Violence In The Aeneid

Violence and death are a persistent and dominant theme in the Aeneid and Oresteia. In both plays, violence and death are justified as an act of vengeance and response to injustice. Though Virgil and Aeschylus justify violence, they both differ in two aspects. One takes away the power of the protagonists to choose and the other allows the protagonists to make their own decisions. The house curse influences Clytaemnestra to kill Agamemnon and Apollo commands Orestes to kill Clytaemnestra, his mother. In the other hand, the gods give Turnus and Aeneas the choice to kill or not to kill. The other aspect is, Virgil’s deaths and violent acts are between family, while Aeschylus’ acts of violence are between strangers.
Aeschylus justifies Clytaemnestra’s when she kills Agamemnon because he sacrificed their daughter to the god Artemis. She says, “My child is gone. That is my self-defense” (Agamemnon 876). She
During the war many Latins and Trojans died because of Turnus determination to kill Aeneas and drive the Trojans out of Italy. Virgil’s justifies Turnus decision to go to war because Aeneas is a foreigner who is trying to take over their land and most importantly, Aeneas is trying to steal his betrothed, Lavinia. Although Juno, is the god behind all the disasters, she seems to be the most understanding and realistic. She explains how the Trojans are “yoking the fields of others, hauling off the [plunder]/taking their pick of daughters, tearing the sworn bride/ from her husband’s [arms]” (10.93-4). She says this after hearing Venus’ plead Jupiter to help the Trojans because they were being viciously attacked by the Turnus and his army while Aeneas was away. Juno expresses the exasperation of Turnus and how he feels. The Trojans are unwelcomed invaders who are taking over their land forcibly and arrogantly. They took Lavinia which is what bothers most Turnus because it means