Love In The Aeneid

Heroes like Aeneas bear many burdens: they must be leaders, they must suffer, they must fight. In the case of book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, an epic poem, the relationship between Aeneas and Dido is at the center of greater struggles between people and fate, divinities, and love. In Books II and III, Aeneas recounts the fall of Troy, the monsters and suffering, and the death of his father, Anchises; in Books V through XII, Aeneas travels to Italy to found the city that will lead to the rise of the Roman people. Therefore, book IV showcases their love as an ideal that can never truly come to fruition, functions to develop Aeneas as a more dynamic, human character, and acts as a romantically tragic reason for the loathing between Carthage and Rome
One of Aeneas’ greatest problems is that he does have a degree of free will, but he will always have the great weight of his fate resting upon him. He knows that he must go to Italy and bring about change, but he lives a real, human life with emotions and pain. In this part of the Aeneid, he must leave and comfort Dido without revealing his true feelings: he is becoming the man he must be. Though he speaks bluntly about his disbelief of their marriage, he does love her. It is unknown how the marriage could be illegitimate though Juno, the goddess of marriage, confirmed it, but this is never answered. Aeneas’ loyalties lie with his son and the future Rome, as Jupiter conveys to him though Mercury, so this story is one of his maturation. Likewise, the tragedy of Dido’s death reveals that her motivations are both to be a true leader and Aeneas’ lover, yet she can fulfill neither. She is far more motivated by her emotions in this book than earlier, which can be attributed to the plot between Venus and Juno. She morphs from a capable, controlled leader to a woman who has lost everything, even her own will to live. She cries, “‘you’ll pay, you shameless, ruthless–and I will hear of it, yes, the report will reach me even among the deepest shades of Death!’” (387-389). Their relationship cannot be reconciled with the fact that he must follow his
Though their love is lighthearted and the lovers hope to create a strong Carthage together, Aeneid IV is always tinged with a degree of darkness. The images of fire and implications of impending doom serve to reinforce that from the very beginning. The wedding, normally something to be celebrated, is illegitimate and fraught with screaming nymphs and a vicious storm. This love can never be, and Virgil reinforces that with the necessity of Aeneas’ fate and the heartrending nature of the relationship. The discussion between the two lovers evokes empathy because of Dido’s obvious desperation, reinforcing the tragedy of the tale. The ending culminates in the dual separation, by Aeneas’ physical departure by sea and Dido’s departure from the land of the living. Along with all the other imagery and character progression, the tone intensifies throughout the book into a climactic catastrophe at the