Reader reponse to the Aeneid

Essay by fortun21University, Bachelor'sA+, April 2004

download word file, 2 pages 3.7

Downloaded 55 times

Aeneid

It is strange but certainly not a coincidence that in Virgil's Aeneid only the god and goddesses make use of disguises, masks and tricks for their own purpose and use. Of all the disguises and tricks that are observed in the Aeneid, three of them (Venus disguise as a Tyrian girl, the Trojan horse and two snakes) stand out and reveal what lies beneath a man's journey toward his destiny. There is a sub plot behind Aeneas's struggle to find his destined new civilization. That sub plot reveals inter conflict in the heavens. It is obvious in this epic, and other Homeric epics that the humans are puppets to the arrogant and omnipotent gods. The mortals are victims of a struggle between the goddesses Venus, Juno and Minerva. It is in their battles against each other that we notice how through their disguises each god attacks and counter attacks one another.

By using humans through the means of disguises and tricks, they use humans as puppets or an extra weapon to their own struggle. In this case, the victim is Aeneas. Through these disguises, the god's goal is to either help Aeneas successfully complete and meet his destiny of founding Rome or to discourage him and destroy what fate has in store for him.

In the Aeneid, even after the end of Troy, the rivalry between the goddesses Venus, Juno and Minerva, prevail throughout the heavens. This has its greatest affect on Aeneas. The goddesses use him as a puppet and exploit his mortal qualities in an attempt to help or destroy him. Venus unlike Juno and Minerva is trying to help Aeneas fulfill his destiny. The reason for which she helps out Aeneas is because he is her son. The following example reveals how Venus attempts to aid...