Essay Sample on Greek Mythology: Dido Character and Framed Narrative

Is Dido a tragic figure or just a melodramatic character?

Dido is described as the most tragic character. She is heroine who falls in love with Aeneas and offers him a year of ease. Even though Dido was a strong woman, she still went ahead and took her own life thus portraying a melodramatic character rather than a moving, tragic story. Her exaggerated passion for Aeneas led to a painful ending of a vibrant life. The level of passion the Dido brings out is not regular but a peculiar one." The queen, for her part all that evening ached with a longing that her hearts blood fed a wound or inward fire eating her away" (Puncher et al. 95).

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Dido's mind was all on the love she had for Aeneas that she no longer thought about it as a secret love but rather termed it as marriage. The author explains it that high heaven became the witness for the marriage and that it was the first cause of death and sorrow. (p.101). However, it is evident from the story that the passion that Dido had for Aeneas was fueled by Aeneas mother Venus who did a divine intervention on Did so that she could love Aeneas violently and save him from the anger of Juno the goddess.

She came to realize that she was so in love with a wretched man and this led to her madness that originated from the intense passion, resentment guilt, and loss. This character went through a sad life of lost love when Aeneas left for Rome. It is in dramatic that her passion makes her heart bleed too bad causing her to remain with no other option but to take away her life. The tragic end of her life, however, lies in the hands of the men and the gods.

Effects of Framing in a Framed narrative.

A frame narrative is a story within a story technique used in literature. Framing a framed narrative acts as a connection that brings together many stories. Framed narrative calls for the reader's attention to how a story is narrated thus giving them the ability to create a situation of the way that the narrative should be interpreted. An example is the Virgil story that a story about the origin of the great deed of a hero affects the army and the rise of brave deeds as a result. This helps change the point of view of how the story is presented and in turn, provides more information about the characters including their feeling and motivation.

Additionally, the framing technique provides the reader with many meanings and interpretations. This technique may shrink or expand the distance between the reader and the story thus leading to multiple interpretations about what is essential and what is not. In the narrative Iliad, the story of Aeneas' mother doing a divine intervention on Dido to make her fall deeply in love with Aeneas provides the readers with an explanation of why Dido is dramatic in her love story. Framing helps us in understanding why Dido is doing the things that seem foolish. Framing brings multiple smaller accounts into one main story. The shorter stories eventually sum up into the main storyline enabling the reader to have a better appreciation of the narrative.

Work Cited

Martin Puchner et al. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vols. A, B, C. 3rd Edition. W.W. Norton and Co., 2012.