“But Father, can it be that any souls
would ever leave their dwelling here to go
beneath the sky of earth, and once again
take on their sluggish bodies? Are they madmen?
Why this wild longing for the light of earth?”
After traversing through the underworld and meeting his past face to face, Aeneus finally gets to speak to his father, Anchises, who shows him the spirits drinking from the river Lethe. The water from the river causes “long forgetfulness” and make the drinker forget about all the suffering and mistakes of their past life. The passage above is spoken by Aeneus in response to this sight. This is very much in line with Aeneus’s character throughout the poem thus far. He seems to long for death, or to a less extreme, he is simply tired. Due to his fate being tied to the founding of Rome and the brilliant future that has been promised by Jupiter, Aeneus must carry forward for the sake of duty alone; he must renounce personal feelings and desires. He describes anyone wanting to live as “madmen”. Throughout the poem, madness and longing have been associated with roadblock towards the foundation of Rome. For example, Dido’s passion that caused Aeneus to shortly forget about his mission. Aeneus is not allowed to live in the present. He constantly longs to go back to Troy but is pulled by fate towards the future. The result of this tension is a character that always wants to stop and rest. To him, death would be a comfort. At the same time, the fact that he has the burden of the future on his shoulders is a strong motivation. His winning character trait is his piety. This piety defines the ideal Roman- never settling for personal desires, always working towards the betterment of the state, no matter the sacrifice.
I’m planning to write my paper on Prompt 4b, comparing and contrasting Aeneus to Gilgamesh. In Gilgamesh and the Aeneid, male and female relationships play a strong role in propelling the main characters towards their futures. In Gilgamesh, the death of Enkidu drives Gilgamesh to search for immortality, a quest that is purely self-interest. In the Aeneid, however, Aeneus is driven by his grand future. His past also haunts him, like in Gilgamesh, but rather than fear death he would prefer it.
I’m still thinking about how to approach the whole female relationships aspect. I want to come at if from a more broad angle, comparing the passion of Dido to the present that Aeneus is denied or something like that. Still brainstorming.
Heather, I think you've got a great start thinking about Aeneas condition in the present, and I think relating it to male-female relationships won't be super hard. One direction to explore is the divine mother aspect-- what kind of a relationship is that one, and is that not also premised on this strange tussle between past and future? As for Dido, precisely because she exists in the present she is problematic. I think you might want to try and integrate these two feminine figures and see what conclusions you come to.
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