Aeneas
The Aeneid is a poem of parallels and contrasts. This is because Virgil crafted his epic as a means of placing the Romans above the Greeks on the literal level. It was often understood that while Rome had a far superior military, the Greeks had a far more evolved sense of Art and the more sublime aspects of existence. As such, Virgil wrote the Aeneid as a direct parallel to Homer's great epics: the Odyssey and the Iliad. He saw these works as the pinnacles of Greek fable, and as such he felt that he had to write a superior epic in order to show the Greeks Rome's cultural dominance. He felt that the best way to do so was to closely emulate the Homeric epics with one important change: heroes with Roman minds and ideals. The typical Greek hero, such as Achilles, was a much more self serving glory hound, who took a sort of delight in the wanton slaughter of enemies and had much less depth of character. Aeneas, on the other hand, is a more developed hero. He has a three-fold code of conduct: Duty to the gods, duty to one's country, and duty to one's family. This is called 'pietas'. Throughout the Aeneid, he attempts to find the best course of action to satisfy his duties. As such, the Aeneid's first half is very much so one of growt
He is drawn into his circumstances of war and imminent death not because of his own failings as a person, such as Mezentius, but because of uncontrollable circumstances. This conflict is portrayed by Aeneas' battle with Mezentius. With Turnus' killing of Pallas in Book X, we see an Aeneas that is a flawed being. "There Turnus lay asleep, beneath his high roof, in black night. 'Poor boy, for such an act what can the pious Aeneas give to match so bright a nature? . He says, " 'the city that you would help is now in flames. By Book 7 Aeneas is essentially a fully Roman hero. In Book 2 especially, Aeneas does not show himself to be "pious" in the Roman sense of the word. When he is first introduced, Virgil says, "Lausus, tamer of wild horses, a hunter and a victor over beats, who leads out of the city of Agylla a thousand men who followed him for nothing; one worthy to obey a better father - a father who was not Mezentius. He is the handsomest, strongest, tallest man out of all the Latins. This scene is important, because it reiterates upon Mezentius' lack of character in that he allowed his son to fight his battle for him after he had become injured, while at the same time reinforcing the readers' sense of Aeneas' piety. " pp 119, ln 570 - 574 However, Entellus comes back and shows such fury during their fight that Aeneas must restrain him so that he does not kill Dares. This is a strong contrast to the typical Homeric typified villain of Mezentius.
Common topics in this essay:
Mezentius Pp,
Roman Book,
Italians Turnus,
King Latinus,
Aeneas Mezentius,
Book Aeneas,
Juno Aeneas,
Virgil Mezentius,
Greeks Rome's,
Entellus Dares,
king latinus,
mezentius' lack,
pp 184 ln,
pp 184,
greek hero,
184 ln,
anchises' son,
lausus' mother,
duty one's,
pious aeneas,
mezentius' lack character,
drawn conflict juno,
cares lausus',
|
Acceptance Essays
