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All Hail Queen Dido—Lily Caswell

Let’s talk about Dido for a minute. This woman fled for her life to escape her brother who murdered her husband. She then went to North Africa and was told she could have as much land as she wanted as long as it was within the size of a bull’s hide. So does she just place the hide down? Absolutely not. This woman cuts the hide into one long strip and places it down on the ground, getting a huge plot of land that she builds the city Carthage.


Dido is a very strong woman but because this is mythology, the gods get involved. Specifically, Venus, the goddess of love, and her son Amor, get involved. Dido goes from this strong, “independent woman who don’t need no man”, to love-sick puppy eyes within the span of one night. It seems kind of strange to me. When Dido first meets Aeneas, she is in awe of him not because of his beauty, but because of what she has heard of him. But as the night of feasting continues, Amor works his magic and fades Dido’s husband away and stirs her feelings for Aeneas. So I raise the question: would Dido have fallen in love with Aeneas without the help of the gods? Would she have eventually fallen in love with Aeneas after a long time, or would she have fallen in love with him at all?


I commented on Jamie’s and Abigale’s posts.

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