“The Aeneid” By Virgil: From Romance To Tragedies

It is interesting how mythical stories always have an interesting beginning to end, particularly this story that we are talking about is an about Aeneid and it would have never existed if it wasn’t for Virgil, the poet, he was famous for 3 poems especially the one about Aeneid, Aeneid is a Latin epic poem who was written in 29 and 19 BC, he created the character name Aeneas also as Aeneid, who is a mythical hero of Troy and Rome, he is the son of Aphrodite and Anchises. He was one of the members of the royal line. He played an important role in where he was defending the Greeks during the Trojan War. He is seen as the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the two twin brothers that were raised by a she-wolf. Sadly Virgil died and this poem was one of his final works.

In the first article, we are talking about Aeneid going back and forth with the path of fate or whether the gods control the other way around. It can be destiny, in other words, it can be the idea of “free will”. He doesn’t necessarily fix this issue but he attempts to in various situations that happened before his passing. In these 3 articles, it will show his efforts of trying to choose fate or destiny and how the Gods were particularly involved in his days of life. Aeneid was far from being weak, he is one worthy hero that continued to save others, he is “the second in command” but he couldn’t figure out his feeling towards his fate or the will of the Gods. Though you can see he wasn’t perfect because his emotions over-controlled him which made him face multiple conflicts. His emotions lead him to a certain direction because of his disobedience as well.

Firstly, Aeneid does start to lose strength and more than just a couple when he ends up disobeying Hector’s words to flee, he quickly faces the conflict During a big storm he did not deceased, on the plains for Troy he then reminds his guys that there’s a new Troy to have arisen in from Lactium, this causes him conflict because he ends up pretending a hope in which he does not believe in, he forgets his goal and mission and Mercury reminds him numerous times and while Dido becomes his lover. I think Dido did have something to do with Aeneid’s “comeback” because not long after he obeys Mercury, however, his attitude is unwilling and hesitant. He fails again in Sicily when the ships catch on fire he gives up his journey and decides to settle there. He had advice and help from Nautes but rejects it as well as the visions of Anchises. This concludes that he’s very much not perfect just like any other human being. He had become very angry at the death of Pallas X. Vergil’s interest in human emotion was interesting, mainly because of fate and divine interference, he uses a God or Goddesses to interact with the character on their choice-making, as well as influence their state of mind with their wishes in the mix. They also make sure to bring them to a satisfactory decisive fulfillment. As the poem continues, later on, Aeneid does become a great leader shortly after so as you can see I think his actions cause him to not follow his fate perfectly and in my opinion, he had no control of the gods controlling fate or the way around on which is either on destiny.

Such as the second article is talking about Dido’s death and Aeneid’s “fate” with the unsettling tale of finding his love but also following his fate on the gods want him to leave and complete his mission. Dido is a very interesting person and has a shocking story herself. She is second-hand goddess venus, before falling in love with Aeneas she was once married to Sychaeus, the richest man in Tyres, her brother was the King of Tyre and for his greediness, he had killed her husband so she had to flee Tyre. Eventually, they met Aeneid and they fell in love. Once they were together he was reminded of his mission by the gods. Dido becomes very furious about his departure and wishes bad on him. Then Dido tells her sister to get the pyre (sword) she supposedly claimed that she wanted to burn some of Aeneas stuff he left behind. She had also been feeling guilty for moving on from her husband’s passing and has been unfaithful to his memory. Once her sister builds the pyre she was contemplating to commit suicide but eventually giving up on the thought so she climbs on top of it and stabs herself with Aeneas sword once given to her by him. Dido had a lock-in her hair that the messengers took to prepare her for death, she dies and Aeneas runs into her in the underworld and apologizes for leaving her but he had too because all he was doing was the god’s bidding that he once wasn’t, as he is now doing at the moment. Dido doesn’t listen and runs off to join the shade of her dead husband, Sychaeus.

For instance, this story gets me on my feet because Virgil was apart of this story as well because it includes his character Aeneas, These two characters a weird love story because at the end they go their separate ways but something that caught my eye was the sense of guilt that Dido had felt about her husband the reason is that most likely mythical stories are really about killing your husband or kids or a brother and the characters are filled with pride so it was different for Dido feeling like that against her husband who had died, it was different and refreshing. Her love for him was death, Virgil took the word “tragedy” and flipped it to a story ending with suicide. I believe that was taken over by a guilty conscious and the fact that she didn’t end up killing him surprises me but is also said that the solution for her was to kill herself. While, for Aeneid, he was following the god’s orders which is an example of not being able to fight fate and not going with destiny because even though he didn’t want to do it, he still had to. As most of the stories like these were that the gods were very punishing if you weren’t following what they would ask you too. As a hero that Aeneas was known to be, he didn’t have a choice, even though he did it unwilling and hesitant. In this story, Virgil created there’s a symbolic meaning with Dibo’s lock that was taken off her hair on her day of death. As well as the Golden Bough, which were branches that didn’t let Aeneas complete his mission.

