Dido

I chose to focus on the backstory Venus reveals about Dido through her first interaction with her son Aeneas, and we learn a lot of important information about her that contributes to our overall understanding of her character and how both fate and free will play a role in her demise. Dido is a victim of fate throughout nearly the entire work. Before Dido is even introduced into the action, we learn of her background through Venus. This is significant, because Venus seems to be the symbol of Aeneas’ fate, since she is constantly helping him to fulfill his destiny of discovering Rome. Dido’s fate is set in motion from the beginning: the events leading to her suicide began long before going mad over Aeneas leaving her. If her brother hadn’t killed her husband, would Juno still have used her as a ploy to distract Aeneas from his journey? 

Is it all really fate? Or is it the free will of others that affects her? Dido falling in love with Aeneas seems to be Juno interfering with fate rather than contributing to it. Everything goes wrong for Dido, because she is an extension of Juno’s attempt to challenge the Fates, which, in the end, doesn’t work in Juno’s favor either. It was also Dido’s father’s free will to arrange her marriage and her brother’s free will to kill him. All of these events are beyond Dido’s control. Also, other characters’ fates influence each other’s actions, since Aeneas’ fate to found Rome caused him to leave her, leading to her suicide. While Aeneas’ fate is controlled by the gods, and specifically Venus, Dido’s fate is controlled by the people on Earth, such as her father, brother, and Aeneas. Aeneas is the epitome of fate in The Aeneid, so any similarities Dido has to Aeneas symbolizes the fact that she also must succumb to her own fate. 

Venus Appearing to Aeneas as a Huntress

•“Her husband was Sychaeus… / greatly loved by her, / Ill-fated woman.”(lines 468-470)—The last words of this passage are a clear reference to her impending fate, as it reveals that, even in the early events before her husband’s death, Dido was destined to meet an undesirable ending. Venus reveals that Dido’s father arranged her marriage to Sychaeus, another reference to her lack of control over her own life choices. However, she is able to fall in love with a man that she did not choose to marry, so does this reveal that she could have also falling for Aeneas even without the divine interference from Juno?

•“Her brother… Pygmalion, / A monster of wickedness beyond all others.”(lines 472-473)—The events leading up to Dido’s decision to leave for Carthage are also beyond her control. I think Pygmalion’s monstrous behavior is something that was dictated by the Fates, as probably all of the personalities on Earth are. However, his decision to act on that malicious behavior is his own free will. Pygmalion makes the choice to kill Sychaeus and steal his gold. 

 Mercury Visits Aeneas in Carthage and Reminds Him of His Destiny

•“But the true form of her unburied husband / Came in a dream” (lines 482-483)—Sychaeus’ ghost appears to Dido to urge her to leave Tyre and form a new kingdom in Carthage. This incident is similar to Creusa coming to Aeneas as a ghost and telling him to leave Troy and remarry. It is also reminiscent of Venus appearing to Aeneas and providing him with information or persuading him to take certain paths. 

•“Impelled by this, Dido laid her plans / To get away” (lines 491-492)—This passage is an example of what seems to be one of Dido’s only instances of free will. Although she is influenced by Sychaeus instructing her to leave her homeland and start a new kingdom, she didn’t have to listen to him. This decision seems to be the one thing that Dido actually had control over out of everything that has happened to her. This is where one could argue that Dido’s own actions contributed to her outcome. If she didn’t make the choice to go to Carthage, she would have never met Aeneas.

Dido Building Carthage