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Anna Phillips-Brown

Prof. Carol Anderson

HUM 101-1

March 19, 2018

The Role of Women in the Aeneid

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In most historic and even modern literature, women are often not portrayed favorably,

whether or not it be the intention of the author. Examples of this can even be seen in the Bible,

one of the earliest and most revered forms of literature. Seeing as it was just barely one hundred

years ago that women were even fully recognized as American citizens, this should not be

entirely surprising. Virgil’s Aeneid, another early and timeless classic, is no exception to this

precedent. While the epic introduces many dynamic and sometimes, God forbid, powerful

women throughout the plotline, each one carries an intrinsic flaw specific to their gender that

almost negates any small redeeming quality bestowed upon them. Some may argue that on

occasion, Virgil does point out fatal flaws in male characters that are specific to men, but as time

has always told us, insulting a man an be taken as a lighthearted joke and is acknowledged as one

of his quirks. When a woman is characterized by her faults, that is what she is known for,

making it a defining quality as opposed to a quirk. Obviously, this is not explicitly stated

anywhere in the Aeneid or most portrayals of women, because the key to institutionalized

prejudice is always subliminal messaging. In Virgil’s Aeneid, he blatantly reveals both his and

society’s insolent and ignorant views of women, with the examples of Dido, Amata, and Camilla.

When Dido is first introduced, she is portrayed as a formidable yet just ruler, but that is

not how she will be remembered in the story. Not long after her introduction, Dido unwittingly

falls in love with Aeneas as the result of being shot by cupid. This alone portrays women as

helpless and mindlessly vulnerable to the elements and any person or object that happens to pass

by, but that is a result of the oppressive gender roles that have already been instated by society at

the time, and less the fault of Virgil’s writing. However, the storyline uses Dido as a tool for

Aeneas’s journey, so much so that she barely is fully developed as a character aside from her

inflicted love for Aeneas. This is what defines her as a character, because being a woman, clearly
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she does not have the capacity to possess more than one distinguishable characteristic and cannot

stand on her own two feet as a character. While she is set up by the context of the story to have

the potential to be a dynamic and interesting character that the audience could be invested in, her

only prerogative was to have an uncontrollable crush on Aeneas, and arguably even play dumb to

win his affection. Before she is even struck with Cupid’s arrow, she is described as not being

able “to feast her eyes enough, thrilled both by the boy and the gifts he brings” (Book 1, line

851). This implies that Dido, along with women as a whole, is easily sidetracked by anything

that sparkles or otherwise catches the eye, therefore negating any sense of logic or reasonable

thinking. The theme of women being enamored and distracted by gifts carries through the rest of

the story, but Dido is fortunate enough to set the precedent for what is decided to be typical

womanly behavior.

Another prime example of Virgil’s unapologetic perception of women is Amata, a

woman who kills herself when her daughter, Lavinia, does not marry the man Amata wants her

to marry. This would not be a far-fetched version of the pre-Saturday Night Live version of

women not being able to control themselves when they get their periods. A simpler version of

this observation would be that Virgil finds it reasonable to assume that all women have

absolutely no control over their own emotions and are infamously dramatic, to the point where

any inconvenience may become a life or death altercation. It is evident that this particular

scenario is more solemn than a minor inconvenience, yet it still manages to portray Amata as not

much more than another stereotype of women, and a dramatization of the flaws often criticized

in women. There are many things that we as readers in a modern era can see in entertainment and

recognize that it is wrong and unfair, yet these images or events that we witness still have a very

strong effect on us even if we do not realize it. Several social constructs today have theoretically
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been turned on their heads, therefore destroying gender roles, but women still have qualms to

this day about taking authoritative action, being labeled as crazy for expressing normal human

emotions. The subliminal messages that we see in The Aeneid may not be quite as effective on us

as the text is from long enough ago that it practically seems fictional. But if the epic were

remastered through a modern lens, one must wonder what effect it would have on readers today.

Finally, potentially the closest thing to a dynamic female character in the entire epic,

Camilla. Camilla is clearly a dangerous and cunning warrior, however is always referred to by

the men as “Princess” and “girl”. Her true vice, however, is made painfully clear when she sees

Chloreus, causing her to literally stop in her tracks. She proceeds to “stalk him wildly, reckless

through the ranks, afire with a woman’s lust for loot” (Book 11, line 917). Camilla is built up to

be an extraordinary warrior, leading the audience to believe that the true hero of the story may in

fact be a heroine. As soon as that concept becomes clear, she is railed with every female

stereotype that Virgil can think of, attributing her downfall to her “woman’s lust”. Her entire

being as both a warrior and a woman is struck down in less than ten words, which is not difficult

to do if you are not a passable white man, even today. By instilling these small microaggressions

within the text, Virgil is making statements so loud that one may struggle to hear the rest of the

story.

In conclusion, while The Aeneid may be revered as a timeless piece of literature,

portraying one of the most captivating hero cycles known to date, in reality it is a reminder that

women are useless bobbles at the mercy of men and jewelry, no matter how powerful the woman

may appear. Virgil makes certain that any fragment of hope for any mortal woman throughout

his epic is quickly and swiftly mutilated, without so much as a blink or a second thought.
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Literature and art with such messages is still produced today evidently, but with great risk and

detriment.