Dido_And_Aeneas__Could_This_Be_Read_As_A_Disingenuous_Story

Dido And Aeneas: Could This Be Read As A Disingenuous Story Of Love Betrayed' Virgil wrote the Aeneid during what is known as the Golden Age of the Roman Empire, under the auspices of Rome’s first emperor, Caesar Augustus. The court of Augustus commissioned Virgil’s Aeneid, in part to validate itself. For this reason, it is not all that surprising that Virgil’s Dido is flawed in a number of ways when compared to the standards of the time period in which she was created. Her most basic flaw is the fact that she is biologically a woman. Worse, she has achieved a station in life which the Romans would reserve exclusively for men as she is the ruler of a kingdom and she wages war. As well, she betrays the memory of her deceased husband and her duty as a widow, and by doing so she delays the illustrious founder of Rome from his destined path. Although her relationship with Aeneas spans only this one book of the Aeneid, Dido has become a literary icon for the tragic lover, like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Aeneas’ most heinous act in the Aeneid is his abandonment of Dido as not only does he abandon her, he drives her to suicide. dido, aeneas, love, virgil’s, aeneid, emotions, aeneas’s, rome, own, carthage, virgil, duty, true, though, ovid’s, order, italy, future, fate, both, act, abandonment, without, while, whereas, troy, suicide, responsibilities, queen, out, much, lover, less, leaving, herself