so i've finally finished my essay and i was wondering you guys think about it. The topic question i chose was.... The end of the Aeneid (Bk.12. 1094-1113) shows the epic hero behaving in a manner that seems to contradict Anchises’ advice to Aeneas in Book Six, “to spare the defeated, break the proud in war” (6. 984). After all, at this moment, Turnus has been defeated and is humbly supplicating Aeneas for mercy. On the other hand, Turnus has also been pompous and brazen in his killing of Pallas and wearing his belt (see Book 10.563-602). In your opinion, does Aeneas respect his father’s words and does his piety to Evander, the father of Pallas (see Book 8; and Book 11, lines 174-215, especially 208-215), justify his killing of Turnus? Or does Aeneas’ suppressed rage break free here, revealing him as subject to the forces of irrational passion that Juno has represented throughout the epic? What are the implications of this end to Virgil's great epic of empire?
Throughout the The Aeneid, one of the main motif in the book is the act of vengeance. The play has different examples of acts of vengeance like Dido cursing out Aeneas before she commits suicide. Since vengeance is a motif in the book that is clearly presented at the end of the book when Turnus is begging for his life to be spared by Aeneas. At this point Aeneas was going to spare Turnus’ life but recognizes a sword belt that belonged to Pallas. Though Anchises request that Aeneas “to spare the defeated, break the proud in war” (The Aeneid, 6.984) he went out of his way to kill Turnus in the act of vengeance for Evander and himself. In two different cases, Aeneas kills the people that are begging for their lives to be spared shortly after the reminder that Pallas had been slain. The love that Aeneas has for Pallas is so deep that anything that reminds him of Pallas’ death, it relinquishes all his desire to fulfill Anchises request to spare people’s lives.
In the middle of a battle, all the rules are out of the books and there can only be one side that can win the battle. Death is essential in a war. If Aeneas let every person go that had begged their life for mercy then he should have also spared Magus’ life “I beg of you now by your father’s ghost… spare this life of mine… Now how can a Trojan victory hinge on me? How can a single life make such a difference?” (The Aeneid, 10.619-626). Shortly after the death of Pallas it is shown that Aeneas went on a rampage killing every soul and even ones that were begging for their lives to be spared. Though Aeneas is terribly upset over the death of Pallas he shows that he can still reason with the people that are begging for their lives. “All those bars of silver and gold you brag of, save them for your sons! Such bargaining in battle, Turnus already cut it short when he cut Pallas down! So the ghost of my father, so my son declares” ( The Aeneid, 10:627-631). Shortly after telling Magus that his material he possess is worthless, he strikes him down and moves on with his rampage. Aeneas is so terribly upset that he changes the tides of the war constantly throughout the chapter. In his quest to find Turnus in the battlefield the gods had to intervene to stop the rampage that was set upon Aeneas. His love for Pallas so great that Aeneas did not care about what people begged of him, he was in the middle of a war and there are no exceptions to letting the enemy live. It was more cowardly on Magus’ behalf to beg for mercy on his life.
The death of Turnus is justified even though he lay there begging for his life to be spared by Aeneas. The suppressed rage before Aeneas kills Turnus was at the perfect time. “Aeneas, ferocious in armor, stood there, still, shifting his gaze, and held his sword-arm back, holding himself back too as Turnus’ words began to sway him more and more…” (The Aeneid, 12:1094-1097). At this point in time Aeneas was ready to spare his adversaries life but shortly after warming up and rationalizing with himself to spare Turnus’ life, he notices the sword-belt that is attached to his shoulder. “… he caught sight of the fateful sword-belt of Pallas… soon as his eyes drank in that plunder-- keepsake of his own savage grief--flaring up in a fury, terrible in his rage, he cries” (The Aeneid, 12:1097-1099) From there the story tells itself that Aeneas’ suppressed rage did break free but it has to do more with the passionate love that is represented by Venus than the irrational passion of Juno. It is not like he just exploded out of nowhere and decided to kill Turnus for the sake of killing. He chose to kill Turnus because he was reminded of Pallas; the man he loved dearly.
If Turnus was not pompous and left had Pallas’ body as it was, the result of Turnus begging for his life could have been drastically different. It was through his arrogance that left him dead because he took a piece of equipment that Aeneas recognized to be a possession of Pallas. “With that, he stampe
Hrm... How does this rough draft of The Aeneid look?
I think you need to tighten up your thesis statement at the beginning and give one more example of vengeance to go with Dido, preferably one either milder or more extreme. Something like: Vengeance is one of the main motifs of The Aeneid, from Dido's dying curse to ____________. The climax of this theme occurs at the end when Turnus is begging for his life to be spared by Aeneas.
The ending was cut off but the rest seems soundly reasoned.
