For the purpose of my third paper I would like to focus on the concept of self-sacrifice in order to compare and contrast the characters of Aeneas and Antigone. As depicted in their respective literary pieces, the two characters share many similarities: they both face many challenging obstacles, which keep them from living in the present, in order to fulfill their familial, god-directed duties. However, despite the fact that both characters ostensibly share the significant similarity of sacrificing ‘self’, there arises a sharp contrast between the two upon closer analysis. Antigone is passionately and unwaveringly dedicated to her duty to the point of obstinacy throughout Antigone. On the other hand, Aeneas requires much more external motivation. He must, in a sense, be pushed to fulfill his fate, his duty. Thus, by examining Antigone in light of Aeneas, the nobility of her actions and self-sacrifice become more significant and honorable.
Focusing on exposing Aeneas’s character, lines 476-484 of Book IV of The Aeneid perfectly illustrate his lack of internal motivation:
“For often as the night conceals the earth with dew and shadows, often as the stars ascend, my father’s anxious image approaches me in dreams. Anchises warns and terrifies; I see the wrong I have done to one so dear, my boy Ascanius, whom I am cheating of Hesperia, the fields assigned by fate.”
Upon reaching the borders of Libya, Aeneas becomes complacent with the idea of staying in Carthage as Dido’s lover. Ignoring his duty, he spends his time either by Dido’s side or working to expand her city. Clearly, his actions stand in opposition to his designated fate of founding Rome, and Mercury descends from heaven as a reminder. Shaken by Mercury’s warning to forge forward, Aeneas relates the above passage to Dido in his explanation for leaving. Thereby it is revealed that Mercury’s was not the first warning that Aeneas received. Rather, his father has appeared before him many times in his dreams. In these dreams, Anchises, by Aeneas’s own account, frightened Aeneas and made him feel remorseful for keeping Ascanius from reaching Ausonian soil. The importance of this passage lies in the fact that Aeneas’s dream was recurring, and every time it happened he was scared and made to recognize the effects of his actions. Yet, in spite of this, he continued to remain seemingly content in Carthage. It was not until after the amalgamation of his paternal and the divine messages that he succumbed to his designated fate. Hence, Aeneas, as revealed here, is not internally driven to fulfill his duty, rather he must be propelled forward by external forces.
Tina, this is a very nuanced reading of Aeneas' character, and the contrast between him and Antigone is a justified one. As you progress with an outline for the paper, here are some questions that you might want to keep in mind:
ReplyDeleteThe first would the idea of a "lens" or a point of comparison, and I think you're rightly leaning towards the notion of a self-- must the self be sufficient, or not. In the case of Aeneas, it seems that Virgil creates such a hero precisely to counter those of Antigone's type, ie. for a state such as Rome the self cannot be all-consuming, rather it must be available for the consumption of the state, if it requires it. An important question, then, is whether a hero is required in the Roman city state or not? Or must we dispense with the earlier Greek tradition of heroism and self-sacrifice in the name of an idea or belief?