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 ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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Being A Hero. (2006, March 13). Retrieved April 20, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Being-A-Hero/42657
"Being A Hero." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 13 Mar. 2006. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Being-A-Hero/42657>
"Being A Hero." Essayworld.com. March 13, 2006. Accessed April 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Being-A-Hero/42657.
"Being A Hero." Essayworld.com. March 13, 2006. Accessed April 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Being-A-Hero/42657.
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