"Virgil portrays Dido as an innocent victim deserving of the greatest sympathy." How far do you agree?
In Virgil’s epic ‘The Aeneid”, the protagonist Aeneas, on his seven-year journey, falls in love with Queen Dido
of Carthage and ultimately plays a huge role in causing her madness and eventual suicide. There is debate over
whether the Queen Dido is an innocent victim, underserving of her cruel fate; or instead, a maddened Queen
parallel to Cleopatra, the foreign enemy of Augustus – thereby creating a divide between the views of a
contemporary audience with a more modern opinion of the present day. Interestingly, Virgil presents Dido in
many lights, in some ways deceitful and corrupted, as well as at times a noble, respectable independent woman,
whom like Aeneas, possesses admirable, heroic qualities. However, with all things considered, it is more
persuasive to argue that to a great extent, ‘Virgil portrays Dido as an innocent victim deserving of the greatest
sympathy’, as of the stark contrast between Virgil’s emphasis of her good governance in book 1, with the sheer
madness and unjust fate she is consumed by as the epic progresses.
First and foremost, as we are introduced to Dido in book 1, it is fair to say that rather than a victim or villain,
Virgil portrays the Queen as largely naïve. For example, she is immediately described to be “in her ignorance of
destiny” as the epic begins. While it can be interpreted that at this point Virgil characterises the Queen as
slightly foolish and thoughtless, the poet more likely emphasises the tragedy of the situation as Dido is
completely oblivious and unexpecting of any harm as she lives unaware of the cruel destiny that awaits her. In
hand with this, as Virgil writes of Dido’s backstory it is clear that the Queen is a victim. To be specific Virgil
stresses that Pygmalion attacked her husband Sychaeus “with no thought for his sisters love”, signifying that
Dido is predominantly a victim and has been for a majority of her life, with her interests disregarded by her
brother. Furthermore, in this story Virgil writes using imagery of disease as “Dido was sick with love,”,
foreshadowing her death while gradually building sympathy from the audience as of her brutal treatment. As
well as this, Dido’s backstory presents her as an unfortunate victim from the beginning of the epic as Virgil
reveals that the innocent Queen was “deceived … with false hopes and empty pretences,”. This is especially
significant as it highlights that in her past Dido had been ‘deceived’ and builds on this sympathy for her
character as the audience is aware that she will once again go through these ‘false hopes’ again with Aeneas;
clearly presenting her as an unknowing victim with an underserving and harsh fate.
On top of this, in book 1 Virgil underlines Dido’s admirable attributes and draws sympathy from the audience
while he portrays her as an independent, competent woman worthy of respect. For instance, the poet
demonstrates that in her escape, Dido “led the whole undertaking,”, as a capable female leader, leading the men,
seizing ships, entirely responsible for success. This alone allows the audience to respect her, her independence
and bravery in an already hostile situation – drawing all the more sympathy for her as we see a complete
contrast with his behaviour as she is soon captivated by madness and loses all signs of her independence and
control. Furthermore, Dido’s eventual madness juxtaposes Virgil’s description of her organised, well governed,
highly civilised city in book 1. For example, the poet speaks of the Queen’s piety as the epic reads “here
Sidonian Dido was building for Juno a huge temple with rich offerings and rich too with the presence of a
goddess,”. In this instance Virgil highlights Dido’s religious devotion with good morals, intentions and values,
making her all the more decent as a character; she has shown nothing but respect and so accentuates the cruelty
and severity of her fate and death – quite rightly making her an ‘innocent victim deserving of the greatest
sympathy’.
Additionally, Virgil expresses the fondness Dido’s people have for her and her popularity in book 1, with her as
a much loved and respected leader. He demonstrates the mutual joy between her and her people as he outlines
her greatest qualities, making her downfall all the more saddening and tragic. To be specific, she is depicted as
“Queen Dido in all her beauty … with a great crowd of warriors around her,”. Virgil takes her greatness to
another level to the point where he likens her to a goddess, presenting her as one with the divine; she is
described as “like Diana she bore herself among the people,”, signifying that she is well valued and appreciated.
