Love Story About Dido Falling In Love With Aeneas A Trojan

Dido and Aeneas
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Dido and Aeneas
It is everyone's dream to have a lasting relationship, but we cannot be assured of its permanence, fate is a powerful force because what fate declares will happen must happen. Dido and Aeneas is an example of how fate cannot be altered. The story by Henry Purcell is one of England oldest opera . The story is about two lovers Dido and Aeneas a Trojan who faced numerous challenges to fulfill his destiny. Dido and Aeneas highlight human struggles and the free will in an attempt to resist fate, resistance is futile because we are destined to fail, according to the story, fate is always predetermined by certain circumstances.[Cummings, William H. “Dido and Aeneas.” The Musical Times vol. 51, no. 808 (1910): 363-64.]
The love story is about Dido falling in love with Aeneas a Trojan, but Aeneas is determined to fulfill his destiny that is to build a city for his people. The relationship between the two was destined to fail because Aeneas has a sacred task of founding the empire. The nature of the relationship presented in the story shows how fate cannot be changed despite people having the free will to act according to their intuitions.
The author presents the constant struggle between the two lovers, which eventually ends in death. Venus revelation about Dido, in the beginning, presents how fate and free will contributed to Dido's demise. Dido is a victim of fate in the entire story; Venus presents her background, as her fate is set in motion from the very beginning of the story up to the end.
Even though Dido attracts Aeneas because of her good leadership qualities, the nature of Dido and Aeneas relationship makes it more complicated. Dido is a widow who lusts for Aeneas and considers Aeneas the only person who could make her not to fulfill her promise to her late husband. Dido states that ‘and my bridal bed, here is the only man/ who has moved my spirit, shaken my weak will.'[Purcell, Henry. Dido and Aeneas. London: London Musical Antiquarian Society, 1841.]
Dido and Aeneas perceived their relationship differently. Dido considered the relationship as marriage while Aeneas viewed it as merely sexual. The fact that the two failed to have a mutual understanding about their relationship. Dido declared their sexual union with Aeneas as marriage because they slept together in the cave; such declaration was based on Dido's perception. The two lovers had different intentions, Aeneas had to fulfill his obligation to his people, but Dido wanted to fulfill her hearty desires. According to Venus, Dido's fate in the story reveals the early events before Dido husband's death presenting how she was destined to face undesirable ending.[Rose, Stephen. "Different Didos." Early Music 37, no. 4. 681-83.]
Dido's father arranged her marriage to her late husband; this shows she had little control over her life. She was forced into a relationship with a man she did not choose. Dido is undesirable ending starts with feeling overwhelmed with passion, she states, "what woman/in love is helped by offering or altars, soft fire consumes the marrow –bones, the silent /Wound grows deep in the heart". Dido cannot control her passion making her feel physically sick.
Fate is witnessed on several occasions, Dido tries to convince Aeneas to stay in Carthage, but that did not last. Juno tries to challenge fate by delaying Aeneas from reaching Latium, but this did not last long. Turnus fights off Aeneas showing how resisting fate is temporary; these efforts end up not being effective. Throughout the book, Virgil reinforces Aeneas future and how it is destined. For example, “to enter the underworld, Aeneas must present a golden bough from a tree; he can easily if you are called by fate "Aeneas breaks a bough from ...