The Fall of Aeneas at the Conclusion of Virgil's "Aeneid"
Subject > Humanities Essays > Religion & Faith > Christianity
The Aeneid, written by Virgil, is the story of pious Aeneas and the adventure that leads him to found Rome after the sack of Troy. This epic poem follows the development of Aeneas character from an unwilling participant in his own fate to a man worthy and capable of the honor of founding Rome. However, Virgil chooses to end the story of Aeneas strangely in comparison to similar epic poems. Aeneas finds himself in the position to choose between killing his adversary Turnus, or, sparing his life. Aeneas ultimate choice to kill Turnus, driven by inescapable Fury, is portrayed as a moral failure of his character. Virgil ends with the fall of Aeneas to exhibit ...
... even Aeneas, who had seemed above irrationality as he developed into a great leader, succumbed to it. Virgil is portraying the fall of a heros moral character in Aeneas action, inferring that all humans can naturally fall prey to fury. By ending the poem as Aeneas relents to be controlled by his anger, Virgil is making a strong statement that humans by nature have fury within them, condemning those who let it control their actions.
After the buildup of the character of Aeneas, Virgil clearly criticizes Aeneas choice to kill Turnus while he asks for mercy. This action is shown as a moral failure of Aeneas, and is driven by fury, an emotion
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