Essay on The Love of Dido and Aeneas - 685 Words

The love of Dido and Aeneas: Could it have been viable? As one hopes to have a long-term relationship, one cannot assure its existence or permanence. Some relationships are destined to fail from the start. Dido and Aeneas’s relationship exemplifies this. When Dido and Aeneas engage in their relationship, they fail to realize how they each perceive their love for each other. Dido perceives their relationship as a marriage, whereas Aeneas perceives their relationship as something merely sexual. By failing to understand their love for each other, their relationship was doomed from the start. In addition, their relationship could have never lasted because Aeneas was fated to marry Lavinia and not Dido. Aeneas had to marry Lavinia because it†¦show more content†¦He perceived it more as a romantic fling; Aeneas only engaged in a relationship with Dido out of lust. Although Aeneas acts like Dido’s husband by building walls for Carthage, he never explicitly accepts the position. He only stays in Carthage because of the benefits made available to him: Dido’s love and her luxurious gifts. When he is about to leave, Dido berates him for deceiving her in their â€Å"marriage.† Adamant that he never entered upon a marriage, Aeneas replies, â€Å"Do not think/I meant to be deceitful and slip away./I never held the torches of a bridegroom,/Never entered upon the pact of marriage† (IV, 465-8). His response to Dido reveals Aeneas’s ignorance in their relationship; he never realizes her deep obsession with him. When he leaves, he wants to console her, but does not act upon it because he feels he has committed no wrong and he has obligations to fulfill. Even when he visits the underworld, he still does not understand how Dido felt or how much he was at fault for her death. He asks her, â€Å"Was I, was I the cause?† (VI, 616). His ignorance as to how she felt and what she wanted shows his inability to be cognizant of other s’ feelings, which makes him look stupid. The least Aeneas could have done was to have said goodbye, but instead he excuses himself by claiming the gods forced him to leave her. Due to misperception and fate, the love of Dido and Aeneas could have never lasted. When Dido and Aeneas engagedShow MoreRelatedAeneas And Dido : The Outcome Of One Of The Most Tragic Love Stories Essay1578 Words   |  7 PagesAeneas and Dido are the outcome of one of the most tragic love stories, first described in Virgil s Aeneid. Before Aeneas founded Rome, in the days of being a Roman Soldier, he left a fallen troy, and a number of followers on 7 ships. He however was shipwrecked on the shores of Carthage, the great African City ruled by Queen Dido. Dido and Aeneas fell deeply in love, but the gods called Aeneas away to fulfill his destiny in Italy, and Dido was left heartbroken and alone. 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