot back, ‘Eurylochus, stay right here,/ eating drinking, safe by the black ship./ I must be off. Necessity drives me on’” (Homer X 299-301). Odysseus takes responsibility for the troubles that has happened to his men and goes out to save them. Before Odysseus goes out to save his men, he makes sure Eurylochus is okay and has something to eat. The crew is low on food due to recent problems they have faced, but Odysseus managed to feed the men that are loyal to die. Odysseus shows how he is a strong leader because he rather give up his necessities to his crew to make sure they are
Virgil depicts the animosity between Rome and Carthage through the unfortunate and disastrous romance between Dido and Aeneas. This is done 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 exudes a sense of apathetic pitilessness and disregard towards Dido in her very obvious
As much as I don’t like to admit , Odysseus has a lot of bad qualities that could change my opinion on him being a good leader, for example
She requested Zeus to have Odysseus freed from Calypso. Zeus then sent Hermes to talk Calypso into letting Odysseus free. Calypso, of course could not disobey the Gods request (Calypso and Odysseus). She began to help Odysseus build his boat. She even supplied him with enough food and beverages for his trip back to Ithaca (Calypso and Odysseus). Once Calypso let Odysseus go, she began to try to kill herself. Sadly, she just continued to suffer because she was immortal (Calypso and Odysseus).
Impressed by Aeneas’s exploits and sympathetic to his suffering, Dido, a Phoenician princess who fled her home and founded Carthage after her brother murdered her husband, falls in love with Aeneas. They live together as lovers for a period, until the gods remind Aeneas of his duty to found a new city. He determines to set sail once again. Dido is devastated by his departure, and kills herself by ordering a huge pyre to be built with Aeneas’s castaway possessions, climbing upon it, and stabbing herself with the sword Aeneas leaves behind.
Dido is a significant character when it comes to Western Literature; Interestingly enough, Virgil characterized Dido as a successful queen of a city (Carthage). This is important when it comes to gender roles because Dido is a female character that is one of power and status, which was unheard of in ancient society and literature. Women were usually depicted as servants, trophies, or temptresses, and if the women were depicted as goddesses, they were characterized as spiteful, tempting, and emotional. Virgil uses foreshadowing when Dido compares her love for Aeneas to be like fire (which is how she ends up dying). Given this foreshadowing and despair, through Dido, Virgil still depicts women/Dido as being too emotional and caring, such as how
Cleopatra was one of the greatest queens of Egypt. Cleopatra had many accomplishments in life. She is mostly known for her intelligence. She was also very beautiful. She was smart and well-liked, however she was a ruthless leader of Egypt. Cleopatra is well known for being one of the most powerful rulers because of her many great choices, even despite her few bad ones. Cleopatra had an interesting life and accomplished many things. She had control of the people of Egypt and used her power in different ways. The life of Cleopatra is characterized by her years spent growing up and ruling over the land of Egypt.
I believe that Aeneas stays true to his duties through most of the poem, through upon meeting Dido, Aeneas gets distracted by her interest in him which in turn also distracts her from her own duties.
Cleopatra was a very strong, power and courageous women. She is very known around the world because of her background history. She is most known for her love life and journeys she took around Egypt and Greece.