A2 Unit CC10 F390 - Virgil and the world of the hero
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Summary Character Analysis and Notes on the Aeneid - World of the Hero - A-Level
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A2 Unit CC10 F390 - Virgil and the world of the hero
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Notes on all characters in the Aeneid with analysis, quotes from the texts, quotes from scholars and context in order to get an A* Classical Civilisation grade.
Characters include:
- Aeneas
- Dido
- Turnus
- Latinus
- Mezentius
- Children (e.g. Ascanius, Euryalus, Pallas, Lausus)
- Camill...
A2 Unit CC10 F390 - Virgil and the world of the hero
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Aeneid (19 BC)
Aeneid Characters
Humans
Aeneas
Homeric
- Mortal but son of a god, helped and hindered by gods, physically impressive, ferocious when fighting
- Like Achilles – fighting in a foreign land, divine mother
- Like Hector – Protecting Troy (Public Penates)
- Like Odysseus – Traveller who has arrived “home” to conflict with a suitor.
- But Roman/Post-Homeric
o Already achieved fame – not fighting for legacy/kleos
Recognises himself on the temple’s frieze in Carthage, Dido has heard of him
o Suppresses his emotions
o Always prioritises the common good and acts with humanity but when in the grip of furor he is wild
and vicious.
Piety
- 1 – Proem describes how he “carry his gods” – entrusted with carrying the sacred images of the gods from
their temple in Troy.
- 1 – first time we see him he has his “hands palms upward to the stars”
- 1 – Aeneas says “you do not speak like a human being” to Venus – immediately recognises her as a goddess
despite disguise.
- 1 – Good father – “All his thoughts were on his dear son Ascanius”
- 1 – “I am Aeneas known for my devotion” (parallels Odysseus saying he is known for strategy)
o Defines himself in terms of his obligations to the gods, his family, and his people
o 1 – He also brought the Penates from Troy
- 6 – Loyal to his father – goes to underworld to see him
- 7 – “And now pour libations from your goblets to Jupiter, call upon my father Anchises with your prayers
and set the wine in due order on the tables.”
- 8 – Aeneas set up a sacrifice “even to you” Juno (authorial comment from Virgil)
- 10 – After the nymphs tell him to hurry, he sends a prayer to Cybele in thanks.
- 10 – “On the head of Aeneas there blazed a tongue of fire” – like Augustus on the shield or Achilles in the
Iliad.
- 10 – When he looks at dead Lausus he is reminded of his own love for his father.
- 10 – Unlike Mezentius, Aeneas prays before he fights him: “Let this be the will of the Father of the Gods.”
- 12 – Before facing Turnus he “comforted the fears and anxieties of Iulus”
- 12 – Initially when wounded he is “true to his vow” and tries to keep the peace.
- Other
o Pious – most used adjective to describe Aeneas throughout the poem.
o Fighting for his people not glory
o Family is a key motivation for his fighting throughout the book.
The image of Aeneas with his son by his side and father on his back bearing the sacred gods of
Troy and personifying piety was well known in the Roman world.
- The killing of Turnus can be seen as pious as Aeneas had a duty towards Pallas and Evander – Gransden
Good Leader
- We only have a hazy picture of the Trojans accompanying Aeneas as they generally lack individualism. It
suits Virgil to show Aeneas as a solitary figure, carrying alone the burden of his mission.
- 1 – Aeneas arrives in Libya and kills stags for his men and gives an inspiring speech – “The day will come,
perhaps, when it will give you pleasure to remember even this.”
o “He showed them the face of hope and kept his misery deep in his heart.”
o “Aeneas, who loved his men.”
- 1 – Ilioneus addresses Dido without knowing Aeneas is there – “Our king was Aeneas. He had no equal for
his piety and his care for justice, and no equal in the field of battle.”
- 2 – Trojans rally to him after the fall of Troy
o He only abandons Troy once Venus pulls back the mortal mist from his eyes and reveals the Olympian
gods tearing his city apart.
“Resistance now would be absurd” – David West
, - 6 – At the burial of Misenus he “took the lead in all [the] work”, urging on his comrades and “carrying at
his side the same tools as they”
- 7 – Sends a peaceful embassy to Latinus carrying gifts.
- 9 – Despite the shame it brings the men, they do listen to Aeneas’ instructions to remain out of the fight.
- 9 – Fair – In the Trojan camp “Lots had been cast for posts of danger and each man was taking his turn to
stand guard.”
- “In his dealings with the Latins, Aeneas behaves with clemency and consideration.” – David West
Intelligent
- 7 – Recognises the signs of his father’s prophecy once he hears Ascanius say they are eating their tables.
- 9 – Before he left Aeneas gave them a contingency plan for if anything should happen in his absence.
Angry (Furor)
- 2 – Blames Helen for Priam’s death/fall of Troy – “this Fury sent to be the scourge both of Troy” and
Greece – furor – has to be stopped by Venus
o Also when describing Greeks overcoming Troy, Aeneas says “Frenzy and anger drove me on”
- 2 – Furor can inhibit his pietas
o Tries to run back to battle and Creusa has to remind him of his duty to protect his household.
- 10 – When he hears what happened to Pallas:
o Takes 8 human sacrifices.
o Kills Magus who supplicates Aeneas in the name of Ascanius and Anchises.
o Kills a priest of Apollo and Diana.
o Aeneas attacks many more, including Tarquitus "while he was still begging for mercy".
o Kills Lucagus, another supplicant and his brother Liger
o But ultimately successful: "The siege was lifted"
- 10 – Kills Lausus
- 10 – Kills Mezentius – we know he is a monster – but Aeneas appears the more base character by throwing
his spear between the eyes of the horse in order to kill its rider.
- 11 – Conducts human sacrifice.
- 12 – “Aeneas was hungry for battle.”
- 12 – “His anger rose. Treachery had given him no choice.”
- 12 – “He was terrible in his might and Mars was aiding him.”
- 12 – In his anger attacking the city he calls for them “to accept defeat and to obey” – change from what he
had said before.
o But – Venus was the one who “put it into his mind to go into the city” – Divinely sanctioned
- 12 – Aeneas’ last action is an act of passion, killing Turnus.
o His father in Book 6 advocated for Clemencia/mercy and Aeneas does begin to change – “the words of
Turnus began to move him” – but he sees the baldric of Pallas on Turnus, triggering him to remember
Turnus’ brutality.
12 – Aeneas: “It is Pallas who exacts the penalty in your guilty blood”
12 – Turnus’ “life left him with a groan, fleeing in anger down to the shades” (Last line of the
epic)
o The killing of Turnus can be seen as pious as Aeneas had a duty towards Pallas and Evander –
Gransden
o “It is Aeneas who loses in the end” by succumbing to violence rather than mercy – Gordon Williams
Bad Husband
- Virgil gives us the thoughts and words of Dido, not of Aeneas, in their relationship in Book 4.
- 4 – Is told by Mercury to leave and appears horrified by this but decides to lie and “keep secret the reason”
- 4 – Aeneas: “Nor have I ever offered you marriage or entered into that contract with you.”
o But seems upset when Mercury tells him she is dead and horrified in 6 when he sees her in the
underworld.
- “Aeneas and Dido seem deliberately designed by Virgil to be complementary reflections of one another”
and therefore his leaving her is an act of self-sacrifice – Robin Sowerby
Foreigner/Effeminate
- 4 – Iarbus: “A second Paris, with eunuchs in attendance and hair dripping with perfume”
- 9 – Remulus insults him for clothes dyed yellow/purple and “a love of dancing, pipes and tambourines”
- 12 – Issue resolved with Juno and Jupiter’s agreement.
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