Essay/Term paper: Being a hero

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Term Papers

Being a Hero


Thesis: Despite his accomplishments and the glory associated with his life,
Aeneas only achieves the status of hero through divine intervention, and this
god-given position causes him just as much grief as it does splendor.


What is a hero? We would like to think that a hero is someone who has
achieved some fantastic goal or status, or maybe someone who has accomplished a
great task. Heroes find themselves in situations of great pressure and act with
nobility and grace. Though the main character of Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas, is
such a person, it is not by his own doing. He encounters situations in which
death is near, in which love, hate, peace, and war come together to cause both
good and evil. In these positions he conducts himself with honor, by going
along with what the gods want. Only then goes on to pave the way for the Roman
Empire. His deeds, actions, and leadership would never have come to be if it
were not for the gods. The gods took special interest in Aeneas, causing him
misfortune in some cases, giving him assistance in others. On the whole, the
gods constantly provide perfect opportunities for Aeneas to display his heroism.
Without them, Aeneas would not be the hero he is. This gift does not come
without a price, though; he must endure the things heroes endure to become what
they are. Despite his accomplishments and the glory associated with his life,
Aeneas only achieves the status of hero through divine intervention, and this
god-given position causes him just as much grief as it does splendor.
Aeneas is the son of Venus. This fact alone brings about much of the
hero in him. Venus, a concerned mother, always looks out for her son. She does
everything she thinks will help to ensure his safety and success. At the
beginning of his journey from Troy, she prevents his death at sea. Juno has
persuaded King Aeolus to cause vicious storms, rocking Aeneas' fleet and nearly
killing all of them. Venus then goes to Jupiter and begs him to help Aeneas:
Venus appealed to him, all pale and wan, With tears in her shining eyes:
"My lord who rule The lives of men and gods now and forever, And bring
them all to heel with your bright bolt, What in the world could my Aeneas do,
What could the Trojans do, to so offend you? Jupiter then assures Venus that
he will keep his promise to allow Aeneas to live on to set the stage for the
coming of the Romans. In this case, without Venus' watchful eye and concern,
Aeneas would have no kind of protection or security as he made his way to
Italy.
Another instance in which Venus uses her influence to assist Aeneas is
during the fifth book. When Aeneas and the Trojans leave Sicily, Venus fears
that Juno will attempt to kill Aeneas again, and so asks Neptune for safe
passage over the ocean: Beset with worries, Venus turned to Neptune, Unfolding
from her heart complaints and pleas: "Juno's anger, and her implacable heart,
Drive me to prayers beneath my dignity. … But as to what comes next, I beg you,
let them Safely entrust their sailing ships to you" Once again, Aeneas would
have to deal with the wrath of Juno on his own, if it were not for the divine
influence of his mother.
In book eight of the Aeneid, with war between the Trojans and the
Italians imminent, Venus once again fears for the safety of her son. To ensure
the well-being of Aeneas, she cajoles her husband, Vulcan into making a suit of
armor for Aeneas: "Most dear husband, I never wished to tax you, make you toil
In a lost cause, however much I owed To Priam's sons, however long I wept Over
Aeneas' ordeals. Now, however, … I do come, begging your sacred power For arms,
a mother begging for her son." Venus is willing to put on this facade of extreme
passion for her husband in order to help Aeneas. She goes to lengths that many
mothers would not. This is not quite enough, though; average mother's concern
alone does not make Aeneas a hero. A divine mother's concern makes him a hero.
Without her willingness for personal sacrifice, Aeneas would never survive
through the Aeneid. Occasionally, as is the case with most mothers, Venus'
judgment of what is best for Aeneas contradicts what fate and the other gods
have in store for him. During the Trojans' time at Carthage, Juno and Venus
both agree that a union between Dido and Aeneas is in order. They use the
attraction that Aeneas and Dido already have for each other and use it to cause
them to fall in love. The intensity of this love is enough to cause Dido to
break her vow of fidelity to her dead husband and she neglects her
responsibilities to the development of the city. Jupiter disapproves of this
union, and sends Mercury to remind Aeneas of his responsibility to Rome:
Approach the Dardan captain where he tarries Rapt in Tyrian Carthage, losing
sight Of future towns the fates ordain. Correct him, Carry my speech to him on
the running winds: … What has he in mind? What hope, to make him stay Amid a
hostile race, and lose from view Ausonian progeny, Lavinian lands? The man
should sail: that is the whole point. Aeneas is in love with Dido and would
gladly stay with her, building up Carthage, but the gods know that there is more
important business to which he must tend. Jupiter has to intervene to get
Aeneas to do what his destiny dictates him to do in the first place. He would
not have done his duty as a hero. Naturally, Aeneas' own mother would don the
role of his protector, but not all the gods deemed his plight worth of support.
Juno, specifically, did nearly all she could to hinder him. From the start of
his journey, Juno makes things difficult for Aeneas; as is previously mentioned,
Juno has Aeolus nearly sink all of the Trojans' ships. The survival of the
storm and the leading of his followers to safety are good examples of Aeneas'
heroism, but he would not even have had this opportunity to be a hero without
Juno. In addition, if it was not for Neptune's help, he would not have survived
the incident. In book seven, Juno realizes that she cannot change the fate of
Aeneas and the Trojans, but is still so bitter that she decides to make things
as difficult as possible for them. She summons Allecto to incite hatred and
hostility within the residents of Italy, resulting in a desire for war against
the Trojans.
Here is a service all your own That you can do for me, Daughter of Night, Here
is a way to help me, to make sure My status and renown will not give way Or be
impaired, and that Aeneas' people Cannot by marriage win Latinus over, … Break
up this peace-pact, scatter acts of war, All in a flash let men desire, demand,
And take up arms.
Allecto arouses Queen Amata's animosity toward Aeneas. She also spurs
Turnus to believe that Aeneas is the enemy, and to fuel the flame that is
Turnus' jealousy toward Aeneas. Allecto's work is successful; it helps give
rise to the war between the Italians and the Trojans. Juno also directly helps
the war happen when she personally descends from the heavens and bursts open the
doors of the temple of Janus: Heaven's queen At this dropped from the sky. She
gave a push To stubborn-yielding doors, then burst the iron-bound Gates of war
apart on turning hinges. All Ausonian lands as yet unroused, Unawakened, now
took fire. The Italians look at this as a good sign and many people rally for
the war. Juno has almost turned all of Italy against Aeneas, and single-
handedly starts the war against the Trojans. This war, and the fact that the
Trojans prevail is a large part of what makes Aeneas a hero. Despite the fact
that she was not trying to help him become a hero, Juno does help him achieve
this status by starting the war and giving him this opportunity to use the help
of the other gods to come out and shine.
Aeneas accomplishes much and earns immense glory throughout the Aeneid.
Nevertheless, this achievement of hero status relies on the assistance of the
gods, and this assistance does not necessarily come in a positive form. Juno
causes storms, hate, and war, either to stop Aeneas or at least make things more
difficult for him. Venus, the divine mother, does everything she can to
counteract the obstacles that Juno makes. Other gods and supernatural beings all
play a part in affecting Aeneas' life. Without all this divine intervention,
Aeneas would have been an uninteresting, average Joe.