Dido Odyssey Dido's Parallels in Term Paper

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In her different stages of love and grief, Virgil uses direct parallels from the female characters in the Odyssey -- Calypso, Circe, Nausicaa, and Arete especially -- to make Dido the most well-rounded and fully realized woman of classical literature. She does not embody merely one motive and does not represent only one thing to Aeneas, nor is she entirely defined through her association with Aeneas, but rather in paralleling aspects of Odysseus' women by different turns she becomes wholly her own. The fullness of her character also portends the depth of the enmity that would develop between Rome and Carthage, and makes the division between she and Aeneas as powerful as any declaration made by the gods. In short, Virgil's crafting of Dido in the Aeneid makes her both human and symbol, with a consistency of meaning across her personal and her political import that makes her the perfect and the necessary counter to the hero Aeneas and the heroism of Rome, and the parallels between Dido and characters in the Odyssey illustrate her operation in Virgil's narrative.

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Not-Quite Guileless Goddesses

Two of the most prominent female characters Odysseus encounters on his journey in Homer's epic are the goddesses or demigoddesses Calypso and Circe, and these two divine feminine figures also have strong parallels to Dido both in certain elements of their character and in terms of their effect on their respective heroes. Though Dido is herself mortal, she garners the favor and protection of several gods throughout her brief time in Aeneas' life and her persona is certainly a worthy match to any Venus or Juno, and there is.....

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