Aeneas' Fatal Flaw

Most heroes in literature are portrayed as strong, free thinking individuals. No one looks up to weak-minded men (or women). What makes Virgil’s The Aeneid so interesting is that it is written about a hero named Aeneas who never makes decisions for himself. Whether it’s deciding to stay and rebuild his home in Troy or to travel from one place to another, Aeneas takes all his direction from someone else, and yet, despite all of this, he is still viewed as a great literary hero. A constant theme for The Aeneid is other people, whether the gods or his father, making decisions and Aeneas blindly following, and this is often to his detriment. The best example that proves this point is Aeneas’ relationship with Dido.   

Aeneas knew when he left Troy that he was destined for great things. He understood that his purpose lay in Italy, yet when he arrives in Carthage, he allows himself to get distracted by Queen Dido. Over the course of him telling her the tragic story of how Troy fell, Cupid, under the command of Juno, inflames her love for him to the point where she no longer is thinking rationally. The Aeneid says Dido “cares no more / for appearances, nor for her reputation, either.” (4.214-215) Venus and Juno were both taking advantage of her, and the only person who was capable of thinking rationally in that situation was Aeneas. Maybe he gets distracted by Dido because of the glory of her kingdom, or maybe he gets distracted by Dido because of his love for her. Regardless of his reasoning, he enters into this affair with the queen of Carthage, and for a while, they were happy. Until one day Mercury comes to Aeneas and reminds him of his responsibilities. He calls out Aeneas for shirking his responsibilities and says, “You, so now you lay / foundation stones for the soaring walls of Carthage! / Building her gorgeous city, doting on your wife. / Blind to your own real, oblivious fate!” (4.330-334)

Mercury is telling Aeneas that he has messed up. He allowed himself to be swayed by temptation to forget his true calling, and the one who is forced to suffer for his mistake is Dido. He makes plans to sneak away in the night instead of being honest with Dido, but she discovers his plot and calls him out on it. She tells him he’s a traitor for abandoning her, and Aeneas has no choice but to agree with her. Dido is so distraught when he leaves her that she places a curse on his descendants and takes her own life. One could argue that Dido overreacted, but Aeneas should have never made a commitment to her that he knew he could never fulfill. If he really loved her, he shouldn’t have listened when Mercury told him to leave and instead stayed in Carthage with Dido. Because he was unable to think and make decisions for himself, Dido lost her life and his descendants were cursed.

There are many cases in The Aeneid that portray Aeneas as nothing more than a puppet of the gods. Whenever something goes wrong, instead of handling the situation himself, he turns to the gods and expects them to fix the problem for him, and the majority of advice they give him is either unclear or unhelpful. Most of Aeneas’ problems, with the exception of Juno’s hatred for him and the Trojans, could be solved by him being decisive and independent.

I believe this flaw is found in many people, myself included. It is so easy to sit around and wait for a sign from a higher being. Often as Christians we will ask God to make the path clear to us and then stand still, expecting a neon sign to fall out of Heaven and tell us what we should be doing with our lives. Praying to God for guidance is by no means an excuse to stop moving. If anything, it should inspire us to action knowing that the God of Heaven and Earth is making clear a path made specifically for us, and this is one comfort that Aeneas did not have.