Besides, the third article talks about Aeneid fate and the similarities about Dibo’s lock and Golden Bough. The Golden Bough was a branching tree with golden leaves that wouldn’t let Aeneid travel to the underworld safely. Dido’s Lock is and Golden Bough most likely had a fate. Both of these objects are gifts as conceived, these objects are both necessary to enter the underworld. The bough can be described as golden-haired, the similarity to this branch and hair is referred to the word “brachial” as in it will never grow back. As to Aeneid and Dido’s symbolic death is the way both are perceived by animal sacrifice. Sibyl tells Aeneid to complete the task that he was assigned to for the gods that before entering the underworld he must sacrifice a cattle, which means it’s an offering that is rare in the Aeneid. There’s an association between the human and animal sacrifice in the Aeneid once again, along with the locks and bough is a parallel situation with the underworld where both Aeneid and Dido are.

However, Sibyl famously tells Aeneid he will find his task either impossible or just shallow. This is where somehow fate kicks in but not quite in Aeneid and if Sibyl is telling the truth then Aeneid is fighting with the bough. The bough implies that fate is calling him but not calling him at the same time with Dido, her death was not caused by fate because of she willing to her own life. These symbols did have to do with Aeneids fate and he kind of struggling with it and to be able to not follow it is difficult. Additionally, when in the underworld Aeneas’ father, Anchises helps him to understand his role with a clear vision and clarification and becomes clear in his destined future. The reason why Aeneid is the underworld is that Sibyl assigned him to a task which is also following what the gods want and after Dido, of course, he was distracted but got back to where he needed to be by an obligation to his son Jupiter. The value of Aeneas tells on what type of character is he because he had carried out his father and so out of Troy. He is honoring the gods because he was eagerly searching for any and wise they might have had. Due to his books with Dido, he made a hard choice to leave and just obeying fate, he completed just shuts down his genuine feelings for love towards Dido and instead chooses the route to let fate control his life while obeying the gods. This defines his character and earns the title to be a Trojan hero.

Furthermore, in the fourth article, the author is talking about Virgil and how the way he writes about the two characters that not merely das you already know Dido there was also Turnus. The tragedy is that Aeneid does play the antagonist in this book, When Aeneid finds out about Palla’s death and that Turnus steals his belt from the dead body, Aeneid grows very angry and with that he stabs him. Turnus was a prince and the leader of the Latin forces who oppose the Trojans, but Turnus is the anti-hero character although it may seem harsh what Aeneid did Turnus had no remorse and was filled with the desire of war and blood. He lacks control and he tends to have a certain rage and ends up being clouded and influenced by his deceiving ego. In my opinion, his fate was to die, his character plays a very deceitful man. Who I think he didn’t think of what his actions might cause his own life. Once he had killed Palla and took the sword belt from his unconscious body it was very disrespectful and dishonest of him. This defeat of Turnus was the union of Latins, Roman and the Roman Supremacy of Italy. Once again I think with Aeneas getting distracted about Turnus but trying to get back on his mission after.

Moreover, the other focus of the article was looking at the Aeneid as a trilogy because it has parallels and contrasts with characters, it may not seem but with each, the tragic moments that happened do make a turning point in Aeneas character development and on his fate. To Dido’s death, to killing Turnus and the departure of Troy and other situations that haven’t been explained like the Loss of Creusa, it always somehow has him leaving unwillingly and under an order from the gods.

Lastly, the fifth article, we learn that the ending of Aeneid is him burying Palinurus which is an Aeneid pilot, they go sailing together in Italy. Later they met in the underworld because he had died when the god of sleep had consumed him and the sea had swallowed him. The last book is where the tragedy of Turnus but one important thing he had explained where he wished to had built a new Troy, and he had eventually opened himself to a future where is past is overshadowing him in a way but there is hope for creating a new path for himself and the refugees of Troy and not going to be building a new empire not going back to the old. The greatest mystery is we do not know how Aeneid had died, there were of so-called “rumors” about his death. Some say he had disappeared during a battle where Turnus was his ally. Others say he died without reaching Italy after even setting his people, returning home and becoming King of Troy shortly after leaving the kingdom after his tragic death of his son Ascanius.

In conclusion, Aeneid had an interesting tale about his never-ending issue of whether the gods control fate or the way around. Virgil was a great author to me and used his imagination to create a story full of outstanding characters that gave us a ride into their lives. From romance to tragedies and even a couple of murders but even that’s all with mythical stories it does develop the characters in their way. The Aeneid never figured it out but overall it made him into a great hero of Trojan, he wasn’t perfect because he did make a few mistakes along the way but I believe that his fate led him to go on a mission to obey the gods.

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