Virgil Essays

Potential Longer Questions

Q1) The characterisation and role of Aeneas
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Q2) The characterisation and role of Creusa
Virgil uses Creusa to create narrative tension.

Creusa creates a metaphorical barrier which may prevent Aeneas from completing his mission. She appeals to his sense of honour and duty as a father and a husband, using the word 'relinquor' (678), meaning being abandoned, to describe her, Julus' and Anchises' state if Aeneas leaves.

This could force Aeneas to abandon his mission and focus on his family. Here, Aeneas is conforming to the Roman moral code of piety, which involves one's duty to the Gods, one's homeland, and one's family.

This detraction from the mission creates narrative tension as the reader is unsure whether Aeneas will suceed in fulfilling his destiny, or whether he will disobey Hector and stay to protect his family.

Creusa is given the identity of a true Roman ancestor by Virgil. She is strong willed and places great priority on piety.

Q3) The characterisation and role of Anchises
P: He's a threat to Aeneas' mission - E: "talia perstabat memorans fixusque manebat" (650) - E: Aeneas needs to take Anchises with him as part of the Trojan remnant as Hector told him, so Anchises creates narrative tension by being stubborn.

P: He enables the illustration of Aeneas' piety - E: "genitor, quem tollere in altos optabam primum montes primumque petebam" (635) - E: The fact that Aeneas thinks first (shown by repetition of "primum") of his father is evidence of the priority he places on piety. This is an important concept for Virgil's audience to be able to relate to in the ancestors of their emperor.

P: Anchises is a stubborn old man - E: "abnegat excisa vitam producere Troia exsiliumque pati" (637) - E: Anchises seems to have a deathwish, but it may also be seen as being patriotic, refusing to live as a Trojan exile. He later gones on to say he believes the gods are against him and that he has long been hateful (647) of the gods and that he is useless and lingering, showing a lack of will to live.

Q4) Characterisation of the Greeks
Throughout Book II, the Grees are portrayed as manipulating, twisted and morally degenerate through Virgil's use of imagery and metaphors.

The Greeks are portrayed as powerful, and their force in their attack of Troy is completely overwhelming. This is seen in the first metaphor, when Virgil compares the Greek's attack to a 'rapidus torrens' (305), a natural which was completely uncontrollable, showing the Greek assault is unstoppable. This is further emphasised by describing Aeneas as 'stupet'.

Later on in the metaphor the Greeks are shown to be deceitful, which is shown through the phrase "Danaumque patescunt insidiae" (309), suggesting the Greeks only bettered the Trojans - whose descendants later rule Rome - through foul means and trickery, therefore still validating Augustus' rule.

Adding to this, Pyrrhus, the son of the Greek hero Achilles, is shown to be morally degenerate through him slaughtering the royal family in front of an altar, and paying no respect for the dead. This behavior is reflected on the Greeks in general to portray them as a dishonest adversary.

Q5) Development in the character of Aeneas over the course of the book
Aeneas is shown to be reckless through not paying attention to Hector's warning that Troy cannot be defended by a right hand.

He is then concerned by the sounds of battle that woke him up, "clarescunt sonitus armorumque ingruit horror" (301) and shown to be a bewildered shepherd, "stupet...pastor" (308), in an analogy, which alludes to his future as a leader of the Trojan remnant.

He is shown to be irrational and in a frezy, as "arma amens capio". Although this seems as if he will not be successful in completing his destiny, Aeneas at first is shown to conform to the ideals of a hero, as seen in Homer's Iliad.

His piety is then shown through his desire to save Anchises (see [Q3]) and Creusa uses this sense of duty to persuade him not to abandon his wife and child.

He then assumes his role as the leader of the remaining Trojans by delivering a speech in which he instructs everyone to safety, preserving the concept of the Trojan family by taking his father, wife, child and slaves with him.

Lastly, we see Aeneas be absolved of his guilt concerning the death of Creusa, and her ghost informs her of his destiny. He is still shown to be compassionate by trying to embrace her three times, but "ter frustra" (793).