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Stereotypes Of Women In Virgil's Aeneid,

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Women are portrayed many different ways in the media. The media tends to have a bias towards stereotyping these women based on what they wear or actions taken, often putting them into a simple category. In Virgil’s Aeneid, Dido, Camilla and Venus are three personalities portrayed as weak, strong and neutral, respectively. Virgil’s stereotypes of these women are overly simplistic by only allowing each character to have one major personality trait. Dido’s insane need for Aeneas, Camilla’s strong warrior personality, and Venus’ act as a motherly figure for Aeneas provide evidence of simple personality traits embodies in these characters.
Dido is portrayed as a boy-crazy, love-struck lunatic. She cannot control her love for Aeneas due to the curse placed upon her. The curse, given to her by Cupid, made all her thoughts and …show more content…

She is only dedicated to assisting her son during his times of trouble. In the midst of battle against the Latins, Aeneas was shot with an arrow to his leg (12.381-386). As Iapyx was tending to him, Venus sent down a healing balm to close Aeneas’ wound, which allow him to return to the battle (12.487-501). Her sole concern for her son continues as she protects him from Juno’s wrath. When Juno bribed the wind god to send Aeneas’ ship to dangerous seas, Venus asks Jupiter why this happened. Jupiter then assured Venus that Aeneas’ fate was determined to be great (1.77-317).
Women tend to be typecast by today’s media. However, there are women, such as Taylor Swift, who have transcended traditional barriers, country to pop music, successfully. In 2006, Taylor Swift debuted as a new, young country artist. As she matured in the music industry, she sought a transition in genre to pop music. In 2012, Swift released the album Red, which marked her successful shift. Today, Taylor Swift is known as a multi-genre, talented musician who rejected media labels as only a simple country

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Women have always been portrayed as the weaker sex compared to men. It has been demonstrated in history itself and throughout literary works. Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Homer’s The Odyssey, however, portray women to be more powerful than men, even when their society thought otherwise and underestimated them because of their gender. Lady Macbeth, The Three Witches, Queen Arête and Penelope demonstrate the astute, charming, and ambitious side of women that was overlooked by men when it came to having power and making decisions.

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In Greek epics, tragedies, and mythology women are portrayed in various ways. Women are mainly considered to be weak and less important than men, but there are some women who are shown to be strong and heroic, despite the reputation that was placed onto them in Ancient Greek civilizations. There were two particular women that were strong and took the roles of their husbands while the men left to fight in the Trojan War. These two women were Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. These two women were different in how they chose to rule while their husbands were at war and how they acted once they got back.

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Though women play a central role in the Odyssey the portrayal and characterization of said women is often times sexist and places most of the women in positions of power until Odysseus or one of the male gods comes along and puts a stop to it. All of the women are characterized with few traits, most of which only describe their looks, while the reader is constantly reminded of all of Odysseus good traits. Even Penelope, who is portrayed as the ideal woman, is only ever described as ‘beautiful’ and ‘faithful’. Though this does make sense considering the time period and how during the time women were considered property of men. With all of the different character and how they are written one would expect some variety in the description of women.

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