Furor in The Aeneid - Essay Example

Furor is represented as an eruption of violent frenzy of natural forces, particularly of waves and flames, but in Dido’s case, her suicide because of her fury serves its purpose of reuniting her with her husband in the underworld and easing her conscience for loving another man. Furor is described in terms of flames and waves that can consume anyone, and which also consumes the one who feels it. Juno bursts into rage, when she sees that the Trojans are escaping. She does not want to accept defeat at all.

The allegory that mentions Pallas indicates her war countenance: “Could angry Pallas, with revengeful spleen,/The Grecian navy burn, and drown the men?” (Virgil Book 1). Pallas is the god of war and Juno wants to make war with Jupiter for favoring Aeneas over her, his own wife. She wants to burn and to drown these Trojans, whom Jupiter saved from destruction. The images of flames signify her intense flaming anger. Revenge consumes her, and even when she knows that Aeneas is fated to arrive at Italy, she makes sure that the journey will not be smooth.

She asserts her free will on the fate that Jupiter decreed. In addition, as a goddess, Juno can throw thunder bolts like her husband Jupiter, but she prefers to not burn the Trojans. Still, the mention of bolts indicates her fiery rage that she cannot contain. Juno calls Aeolus and asks him to sink Aeneas and his fleet: “Raise all thy winds; with night involve the skies;/Sink or disperse my fatal enemies” (Virgil Book 1). In return, she will give him one of her most beautiful nymphs. The image that follows next is a terrible storm that makes Aeneas wish that he should have died in Troy instead.

The storm that Aeolus whips up replicates Juno’s fury: “Loud peals of thunder from the poles ensue;/ Then flashing fires the transient light renew” (Virgil Book 1). These thunders are filled with anger and heat. They aim to terrorize and kill people in their paths. At the same time, the angry waves reinforce the fear of the fleet for lightning and thunder: “South, East, and West with mix'd confusion roar,/And roll the foaming billows to the shore” (Virgil Book 1). The foaming ocean represents monsters that will devour the Trojans.

Both the sea and sky are enraged, only because Juno is enraged. Dido’s fury causes her to become furious that she wants to hurt herself and Aeneas, but her suicide is justified, for it reconnects her with her beloved husband. After she learns that Aeneas has left her, she hurts herself first, because she cannot control her anger: “She beats her breast, and rends her yellow hair,/And, calling on Eliza's name aloud,/Runs breathless to the place, and breaks the crowd” (Virgil Book 4). She is going mad.

She finally falls in love again, and yet this man deserts her to follow his destiny. When Aeneas finally leaves, she is torn between following him and killing herself. The pain of losing another loved one is too much for her to bear. The scene of her death is full of torment and suffering: “This said, she mounts the pile with eager haste,/And in her arms the gasping queen embrac'd;/Her temples chaf'd; and her own garments tore,/To stanch the streaming blood, and cleanse the gore” (Virgil Book 4).

She climbs to the pyre and burns herself. Ironically, she is already burning inside. The fires outside are only physical; inside, she is already torched and dried up. Burning herself is the best option,