Customary Roles Of Women By Virgil s Aeneid And Ovid s...

Both Roman and Greek woman did not have an easy living. With their sex came specific gender roles and particular forms of conduct. Men tend to stand above women in matters of value and independence. Men are free to live the life they choose and have the freedom to go where they choose but women are not so lucky. Generally, women are expected to keep house, be mothers, and that is pretty much it. In Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphosis we see these customary roles of women reflected through both of the authors work. While there are a number of notable, female characters in the Aeneid, most of them die. First, we have Creusa. She is the Aeneas’s wife while he is in Troy. While they are fleeing from the Greeks she tells him that he will find a new wife and then she is killed. Second, we have Queen Amata. The queen’s daughter, Lavinia, desires to marry Aeneas but Amata wishes for her to marry Turnus. Amata is furious at her daughter’s choice. â€Å"Burning already at the Trojans’ coming, the plans for Turnus’ marriage broken off, Amata tossed and turned with womanly anxiety and anger† (pg. 208). In a fit of rage, she rides through the city and leads the women of the town into a revolt. When she sees the Trojans coming into the city she believes that her husband is dead and takes her own life. Finally, we have, Dido, the queen of Carthage. The irrational nature of women is definitely shown in this character. Her former husband dead, she had become favored by her people and ruled