True Tragedy Of Dido
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What is the true tragedy of Dido? Scholars have debated various perspectives over the years. One could argue that Didos major tragedy was losing a love that the Gods had forced her to feel and had also stolen from her (Farron). Another essay argues that her death in the end of Book IV, or more specifically dying by her own hand was her downfall (Fenik). However, the most convincing argument is that Didos true tragedy was her lack of piety. Piety had very specific rules in Roman society. For example, the fact that Dido was willing to sacrifice her public duties to the state for the sake of a private infatuation was completely against the rules of society. Her distancing from power in order to pursue personal interests is itself a kind of death in the Roman world, and scholars argue that suicide was just a secondary method of self-punishment (McLeish). In order to define piety more clearly, it encompasses a few main ideas, which include devotion to God, to family, to the rules of the state, and to ones duty to fulfill his destiny. If Dido is just another obstacle for Aeneas to overcome in order to show the importance of finding Rome, her episode would have been as significant as Charybdis, Scylla, or Polyphemus, but Dido is much more important (McLeish). We can come to the conclusion that though those other obstacles proved the importance of following ones destiny, the Dido episode showed a character who drowned in her emotions and lost her sense of duty contrasting to Aeneas character who enters Book V as a stronger, more-focused character. In this paper, I will try to prove that Virgil is using Book IV to show that Didos, or any Romans, ultimate tragedy is forgoing piety for selfish reasons.
Virgil portrays both Dido and Aeneas as strong, heroic, clever characters and there are numerous similarities between them. Our impression of Aeneas is compatible with the Roman male ideal. He obeys the Gods, stays on his destined path, and has an overwhelming commitment to his duty to the state. Both characters escape from their homelands due to severe circumstances and suffer through such an existence for noble causes such as finding new empires. Both characters are compared to the Gods repeatedly. Virgil compares Dido to the goddess Diana, the powerful huntress, and Aeneas actions are described as “noble as a gods” and he is repeatedly referred to as the “son of Venus” (Virgil 71). Moreover, Aeneas states that Dido is a fair and just ruler of her people, as he strives to be himself. So we are led to believe that Virgil views Dido and Aeneas as powerful characters in the same way. However, the Romans believed that the men were meant to be rulers and women were mere counterparts (Singer). Though Dido and Aeneas are similar characters in many respects, the main difference is that Dido lacks piety, which is a necessary quality in Aeneas character. Through out this paper, I will show the examples of this difference and how it ultimately leads to Aeneas becoming a hero and Didos tragic death.
Dido is a very pious character before her emotions destroy her. She welcomes the Trojans with open arms and treats them with the highest degree of hospitality. When Aeneas first encounters Dido, he almost envies her for the well-established kingdom she had built, and praises her for being such a just and pious ruler (Virgil 11). At first, she honors her dead husband by vowing never to marry again, even though she had many powerful suitors. Then she reconsiders her vow after her sister Anna gives her advice. Finally, the love she feels for Aeneas has “eaten her away” and she can no longer ignore it (Virgil 77). Dido prays to the Gods for a successful marriage and performs all the appropriate rituals and sacrifices, which seems that it would be the suitable act. However the animal sacrifices are still alive, which is evidence that something is not proper in this ritual. Virgil comments, “What use are prayers and shrines to a passionate woman?” (Virgil 71) Didos reasons for praying are selfish and because she cannot limit her own passions. Virgil shows that this behavior of indulging in excess without limitations and praying for ones own benefit is not considered pious. Therefore, the Gods do not have to heed to her wishes. So though Dido began as a pious character, her emotions slowly blind her till she ignores her piety.
Virgil uses many similes through out Book IV to show how Dido is being consumed with emotion and forgetting her duties. Dido is constantly portrayed as a wounded character. For example, she “wander[s] all over the city in her misery and madness like a wounded doe” (Virgil 71). These lustful desires dont cause her happiness, but misery and madness. They instill a loss of control, of productivity, and of personal integrity. Virgil shows us that love is just a form of self-destruction. These repeated images of wandering and burning, cheapen our impression of Dido and lead us to believe that she is weak (Virgil 90). She is already in an unbalanced state through out the passage, and these similes just encourage that opinion. Wandering without a purpose contrasts Aeneas constant progression along his destined path completely. Moreover, Aeneas is compared to Apollo (Virgil 81). Apollo is often portrayed as an archer, and many characters invoke his name before they fire in battle. So in subtle ways, Virgil shows Aeneas as the archer who wounds Dido (Fenik). Ultimately though, it is Dido who allows these wounds to affect her in such a way that it affects her duties. Though one can ask, does Dido really choose to be in love with Aeneas or was it was pre-ordained by the Gods? Both sides have been argued before through critical essays, but the majority believes that because Virgil clearly states the wound as an affliction through Cupid, Didos downfall could have been her destiny. However, in the end of Book IV, Virgil writes that Dido was suffering during death because it was before her time. So scholars argue that Dido could have rescued herself, if she had stayed on the proper path as first and foremost Queen of Carthage, as opposed to the consort of Aeneas (Farron).
The definition of marriage is the crucial difference in piety between Aeneas and Dido. Virgil places utmost importance on the city and ones reputation in the community. Dido recognizes the marriage in the cave as a real union, but Aeneas never believes that he is properly married to Dido because the state did not recognize it. After the marriage in the cave Virgil writes, “This day was the beginning of her death, the first cause of all her sufferings. From now on Dido gave no thought to appearance or her good name and no longer kept her love as a secret in her own heart, but called it marriage,