Virgil Aeneid XII Sympathy with Aeneas
By the end of Book 12, with which hero do you have more sympathy, Aeneas or Turnus? Give reasons based on your reading of the whole text. [8]
Throughout Book 12, Virgil clearly flicks from the perspective of Turnus to Aeneas several times in order to change with whom we have more sympathy. Overall, Virgil is very successful at doing this and we, as the reader, find ourselves changing our opinions of the heroic characters Aeneas and Turnus over the course of Book 12.
Virgil uses a few techniques in order to extract sympathy for Aeneas from the reader. At some different points in Book 12 of the Aeneid, Virgil makes it seem as if Aeneas is the hero, and Turnus the villain, thus creating sympathy for the former. Virgil, for a large part of this book, portrays Aeneas as being wounded by an arrow wound, making the character seem more heroic, and so we feel sympathy towards him because of this. A number of times, Aeneas is unable to catch Turnus because his wounded knees slow him down. Virgil clearly shows the reader the struggle that Aeneas is facing, and this is illustrated in the simile of the Umbrian hunting dog and the deer. Through this simile, Aeneas – the hunting dog – is unable to grab Turnus, having been deceived by an empty bite. Throughout Book 12 of the Aeneid, Virgil hints that it is possible to feel a small amount of sympathy towards Aeneas, however it is clear that this sympathy cannot extend as far as with Turnus.
Virgil definitely wants his readers to sympathise with Turnus, at least to some extent. Throughout Book 12, it is considerably easier for us as the reader to sympathise with this heroic character. Virgil portrays Turnus as a rather helpless character for much of the final book of the Aeneid. For example, we cannot help but feel empathy and sympathy for Turnus when his sword breaks, after having mistakenly taken the wrong one. Virgil builds up to this moment by switching to the perspective of Turnus; the tension is heightened when he
Throughout Book 12, Virgil clearly flicks from the perspective of Turnus to Aeneas several times in order to change with whom we have more sympathy. Overall, Virgil is very successful at doing this and we, as the reader, find ourselves changing our opinions of the heroic characters Aeneas and Turnus over the course of Book 12.
Virgil uses a few techniques in order to extract sympathy for Aeneas from the reader. At some different points in Book 12 of the Aeneid, Virgil makes it seem as if Aeneas is the hero, and Turnus the villain, thus creating sympathy for the former. Virgil, for a large part of this book, portrays Aeneas as being wounded by an arrow wound, making the character seem more heroic, and so we feel sympathy towards him because of this. A number of times, Aeneas is unable to catch Turnus because his wounded knees slow him down. Virgil clearly shows the reader the struggle that Aeneas is facing, and this is illustrated in the simile of the Umbrian hunting dog and the deer. Through this simile, Aeneas – the hunting dog – is unable to grab Turnus, having been deceived by an empty bite. Throughout Book 12 of the Aeneid, Virgil hints that it is possible to feel a small amount of sympathy towards Aeneas, however it is clear that this sympathy cannot extend as far as with Turnus.
Virgil definitely wants his readers to sympathise with Turnus, at least to some extent. Throughout Book 12, it is considerably easier for us as the reader to sympathise with this heroic character. Virgil portrays Turnus as a rather helpless character for much of the final book of the Aeneid. For example, we cannot help but feel empathy and sympathy for Turnus when his sword breaks, after having mistakenly taken the wrong one. Virgil builds up to this moment by switching to the perspective of Turnus; the tension is heightened when he