The Dark Reading of the Aeneid in Aeneas and Dido’s Relationship

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There are two main fashions in which the Aeneid is read by Scholars today. The main difference between these two theories is each's respective treating of Aeneas' obstacles. The first views Aeneas as a classic epic hero, that is, to view him as fated to the grand destiny of founding Rome, and Aeneas carries out that destiny successfully, in spite of a few unfortunate hardships. The other view regards the obstructions that Aeneas is subjected to as, instead, evidence from the gods and other powers that Aeneas' quest is, as purported in an essay by Steven Farron, “brutal and destructive” (34), instead of trivial occurrences. This view referred to as the dark reading of the Aeneid. One of the best known circumstances in the Aeneid is Aeneas correspondence with Dido. This period in the Aeneid is often used to evidence an argument for one of the two readings, as the text gives important specifics about both Aeneas and his quest there. However, given a close reading of the text, the flawed relationship between Dido and Aeneas better endorses the dark reading.
The exact dynamics of the interaction between the Trojan refugee and the Carthaginian queen are not as readily ascertainable as one might expect. The typical misconception is to project the two as both instantly and perfectly in love, which is not a view substantiated by the text at all. Furthermore, Farron does not seem to believe in his article, The Aeneas-Dido Episode as an Attack on Aeneas' Mission and Rome, that the Aeneas was in love with Dido at all. While he agrees that the two were emotionally involved with each other, specifically referring to the “marriage” scene between the two, Farron does not recognize those feelings as love. Instead, Farron systematically approaches...

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...the Aeneid before he died. As such, it is even possible for Virgil to have been mistaken in adding in those things. However, in looking at the rest of the work, specifically the Trojans time spent in Carthage, it seems most likely that Virgil made no mistake, and that just like all the other masterful parts of the Aeneid, Virgil had a now dark and unknown purpose which might never be known.

Works Cited

Farron, Steven. "The Aeneas-Dido Episode as an Attack on Aeneas' Mission and Rome." (n.d.): n. pag. Rpt. in Greece & Rome. No. 1 ed. Vol. 27. New York: Cambridge UP, 1980. 34-47. Second Ser. Jstor. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
Monitto, Gary. "Vergil's AENEID 4.169-72." Explicator 62.1 (2003): 2. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
P. Vergilii Maronis. Aenidos. N.d. The original, Latin version of the Aeneid of unknown publication, cited by Steven Farron. Liber Quartus.

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