Characteristics Of Virgil's Aeneid And Ovid's Metamorphoses

In much of ancient Greek and Roman literature, the gods are important characters. They help to drive the plot along, either by being benevolent figures, helping the human main characters, or as vengeful monsters bent on obstructing the journey of the protagonist. The gods can have both human and divine qualities. Quite the same, the humans in these ancient texts can be portrayed as having divine qualities, especially protagonists. Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, while different in styles of storytelling, are very similar in their portrayal of gods as having human qualities, though Virgil’s earlier text seems to have more human characters with divine qualities. In Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the line between gods and humans is blurred, with gods acting like humans and humans having divine qualities. Juno, the goddess of marriage, is one of the most striking examples of a god who possesses human qualities. In Aeneid, Juno is a meddling antagonist. She is the patron goddess of Carthage and, having been warned that the descendent of a

In his essay entitled “Juno in the Aeneid,” Banks Wildman wrote, “It [Juno’s speech] begins and ends with thoughts of self. The proud Queen of Heaven is strongly indignant at the thought of defeat and expresses her haughty pride in a monologue great in vehemence and force” (Wildman, Juno in the Aeneid, page 26). He also wrote, “Note, too, her feminine hatred of rivals; how the achievements of Pallas rankle in her heart, against which she pictures the humiliating position which she herself, wife and sister of Jove though she be, must hold, if she is unable to keep the Trojans away from Italy.” The author emphasizes Juno as a vengeful, humanlike character, filled with jealousy, hatred, and selfishness, all very human emotions. This further supports the idea that Juno was portrayed as