This question could connect to the A-Level; Classical Civilisations, The Aeneid.
In book one Aeneas is in the early
stages of his journey. It could be argued that he has the characteristics of a
displaced exile and is suffering from PTSD. Therefore, if you take this as the truth,
the characteristics he shows in book one must be the product of the trauma he
has experienced and you must understand (and give him leniency accordingly)
that his words and actions may not be what he would truly be like if he were in
his right mind. By the time Aeneas gets to book two he has had time to accept
what happened to him with help from his comrades and with guidance from his
mother. Also by the end of book two Aeneas has clearly developed away from the
state we found him in, the retelling of the fall of Troy from his point of view
may have helped him with this.
Aeneas first involvement in the poem
is during the storm/shipwrecking. This is where we also see the first of him
ourselves, and it is not a good first impression. The very first adjective we
have to describe him is ‘weak’ which is only then again implied through his cry
to the gods ‘why could I not have… breathed out my life on the plains of Troy’.
Aeneas is clearly a sorry creature, we can also see he describing himself as
timid as he did not die alongside the ‘brave men’ in the battle of Troy. This
also may show his regret of leading the people of Troy away from the burning city
even though Hector told him to. This speech can also demonstrate Aeneas sense
of self-doubt, he believes in himself very little as point, but soon Aeneas
will remember his purpose and will be revived again.
While the rest of the Trojans were
working away to make camp once they had landed in Libya, Aeneas was looking for
the rest of his fleet. But having no such luck soon returns to the camp to
provide a motivational speech. The speech has the effect of showing why Aeneas
needs to hide his true feelings from his comrades; the influence he has over
them is huge and he cares about them very much ‘Aeneas, who loved his men’.
Also in their mourning Virgil takes
the opportunity to again show Aenea’s self-doubt, as he refers to everyone other
than himself as brave, ‘brave Gyras and brave Cloanthus’. This is much like
Aeneas did during his crying’s during the storm and becomes a theme over the
two books. It occurs again while Aeneas is trying to inspire some men into
fighting during the fall ‘you are the bravest of all our warriors, and your
bravery is in vain’ once again he never refers to his own bravery because he
believes he has none. This theme runs until in the end of book two when Aeneas
accepts he must be the brave one to lead the people from Troy ‘I [Aeneas]
yielded’.
Although the
first book is in the present and the second is a telling of the past you can
still see the development of Aeneas through the way he tells his story and the emphasises
he puts on certain things. Aeneas by the end of book two has had some happy
moments, such as being reunited with his lost comrades. This moment allowed
Virgil to show us that Aeneas has developed towards a place where he can be
happy in the role he has to play. Also the retelling of the fall of Troy says
something about the development of Aeneas. I believe the story he tells to Dido
and her people has been heavily edited to purposefully manipulate them. If
Aeneas was able to do this it would suggest that to some extent he is getting
over his PTSD of the event and is looking to the future, towards his fate.
Although
Aeneas does develop somewhat in books one and two, it is clear that he still is
far off what he needs to become to complete his destiny. Virgil has set his
development in motion, from the displaced exile who just had lost his wife and
beloved home to what he is at the end of book two. A man who is worthy of Dido
and knows what his place is in the world; to protect his men and the people he
lead away from Troy and find them a home. Virgil shows his development through
the actions Aeneas takes and in the speeches he makes with emotive language,
the way he always compliments others and eventually himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment