Gender Roles In The Aeneid

Battle of The Sexes: Gender in The Aeneid
Literature has always been, and will always be, a reflection of society. The Aeneid is an epic poem written by Virgil that has rightly achieved great fame during its 2,000 years of existence. Through its 12 books and 9,896 lines, The Aeneid tells of its antagonist, Aeneas, handling love, loss, war, and religion. In “Book IV” especially, Virgil makes specific mentions of Aeneas’s heroic style of leadership and how he compared to others with similar power. This category of “other leaders” includes the controversial Queen Dido of Carthage. After hosting a feast in his honor, Queen Dido falls madly in love with Aeneas, and he quickly reciprocates her emotion. Through the tumultuous period of time after,
While America does not have a national epic, it’s clear to see which stories we value in general by looking into the school curriculum. Nearly all high schools have Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter as a required reading material. While it achieved prominence thanks to its literary themes such as symbolism, it also professes, like The Aeneid, the general double standard that women face as compared to men. The Scarlet Letter goes as follows: In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne have a secret affair which results in Hester’s pregnancy. Since Hester’s husband has been out of the country for the past two years, the townspeople quickly realize that she must’ve committed adultery to be with child and promptly ostracize her. Though Dimmesdale doesn’t reveal his role in the sin until 7 years later, when he is nearly dead, the majority of the town assumes his involvement. Illustrator Tina Milz published in an online essay that the people of the town, “[Regarded] his sin as a last lesson before their beloved reverend dies, while they heckled and shamed Hester for the same exact sin” (Milz). They had so much respect for this man, even in death, that they glorified all his sins and found ways to shine them in a positive, saintly light. These same forgiving churchgoers also forced Hester to parade around town wearing a scarlet “A”, spend time in prison, and live on the outskirts of town. “Although Hester and Dimmesdale were partners committing the same sin, Hawthorne creates a community that views them both differently” (Milz). Many argue that Hawthorne did so on purpose, to expose the ugly side of society to his readers. Whether it was incidental or not, the fact holds true that an extreme standard of acceptability holds high above women's heads while remaining easily maintainable for