Women In The Aeneid

In Vergil’s The Aeneid, women play crucial roles throughout the epic. Though the epic follows Aeneas’ journey, the women characters move the plot by sometimes holding him back or helping him continue forward toward his goal of finding a place for his men though he will never live to see his goal be completed. Vergil portrays the women in The Aeneid in many different ways that are showcases in their relationship with Aeneas. Juno is portrayed as the villain in the epic. She does everything in her control to hinder Aeneas in his journey. She is seen as vengeful even though Aeneas has never done anything to her personally. Her rage is explained in the right as the epic begins in book one. One reason Juno dislikes Trojans is due to Paris not
She appears to him in disguise offering him information about Dido that will assist him in his journey. She also makes Aeneas invisible which allows to walk into the center of Carthage. Venus makes Dido start to love Aeneas, but when Juno sees this, she sees it as a way to keep Aeneas in Carthage so he will not be able to found his own city. Juno pushes the love that Dido has for Aeneas and Dido starts to envision their marriage. Though Aeneas starts to come around to the idea of staying in Carthage when he starts to dress like them, he knows that he has to put his desires aside and worry about the betterment of his men and the men of the future. Dido is so caught up in her emotions that when Aeneas has to leave, she commits suicide and leaves her people without a leader. This events shows how Venus did not think through her actions. She did not think ahead or think through all the possible outcomes of the situation. Dido also did not think through her actions. She did not think about how her people who continue on without her, she was just thinking about herself and her love for
Without the obstacles that Juno places in front of Aeneas and his men, the epic would not have the element where the hero must overcome struggles and hardships. Juno is seen as the villain because she is on the opposing side of Aeneas when Venus is doing the same thing. Juno’s actions could be rationalized if Aeneas was not seen as the hero of the epic. She is seen as emotional and based most of her decisions off of those emotions. She chooses to not like Trojans because one of them did not believe she is the most beautiful. This makes her seem petty and superficial. Venus is not seen as the villain because she is on the protagonist's side. She is also emotional. She wants to defend her son just like Juno wants to defend her city. Venus did not think through her actions when she made Dido fall for Aeneas. She did not think about the future when Aeneas would have to leave Dido and she did not think about Dido’s feelings. Dido was seen as a pawn between Juno and Venus. Dido was used in both of their little games. The women in The Aeneid were showcased as selfish by their actions. Juno only cared about her beloved Carthage, Venus only cared about Aeneas, and Dido only cared about her love toward Aeneas. Juno did not care about the future city Aeneas was going to found, she only felt sorry for herself and Carthage. She had false hope that she could change Aeneas’ route even though it