BOOK 12 - Summary of the Aeneid Bk. 12 PDF

Preview

Summary

Summary of the Aeneid Bk. 12...

Description

BOOK 12 Key Events 1. A duel is arranged but then destroyed by Juno = mass warfare 2. Juno lets Juturna try to protect Turnus 3. Juno + Jupiter agree about the future of the Latins 4. Aeneas kills Turnus Character Developments Juturna – Lamenting Turnus echoes Anna’s lament for Dido (l. 873) Turnus – Furor, Homeric hero, fights because he enjoys it, described as a wild beast, fighting for a cause but just on the wrong side, meets death heroically Aeneas – Fights because he must, flips into Homeric hero due to wound Owl – Juno sends one down to fly into Turnus’ face, like lonely hooting of owl Dido hears when raving mad around Carthage Similes l. 66 – As when Indian ivory… l.683 – Turnus just… boulder Techniques Short speeches Chop + changes Think battle is finally here + go up to Olympus instead Links to Roman Context Jupiter + Juno ‘bury Troy’ under the name of the Latin Race Equal dignity for each side As with Dido, so with Turnus (Virgil includes the emotions/viewpoints of the defeated) Amata’s suicide echoes of Cleopatra (mad women killing themselves to avoid a worse fate a common theme in Roman society) If Aeneas had saved Turnus, it would’ve been like Octavian sparing Cleopatra (ended in chaos) or Odysseus sparing the suitors Scholars Gransden – “our value systems lie beyond the limits of the poem and indeed the pagan world” Hardie – “Some believe that the poem is subversive to Augustus” - Ending “the greatest stumbling block for modern readers” - Aeneas “ignores the appeal to his father” which is the prime focus for pietas Griffin – “A disquieting conclusion” - “However, war is not rational and Evander needed him to die” to revenge Pallas Williams – “Each reader must decide for themselves whether Aeneas acted rightly or not”...