Essay
'The portrayal of warfare and its effects are completely negative' To what extent do you agree?
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War is only shown as negative in the Aeneid..?Overall, I would argue the extent to which I agree with this statement depends on the time scale at
which we assess the impacts of war. I would argue, generally, in the short term the portrayal and the
effects of war in the aeneid are shown to be negative. However, when thinking about the effects on
a longer time scale they can have more positive implications.
Firstly, I would argue that war is portrayed in a negative way in the short term as it causes the
suffering of people. Throughout the aeneid the suffering of women is portrayed as a common theme
and this is often the result of war. For example in book 11, after the death of Pallas which occurs in
book 10, aeneas is shown to grieve himself asking why he died so young, but there is also the
portrayal of women. They are shown to lament to the sky about his death. I would argue this shows
their suffering was well known as it is not kept to themselves but rather displayed ‘to the sky’ and
thus we can see how large scale and devastating the effects of war are as pallas died in war by
Turnus. Additionally, aeneas sends Pallas to pallanteum and the city is shown to be ‘ablaze with the
cries of women’ this again highlights to the audience the grievances that women face as a result of
war thus showing the negative effects it has on their well being and emotions. Moreover,
throughout the Aeneid the theme of loss of youth is prominent, this is also bought about through
war and similarly causes the audience to moved by this loss and characters in the book. Euryalus is
only young but he is shown to lose his life in book 9 after the Italians see the helmet that he stole
from messapus after killing him. They then bring his body back to the trojan camp on a spike. This
invokes furor in his mother as she rushes to the front of the ranks. This shows the extreme emotion
she is feeling as she puts her own life at risk to see her son. Moreover, she asks why he died before
her and she asks the rutulians to kill her. This highlights her loss and the suffering she is going
through as a result of loosing a loved one to war and the fact he is so young only exaggerates the
sympathy that we feel for her. Additionally, in book 10 the negative impacts on family can be seen
through the death of Lausus. After Aeneas kills him the tunic given to him by his mother is shown to
fill with blood, this remind the audience that his character exists out of war too and there will be a
negative impact on his mother when she finds out. Moreover, war is shown to bring grievance to
mezentius as he ‘holds his hands to the sky’, previously he was shown the be the scorner of the gods
and thus by suddenly she recognition of piety and lamenting to the gods we are able to see the
extreme emotions that he feels which evokes a sense of pity. Therefore, the short term suffering
that is bought through war highlights the negative consequence of it. Also through the emphasis of
the impacts on children and family the pity the audience feels is even greater and it can be seen in
an even more negative light.
Additionally, war is shown in a negative way through the complete destruction it can cause. In book
2 the Greeks are shown to completely destroy Troy. The sound of the greeks rolling into the city is
likened to fire spreading on a field. This simile shows the audience how wide spread the attack is.
This shows the negative effect on both the city and the people and thus emotion is evoked as we
feel pity for those who should not be involved in war for example the women and children.
Moreover, we are shown the brutality of war. Pyrrhus who is Achilles son is shown to kill Polites in
front of Priam. This again shows the loss of youth and highlights how extreme actions were in this
time as a father had to witness the death of his own son. Moreover, Priam is then shown to try and
avenge his son by throwing an arrow at Pyrrhus but he too is killed and Pyrrhus is likened to a snake
who feeds on poisonous leaves. This portrays war in a negative light as the attempts of Priam to
avenge his son are cut short which allows the audience to empathise with his and feel pity that he is
unsuccessful. Moreover, the snake simile also shows the dangerous nature of people in war and
suggests they do not act with humanity which shows it to be a negative event as it leads to the loss
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