Aeneid

Question 1

Fate is fixed and you get there in doubt. This is where free will exists.

Answer 1

Gransden (Fate)

Question 2

Virgil doesn’t flatter Augustus, he inspires him to lead like Aeneas.

Answer 2

Griffin (Virgil & Augustus)

Question 3

Augustus was a terrorist and a criminal, even though he tried to cover it.

Answer 3

Syme

Question 4

Aeneas is like an automaton or a puppet because he is driven by exterior forces.

Answer 4

Camps (Aeneas & Fate)

Question 5

Virtue will ultimately be rewarded. It is often not rewarded in life, but it will be in the world to come.

Answer 5

Williams (Virtue)

Question 6

Juno is a stereotypical soap-opera bitch

Answer 6

Harrison

Question 7

Venus is not presented as particularly close to Aeneas

Answer 7

Thomas

Question 8

Turnus and Dido are victims of demonic possession.

Answer 8

Camps (Turnus and Dido)

Question 9

Aeneid gods work very similarly to Homer’s; anthropomorphic, work with fate, intervene with mortals

Answer 9

Quinn (Gods)

Question 10

Most of the plot is driven by Juno.

Answer 10

Gransden (Juno)

Question 11

The bright light of human achievement and potential shines through the dark places.

Answer 11

Williams (Optimism)

Question 12

Virgil intermingles the past and present with the mythical figure - an effective way of making the reader identify with the events in the poem.

Answer 12

Morgan (Myth)

Question 13

The Aeneid is about the conflict between personal wishes and the compulsions of duty.

Answer 13

Pattie

Question 14

Mortals are helpless in the face of fate.

Answer 14

Sowerby (Fate)

Question 15

The reality of despair triumphs over the illusion of hope.

Answer 15

Nusbaum

Question 16

There is a sense of loss in the Aeneid which gives the poem a mood of frustration and sadness.

Answer 16

Parry

Question 17

Aeneas is a brave man near the end of his tether.

Answer 17

Williams (Aeneas)

Question 18

Aeneas is a cog in a divine machine.

Answer 18

Hall

Question 19

Aeneas isn’t chasing glory - he has a duty as a leader to find his people a new home.

Answer 19

Edwards

Question 20

Civil war was giving place to the supremacy of one man, divinely chosen, who would restore peace to Rome and the world.

Answer 20

Griffin (Aeneas and Augustus parallels)

Question 21

Aeneas is a silent hero

Answer 21

Lyne

Question 22

Virgil wasn’t a misogynist. Dido is a woman but also someone that can teach Aeneas how to establish a city. Deeply sympathetic portrayal.

Answer 22

Jenkyns (Dido)

Question 23

Virgil perhaps purposefully killed off Creusa so that the surviving family is all male.

Answer 23

Jenkyns (Creusa)

Question 24

Women who step out of traditional gender roles are doomed to fail.

Answer 24

Reilly

Question 25

Virgil associates the feminine with unruly passion, and the masculine with reasoned self-mastery.

Answer 25

Oliensis

Question 26

Aeneid gods reflect contemporary Roman gender stereotypes.

Answer 26

Cowan

Question 27

Dido did not have to kill herself.

Answer 27

Quinn (Dido)

Question 28

Dido is a victim of circumstances and the gods

Answer 28

Quesnay

Question 29

Dido is an innocent victim of Rome's destiny

Answer 29

Sowerby (Dido)