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Aeneas and Dido.. and Shakespeare? // Jackson Riddle

Love is dangerous and often forbidden, as the classic tale of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet shows with drama and scandal. While the love between Aeneas and Dido is not particularly forbidden, there is an air of deception in their love as the gods and goddesses meddle once more with human affairs. Venus shows a disregard for fate by making Dido fall for Aeneas, despite the fact that Dido refuses to love another, saying she would never want to betray Sychaeus' memory (Dido's first husband). Virgil describes Dido's love for Aeneas with somewhat violent descriptors: "With longing that her heart's blood fed, a wound or inward fire eating her away." (95). His description of Dido's love for Aeneas foreshadows her dark fate that awaits her, when she takes her own life in despair over Aeneas leaving. Once again the gods continue to interfere in the affairs of humanity, because as Aeneas is leaving, Anna, Dido's sister, begs him to stay to avoid the treacherous winter weather, but the fates and the heavens block Aeneas' ears, and he is unswayed by Anna's persuasion. I found it interesting that Virgil portrays Aeneas as a deeply rooted tree when Anna is attempting to persuade him; it symbolizes Aeneas' piety, but shows how he is unable to feel empathy for Dido, much like how a tree has no emotion whatsoever. 

Edit: I commented on Micah and Clabo's posts

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