Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...

Oedipus’ Children/Siblings—Lily Caswell

Ok, so Oedipus is a bit of a train wreck to say the least. I love the fact that even after Oedipus found out about his less-than-appealing relationship with his mother, he still tried to look after his children/siblings. After he gouged his eyes out, his children came to him at which point Oedipus talked about how that when they were old enough to marry, no one would want them due to them being products of incest. He said for the people not to condemn them based on what their father had done. Even after he knew what he had done and what his children were, he still wanted the best for them. I commented on Logan’s and Ian’s posts.

Overanalyzing Everyone's Intentions Here-Rachael Gregson

 First off, I'd like to say this is going to be a two part blog post, because a lot of things happened in this reading assignment that demands to be discussed.  As with any war I've realized, it's tricky not to fall into the initial perspective I am given. I began this book skeptical of Hector because I was bias toward the movie Troy, which was told mostly through the eyes of Achilles, but neither were what I was expecting. It's actually funny that they both hold values completely opposite from one another. Hector represented everything related to city-state pride, honor, and humility whereas Achilles was everything wild, reckless, and unpredictable solitary. This isn't to say that Hector is all good and Achilles all bad. Both had instances where I rooted for the other more or less. I just thought it was interesting how their two personalities represented something that basically causes all wars: the clash between civilization and savagery.  Secondly, I'm not de...