Monday, March 9, 2009

Dido: The Kingdom of The Dead

In book 6 i think that Dido is ment to show how the gods mess with peoples lives and make them unhappy and lost. When we first see Dido in the underworld she is explained as "wondering there among them,...drifted along the endless woods." This makes Dido appear to be lost as if not knowing what to do because her fate has been twisted by the gods. If it was not for the gods she would still be ruling a high power city and very happy. I think that she is being compared to what is happening to Aeneas. Aeneas's path is set by the gods, him having no say in what is going on. This causes him to be unhappy because he will never be able to sit down and have a family, the only reason he fell in love was because of a trick of the gods. Much like Dido, Aeneas is wondering around without a say in what he does pretty much floating around by the gods will just like Dido is stuck in the underworld. However Dido is now free from the power of the gods and is able to love her husband who is her true love. Aeneas, unlike Dido, is not free, he will roam on working hard his whole life only to die leaving his mission to be completed by someone else.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Test

When I took it, no matter what button I chose it said it was wrong, so i guess i got a 0%.......was it a trick test? I thought i knew some of the answers though =/

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Funeral Games for Anchises (book 5)

Finally we get a bit of comic relief from all the disaster that Aeneas hast to face. In book five Aeneas goes to the shore of a long lost friend Acestes rules. There they have a set of Olympic games to remember the anniversary of Aeneas's dad. I think that these games and meeting with Acestes in Eryx is a foreshadow to how rich and skilled the new empire will be when Aeneas founds it. Throughout the games great skilled is shown in boat racing, running, and archery all skills that help build a great empire. To top it off Aeneas gives wealthy prizes to all of the people competing even if they didn't win. All this skill, and wealth combined with a city of fellow trojans is a foreshadow of how great Italy will be for Aeneas, however once again he leaves a place that is very wealthy and powerful, to go off to something that will be even bigger and better.

The Tragic Queen Of Carthage (book 4)

The motif that Aeneas is truly destined to found Rome appears once again with Aeneas gives up both Dido, and Carthage to set off on his journey for Italy. This is a foreshadow for hows great Italy is going to be for him because if he is willing to give up Carthage, a city that was very wealthy, fine, and a major trading power of the Mediterranean sea. And Dido, who he has a relationship with which can be compared to as Romeo and Juliet as star-crossed lovers.  Aeneas could have stayed and married his love and ruled over one of the greatest cities of his time, but instead sets off to set up another city, the gods must have a very great future for him, considering the one he could of stayed and had.

Landfalls, Ports of Call (book 3)

  The third book really reinforces the idea that Aeneas is destined and has to make it to Italy and that his path is set by the gods. Each time he gets to a place that is suitable to build a city the gods cast down some type of destruction on him forcing them to move on. It doesn't seem like it but many years go by in the third book which also tells that they are suffering more than Aeneas is letting on. This makes the epic journey of making a new empire even more impressive considering the plague, harpies, and cyclops they must face. Nothing is impressive, if it was easy to do. Another reason that even though the places Aeneas try's to set down in are nice, there is something wrong with them because that place is not Italy. Another thing to note is that just like Odysseus, Aeneas goes to the island of the cyclops, this is to reinforce the "rebirthing" of the trojans after being struck down by the greeks. Aeneas is going the same path as Odysseus but is making a stronger empire off the same journey.