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I've had some bad breakups, but dang. // Abbie Hedden

 Book 4 was one big coffee-fueled dumpster fire Wattpad rollercoaster of a read. So thanks to Juno, Aeneas and Dido get into an affair. It's so open and vulgar that everyone knows about it, as "Rumor flies through Libya's great cities// Rumor swiftest of all the evils in the world." (Book IV, lines 219-220) Rumor really does fly fast, especially when the tea is as hot as Aeneas and Dido's is. Dido feels guilty about it though and immediately begins calling it a marriage, even though they were never declared husband and wife. It kind of reminds me of those middle school relationships where precisely 12 hours after a boy asks a girl to be his girlfriend, their names will be drawn with a heart on every notebook and locker their hands can find, and they're convinced that they'll marry each other after high school is over. Obviously Aeneas and Dido's relationship is deeper than that, but Dido pretending like this is an official, forever thing when she really knows it isn't truly throws some red flags on the play. However, let me cut to the point since I have a whole paragraph written and still haven't addressed the elephant in the room. I don't know about you guys, but I kind of missed the part where she wanted to actually die at first. I was on board with burning everything Aeneas had touched in order to get over him... at first. Melodramatic? Yes. But what else would you expect from an epic like this? I was just remembering all the hoodies I've thrown away and Valentines cards I've torn into little pieces, until I reread the lines and realized Dido's actual Juliet-esque motivations. I was just sitting there with my mouth open like, dang girl. All this for a man. Okay then!


Commented on Lily Caswell and Isabelle Ferguson

Comments

  1. Jamie PetersNovember 16, 2020 at 10:01 PM

    Since I have never personally been in a relationship, I cannot truly relate to the pain that Dido is feeling. I can definitely see the Juliet-ness of her motives, but I feel like it is less of a heartbreak thing, more of a mind break thing, like Lady Macbeth. The atrocities committed against Dido by the gods, and the ones she committed on her own (affair), broke her.

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  2. Haley RiddleNovember 16, 2020 at 10:43 PM

    I loved reading your post! When I went through a breakup and couldn't decide what to do with my ex's stuff, my friends made similar suggestions... they suggested I burn everything. I didn't, but I definitely understand the impact heartbreak can have on a person, whether rational or not. But love doesn't always make sense, I guess.

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  3. Rachael GregsonNovember 16, 2020 at 11:31 PM

    Abbie, I did get the impression that as much as Aeneas loved her, he was not as serious about the relationship as she was. Granted, he did have other duties pulling his heart in other directions, while all she had to focus on was him. I guess this kind of romantic drama isn't solely confined to middle schools.

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