So close. I think it's interesting that Virgil ends the book with the murder of Turnus. It's very abrupt and does not give the reader a pleasant image in their mind as they set it down, but the reader assumes that after that, the war is won, and Rome is finally established. It's funny that the event that the whole epic led up to was not even included in it. It took my by surprise a little bit.
"What madness is warping my reason?" is a quote that Dido also used back in book 4 (37). Virgil repeats this quote to emphasize...da da da da (think of trumpets) LOVE. (Sorry, it's late and I'm starting to get stressed over all of the work that I've put off). But I've worn out how the topic of love totally changes a person, so I'll move onto other subjects. Love is so hard to find in war, and when it does come out, it just makes it all the more better because it's surrounded by its foil, hate. Although Turnus does not seem appreciative of what his sister risks for him, it is a display of what sibling love can do. Although everything she does is very moving, Turnus is unappreciative because he knows he must accept his fate and nothing she will do can change it. The rejection of love is always sad, but this one struck me because it was by a blood relative. For some reason, that seems much worse to me than any other rejection of love. I think that's all I found in this book, although it did have some of my favorite quotes in the whole epic that I don't think I pointed out. I have them marked in my book if I ever need to find them so no worries!
Fate totally revolves around the idea of Turnus's death in this book, and I've come to the conclusion that Jupiter does control fate, even if it is only partially. Lines 725-727 have convinced me of that as well as the compromise scene between Jupiter and Juno. I think it's interesting that, although his wife and his (in some stories) daughter take opposite sides of the conflict, he remains impartial the entire time, equally giving a little to both of the goddesses. However, what confuses me is when Virgil talks about "destiny's sisters," because they have not been identified in the book, and the only thing I can pull my knowledge about them from is Hercules the Disney movie (which I'm well aware is completely inaccurate) (147). Therefore, I hope this topic comes up in our socratic seminar, so that I can gain a better understanding of it.
Venus saves her son. Juno encourages Juturna to save her brother. Jupiter controls fate. Jupiter and Juno have a nice little compromise scene, which is a nice little way to show what will happen in the future and give some closure to the book. The Gods intervene right up until the end, and in fact, they are the way we find out the ending to the story. My favorite quote about gods in this chapter is "gods alarm me, and Jupiter. He is my real foe" (895). I think that Turnus understands that the gods have some say in his fate, or death, and that Aeneas is not to blame for delivering the death blow, because fate commanded it. It is interesting for Turnus to look at the gods as his foe, because Juno has been on his side the whole time, but he realizes that the enemy is not the Trojans, but whoever condemns humans to this type of brutal fate. However, just the page before, Virgil refers to Jupiter as "great-hearted," showing that it is all relative, depending on how the gods have effected you in life (877).
When Aeneas kills Turnus, his duty/fate must be fulfilled, and he is breaking no moral codes in killing him. Morals vary from person to person, because what is considered "right" for one person, another may consider "wrong". Everything is relative, and this makes the world extremely complicated, but also a lot more interesting. Sometimes, moral codes have to be broken in order for something better to come out of it; however, excuses are not always acceptable and sometimes a person needs to own up to and suffer the consequences for the wrong choices they make. I truly believe in karma, (both good and bad) and that all of the choices someone makes come back to haunt them someday. Turnus got what he deserved, the righteous Aeneas has a bright future ahead of him, although the road there wasn't always fair, the resolution always is.
I'm sick of looking at women in the Aeneid to be quite honest. I'm a woman, and I got plenty of girls in my life if I feel like examining the female psyche. I should have look at men in the Aeneid, not that I'm lacking men in my life, but I feel like an interpretation of the opposite gender would come out much more interesting than one of the same gender. Anyway, I'll look at Amata as the last woman I'll encounter in the epic. She kills herself for no reason at all. Well not no reason, she kills herself because she thinks the war is lost and she does not want to live with the grief of seeing her city fall and daughter married off to Aeneas. It's a very impulsive and rash decision, especially because her speculation is incorrect, but women are stereotypically (at least nowadays) known for acting on impulse. Why is it only women in the Aeneid that kill themselves? Why don't any of the men? I'm not including those who've perished for glory in battle. Does it show emotional weakness, or maybe lack of the will to live and fight? Okay, maybe I lied, I'm just going to write about Lavinia really fast. Why is she portrayed as an object, a prize to be won? She doesn't speak throughout the whole book, so the reader never gets her opinions or feelings, she just sits there and remains passive. The only time we get real emotion from her is when her mother dies and she "rips her own golden tresses and tears at her rose-coloured cheeks" (605-606). Virgil really shows a lot of various personalities of females, and I might have lied before, my interest might just be renewed.
So I know I haven't really been keeping up with the Aeneid in Augustan Rome topic, but I'm going to address that in my synthesis I promise.
No comments:
Post a Comment