Dido In Aeneid Essay

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When Dido is introduced in the story. She was leading her people to build a great city. She is described as a strong leader and she is loved by all of her citizens. Dido is loyal to her people and to the memory of her deceased husband. She is a person that I admire and would love to be. Imagine my surprise when dido commits suicide and takes her own life because of her feelings for a man. In my mind I thought, how does she go from this strong, loyal, intelligent and heroic woman to a crazed lovesick person that takes her own life in the name of love? In this essay I will try to answer this question and understand the drastic action as we take a further look into the life of queen Dido. To have a better understanding of Dido life, you must …show more content…

When dido felt the connection between her and Aeneas she instantly regards herself as his wife. In Aeneas role as dutiful servant of fate and of the gods, Aeneas never loses sight of his goal. Aeneas is "a man apart, devoted to his mission, a dedicated man." He tells Dido that he is "duty-bound." Aeneas faces adversity without ever losing faith in the will of fate. (Aeneid Summary.) Dido and Aeneas are not so different at this point. Both are generous leaders, exiles, widowers, and both have been forced to assume leadership under circumstances beyond their control. They both are in the process of founding new cities. There is every reason for sympathy between the two, and so the depiction of Dido is a promising one. She is parallel to Aeneas, an industrious and inspiring leader of her people. Some would say the two was meant to be together. In reality they are not because they both had ones who they loved. (Aeneid Summary.) Dido was not looking for love neither was Aeneas but the two was very loyal and shared common aspect towards their citizens. I personally dislike what the love god did to dido he changed her completely. Dido has change tremendously a lot of people may question the change but I personally think that in a way she is still the same dido but in a different