Moreover, Virgil demonstrates this sense of importance as he writes of “her armed guards about her,”, implying
that she is valuable and to be protected – ultimately a great loss to her people and so makes it just to say that
“Virgil portrays Dido as an innocent victim deserving of the greatest sympathy” as of the contrast with the
portrayal of her as a pure and harmless woman whom is unfortunately soon corrupted and frenzied. Moreover,
we see this juxtaposition as Virgil reinforces her good governance and highly civilised city through the voice of
Ilioneus as he describes Dido as “a queen whom Jupiter has allowed to found a new city and curb proud peoples
with justice,”. This theme of good governance is especially important as it would have gone down well with a
contemporary audience as of the Roman mission of civilisation, and so allow the audience to admire Dido as a
successful leader, drawing all the more sympathy towards her as of her unjust fate. Furthermore, Dido is
presented as a competent, generous and thoughtful Queen as she declares that “it is harsh necessity” to help
In Virgil’s epic ‘The Aeneid”, the protagonist Aeneas, on his seven-year journey, falls in love with Queen Dido
of Carthage and ultimately plays a huge role in causing her madness and eventual suicide. There is debate over
whether the Queen Dido is an innocent victim, underserving of her cruel fate; or instead, a maddened Queen
parallel to Cleopatra, the foreign enemy of Augustus – thereby creating a divide between the views of a
contemporary audience with a more modern opinion of the present day. Interestingly, Virgil presents Dido in
many lights, in some ways deceitful and corrupted, as well as at times a noble, respectable independent woman,
whom like Aeneas, possesses admirable, heroic qualities. However, with all things considered, it is more
persuasive to argue that to a great extent, ‘Virgil portrays Dido as an innocent victim deserving of the greatest
sympathy’, as of the stark contrast between Virgil’s emphasis of her good governance in book 1, with the sheer
madness and unjust fate she is consumed by as the epic progresses.
First and foremost, as we are introduced to Dido in book 1, it is fair to say that rather than a victim or villain,
Virgil portrays the Queen as largely naïve. For example, she is immediately described to be “in her ignorance of
destiny” as the epic begins. While it can be interpreted that at this point Virgil characterises the Queen as
slightly foolish and thoughtless, the poet more likely emphasises the tragedy of the situation as Dido is
completely oblivious and unexpecting of any harm as she lives unaware of the cruel destiny that awaits her. In
hand with this, as Virgil writes of Dido’s backstory it is clear that the Queen is a victim. To be specific Virgil
stresses that Pygmalion attacked her husband Sychaeus “with no thought for his sisters love”, signifying that
Dido is predominantly a victim and has been for a majority of her life, with her interests disregarded by her
brother. Furthermore, in this story Virgil writes using imagery of disease as “Dido was sick with love,”,
foreshadowing her death while gradually building sympathy from the audience as of her brutal treatment. As
well as this, Dido’s backstory presents her as an unfortunate victim from the beginning of the epic as Virgil
reveals that the innocent Queen was “deceived … with false hopes and empty pretences,”. This is especially
significant as it highlights that in her past Dido had been ‘deceived’ and builds on this sympathy for her
character as the audience is aware that she will once again go through these ‘false hopes’ again with Aeneas;
clearly presenting her as an unknowing victim with an underserving and harsh fate.
On top of this, in book 1 Virgil underlines Dido’s admirable attributes and draws sympathy from the audience
while he portrays her as an independent, competent woman worthy of respect. For instance, the poet
demonstrates that in her escape, Dido “led the whole undertaking,”, as a capable female leader, leading the men,
seizing ships, entirely responsible for success. This alone allows the audience to respect her, her independence
and bravery in an already hostile situation – drawing all the more sympathy for her as we see a complete
contrast with his behaviour as she is soon captivated by madness and loses all signs of her independence and
control. Furthermore, Dido’s eventual madness juxtaposes Virgil’s description of her organised, well governed,
highly civilised city in book 1. For example, the poet speaks of the Queen’s piety as the epic reads “here
Sidonian Dido was building for Juno a huge temple with rich offerings and rich too with the presence of a
goddess,”. In this instance Virgil highlights Dido’s religious devotion with good morals, intentions and values,
making her all the more decent as a character; she has shown nothing but respect and so accentuates the cruelty
and severity of her fate and death – quite rightly making her an ‘innocent victim deserving of the greatest
sympathy’.
Additionally, Virgil expresses the fondness Dido’s people have for her and her popularity in book 1, with her as
a much loved and respected leader. He demonstrates the mutual joy between her and her people as he outlines
her greatest qualities, making her downfall all the more saddening and tragic. To be specific, she is depicted as
“Queen Dido in all her beauty … with a great crowd of warriors around her,”. Virgil takes her greatness to
another level to the point where he likens her to a goddess, presenting her as one with the divine; she is
described as “like Diana she bore herself among the people,”, signifying that she is well valued and appreciated.
Moreover, Virgil demonstrates this sense of importance as he writes of “her armed guards about her,”, implying
that she is valuable and to be protected – ultimately a great loss to her people and so makes it just to say that
“Virgil portrays Dido as an innocent victim deserving of the greatest sympathy” as of the contrast with the
portrayal of her as a pure and harmless woman whom is unfortunately soon corrupted and frenzied. Moreover,
we see this juxtaposition as Virgil reinforces her good governance and highly civilised city through the voice of
Ilioneus as he describes Dido as “a queen whom Jupiter has allowed to found a new city and curb proud peoples
with justice,”. This theme of good governance is especially important as it would have gone down well with a
contemporary audience as of the Roman mission of civilisation, and so allow the audience to admire Dido as a
successful leader, drawing all the more sympathy towards her as of her unjust fate. Furthermore, Dido is
presented as a competent, generous and thoughtful Queen as she declares that “it is harsh necessity” to help
