Choices - The Aeneid essay
Chosen Fates
Making choices result in actions that ultimately determine fate. Being passive means to not make your own choices; no effort is made to change what is presumed to happen. Often times in ancient epic poems multiple Gods have agendas that affect humans. In the Aeneid by Virgil, Dido is portrayed as a victim of destiny, but is not passive: she makes deliberate, thought out choices in her relationship with Aeneas such as when pursuing him as a husband and when plotting her death that clearly mark her as an active participant in her own fate. The first display of Dido's free will can be seen when she decides to pursue Aeneas as her husband. Aeneas is destined to be the founder of Rome. But the Goddesses Juno's anger towards Aeneas leaves him shipwrecked and lands Aeneas in Carthage, the city Dido rules. However, being the Queen of Carthage, Dido must have a husband in order for her rule to be legitimized. After hearing his retelling of the fall of Troy, Dido admits to a love for Aeneas. In fact, “Were it not / [her] sure, immovable decision not / to marry anyone since [her] first love / turned traitor,... [Dido] might perhaps give away to this one fault” (The Aeneid, IV, 16-21). Cupid, the God of love, has already influenced Dido to fall in love with Aeneas. But despite Cupid's influence, Dido is still deciding what to do: whether she should pursue Aeneas, or uphold her promise to not remarry after her first husband's death. Even after being under Cupid's influence, Dido is still weighing out the options of her decisions; she does not immediately do as the Gods want, but rather displays choices that she is freely able to make. In order to make sense of what to do, Dido asks her sister Anna for advice. In response, Anna seems shocked that Dido “...[struggles] against a love / that is so acceptable” (The Aeneid, IV, 49-50) and concedes that if Dido “...[marries] Aeneas, what a city / and what a kingdom [she] will see! / With Trojan arms
Making choices result in actions that ultimately determine fate. Being passive means to not make your own choices; no effort is made to change what is presumed to happen. Often times in ancient epic poems multiple Gods have agendas that affect humans. In the Aeneid by Virgil, Dido is portrayed as a victim of destiny, but is not passive: she makes deliberate, thought out choices in her relationship with Aeneas such as when pursuing him as a husband and when plotting her death that clearly mark her as an active participant in her own fate. The first display of Dido's free will can be seen when she decides to pursue Aeneas as her husband. Aeneas is destined to be the founder of Rome. But the Goddesses Juno's anger towards Aeneas leaves him shipwrecked and lands Aeneas in Carthage, the city Dido rules. However, being the Queen of Carthage, Dido must have a husband in order for her rule to be legitimized. After hearing his retelling of the fall of Troy, Dido admits to a love for Aeneas. In fact, “Were it not / [her] sure, immovable decision not / to marry anyone since [her] first love / turned traitor,... [Dido] might perhaps give away to this one fault” (The Aeneid, IV, 16-21). Cupid, the God of love, has already influenced Dido to fall in love with Aeneas. But despite Cupid's influence, Dido is still deciding what to do: whether she should pursue Aeneas, or uphold her promise to not remarry after her first husband's death. Even after being under Cupid's influence, Dido is still weighing out the options of her decisions; she does not immediately do as the Gods want, but rather displays choices that she is freely able to make. In order to make sense of what to do, Dido asks her sister Anna for advice. In response, Anna seems shocked that Dido “...[struggles] against a love / that is so acceptable” (The Aeneid, IV, 49-50) and concedes that if Dido “...[marries] Aeneas, what a city / and what a kingdom [she] will see! / With Trojan arms