Serpent's Tale 
Johannes Kieding
English 123
Essay Two Virgil's Aeneid
Professor Kalogeris
Spring 2011
Serpent's Tale
At the heart of the universe and at the core of each of us, a wild, irrepressible force resides. Primal, fundamental, her vitality shimmers in the darkness of night. This winged creature of darkness, this irrational and often destructive force of the cosmos, has a twin sister. Rational and orderly, sister Reason marches to another tune than the one her counterpart of darkness marches to; she sees the world through other eyes. Reason, always weighing different perspectives, gravitates towards a “middle” state without excesses; she always tries to keep in mind that everything is relative to everything else and in this fashion; her gait has a more even-keeled, measured quality than the tempestuous flight of her twin sister. In moments of thwarted desire, the black bird of irrationality flies into murderous rage, craving vengeance above all. From her vantage point, Reason watches her sister's antics and finds them foolish and immature, and reminds the other that there will be other opportunities to satiate thwarted desire. Reason finds her sister's reactions to be entirely unreasonable. They are, of course – she is irrationality itself. Put another way, the lustful, raging, primitive responses follow their own reason, the logic of desire and its raw, naked disappointment.
These two forces, Reason and irrationality, have been at odds for a long time. In the state of opposition, where Reason guards against irrationality, she not only takes on a lackluster quality, often feeling sterile, isolated, and somehow bereft of the vitality and passion that both gives and takes life, but she also lends power to the darkness and thereby brings the violence she seeks to curb. The unfolding events around the creation and expansion of the Roman Empire, as suggested by Virgil's The Aeneid – undoubtedly a source of inspiration for Sigmund Freud's insights – provides an
English 123
Essay Two Virgil's Aeneid
Professor Kalogeris
Spring 2011
Serpent's Tale
At the heart of the universe and at the core of each of us, a wild, irrepressible force resides. Primal, fundamental, her vitality shimmers in the darkness of night. This winged creature of darkness, this irrational and often destructive force of the cosmos, has a twin sister. Rational and orderly, sister Reason marches to another tune than the one her counterpart of darkness marches to; she sees the world through other eyes. Reason, always weighing different perspectives, gravitates towards a “middle” state without excesses; she always tries to keep in mind that everything is relative to everything else and in this fashion; her gait has a more even-keeled, measured quality than the tempestuous flight of her twin sister. In moments of thwarted desire, the black bird of irrationality flies into murderous rage, craving vengeance above all. From her vantage point, Reason watches her sister's antics and finds them foolish and immature, and reminds the other that there will be other opportunities to satiate thwarted desire. Reason finds her sister's reactions to be entirely unreasonable. They are, of course – she is irrationality itself. Put another way, the lustful, raging, primitive responses follow their own reason, the logic of desire and its raw, naked disappointment.
These two forces, Reason and irrationality, have been at odds for a long time. In the state of opposition, where Reason guards against irrationality, she not only takes on a lackluster quality, often feeling sterile, isolated, and somehow bereft of the vitality and passion that both gives and takes life, but she also lends power to the darkness and thereby brings the violence she seeks to curb. The unfolding events around the creation and expansion of the Roman Empire, as suggested by Virgil's The Aeneid – undoubtedly a source of inspiration for Sigmund Freud's insights – provides an