Plot
Characters
Theme
symbols
 In order to gain a greater understanding of the Aeneid
we need to look at the plot, characters, themes and
symbols within Book IV.
 Why had Dido sworn never to marry again?
 Anna, Dido’s sister, gives two reasons, one personal
and one political why Dido should marry again. What
are these reasons?
 Who is the goddess of marriage to whom Dido
sacrifices?
 What other special concerns does this goddess have
throughout the Aeneid?
 What effect did Dido’s lovesickness have on life in
Carthage?
1) Juno observes this
and she offers a kind
of treaty to Venus
3) She is wild with love and she staggers
through the city like a doe hit by an
arrow. The city ceases to be built.
Plot in
Bk IV
2)Anna tells her that Sychaeus would
not mind if she took a new and
powerful husband. She explains that
with so many hostile tribes around
them, a joint city with the Trojans
would be desirable.
4)Dido is overcome
by love for Aeneas.
5)She admits to her sister, Anna, that he
is the only man she has loved since
Sychaeus
 Finish off the activity sheet in pairs.
 Questions for the question exercise:
 Who is Rumour and what does she do?
 Why does Dido not believe Aeneas?
 Who does Dido claim bore Aeneas?
 Give a rational reason as to why Dido is so
irrational?
Read pages 23 – 25 and activities 1, 4, 9 and 11 from the
Findlay text.
 Dido foretells the hatred between Carthage and Rome.
Vergil incorporates Roman history partially trying to
justify the history of war between the two nations.
 What disadvantage had Dido incurred by giving her
love to Aeneas?
 What reasons does Aeneas offer for his inability to stay
with Dido?
 Dido: she can no longer rule her city because she is
overcome with love. When she and Aeneas make love,
she thinks that this is marriage, but he does not. Her
love for him and her reaction to rejection changes her
from a noble queen into an irrational being.
 Dido confides to her sister
that she feels:
 confused,
 upset.
 But why…?
 Dido had sworn never to love
or marry another man after the
death of her first husband
- Sychaeus.
“Relics once dear, while fate and
heaven allowed, take this my spirit
and loose me from these woes. My life
is lived; the course by fortune given I
have fulfilled, and now the shade of
me passes majestic to the world
below. I have built a noble city, mine
own walls beheld, avenged my
husband….” (lines 651-653)
Dido recovers her dignity
The gods take pity on her, Juno
allows her to go into the after life.
What is Aeneas’ personal attitude to Dido’s anger and grief?
He is reminded (by Jupiter via Mercury that he has a higher
purpose. He feels that he must put personal issues aside
and continue his divine mission. IMPORTANT MORAL
VALUE
He reminds her:
that they aren’t married,
That his first obligation is to duty and destiny.
He remains somewhat unemotional throughout and further
pleading by Dido doesn’t work
 Create a mind map demonstrating how Aeneas
acts, his relationship with Dido, pietas and his
emotions.
Book IV underlines Aeneas’ human weakness
and his forgetfulness of his mission. He is not
yet completely willing to follow his destiny. Yet
his decision to leave demonstrates that he is
moving towards this goal.
 Briefly jot down the names of the minor characters
introduced in Book IV and their roles.
 Re-write your chosen scene in modern language.
 Either re-enact the scene or create an interview scenario
whereby one character is interviewed by a reporter.
 Suggested scenes:
 Juno and Venus plotting,
 Mercury and Aeneas discussing the latter’s destiny,
 Aeneas give Dido the cold shoulder,
 Dido’s anger, exclaiming that Venus is not Aeneas’ mother,
 Dido talking to Anna (tricking Anna to help make her funeral
pyre),
 Dido’s soliloquy.
 Juno and Venus
decide that a union
between Aeneas
and Dido would be
a good thing.
 Jupiter sends Mercury
down to Aeneas to tell
him to leave for Italy
reminding him of his
destiny in Italy.
 Aeneas immediately
starts making
preparations to leave.
 Juno takes pity
on the poor
woman and
sends Iris to
release her
soul and lead
it into the
afterlife.
 Who played the role of Maximus in the 2000 film
Gladiator?
 Russell Crowe
 Divine
intervention
•
•
•
•
•
•
Role of the gods:
Juno and Venus,
Jupiter,
Mercury,
Iris.
The gods meddle
in order to get
their own way
with no thought
to the cost of
human pain and
suffering.
 Aeneas’ divine
The relationship
quest
between people and
 His temporary
fate
stay at Carthage
•Between Dido and
develops into a
fate
lengthy love
affair.
•Aeneas and fate
 Moral issue:
The meaning of life
personal life VS • Dido commits suicide
his mission.
because of her shame,
 How it effects
loss of self respect and
other individuals.
dignity.
 The images of wounds
and fire demonstrate
Dido’s destructive.
 “when cold death has
severed soul and limb,
in every place my shade
shall haunt thee.” (line
386)
 “bankrupt at heart she
rages, and on fire
through all the city, like
some Maenad….” (line
302)
 The main image in the
text is the hunt. The doe
symbolically represents
Dido and the oak tree is
Aeneas.
 Exercise: find quotes
from the text.
Rumour and Dawn are
personified elements.
“As many tongues, as
many sounding mouths,
pricks ears as many: by
night ‘twixt earth and
heaven she cleaves the
darkness, hissing as she
flies” (line 184)- Rumour
 Disease used to describe
Dido and Aeneas’ illfated relationship.
 “First day of death was
that, first cause of ill”
(line 171) Dido and
Aeneas have just made
love. It suggests that it is
the turning point in their
relationship