Expert: Maria - 3/28/2009

Question
I have an essay due about compare and contrast of Penelope and Dido, or Penelope and Camilla. From The Odyssey and The Aeneid. Do you think I might find enough information about these two? Any other sugestions also will help.
Thank You. Eriton.

Answer
Hello,

The first source of  information  about Penelope is  Homer’s  Odyssey, books 1, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, while for Dido and Camilla you must read the books 1, 4 (for Dido) and 7, 11 (for Camilla) in  Virgil’s Aeneid.

Anyway, here’s a synthesis of the distinctive aspects and  qualities of  Penelope, Dido and Camilla.

PENELOPE is  certainly a shrewd woman, who sometimes could seem to be weak, while she  is a  female figure of authority and dignity, as we see in many circumstances.
In fact, whenever she meets her insolent and domineering suitors, Penelope never appears to be  yielding, but on the contrary   strikes a noble  attitude that is not weak at all, so that even the suitors  must admire her dignified behaviour, cleverness  and astuteness.  In fact to spare herself their importunities she insists that they wait until she has woven a shroud for Laertes, father of Odysseus. Every night for three years, until one of her maids reveals the secret, she unravels the piece that she had woven by day in order to avoid the day that she must give up hope for the return of her beloved husband,  and remarry.
Moreover she is faithful  to her husband Odysseus and full of maternal love for her son Telemachus.
See at:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/odyssey/section10.rhtml
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/odyssey/section11.rhtml
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/odyssey/section12.rhtml


DIDO is a very beautiful woman, who welcomes Aeneas to Carthage during his travels and  falls in love with him. But when he leaves her in order to fulfil his quest to build a new Troy in Italy, she builds a pyre to destroy all memories of him and  stabs herself with his sword.
So, she is the courageous  founder and queen of Carthage, but also a tragic unfortunate lover  who becomes a victim of her own love.
See at:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/aeneid/section1.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/aeneid/section4.rhtml

CAMILLA is a beautiful Latin warrior maiden and favourite of the goddess Diana, to whom her father dedicated her as a hunter and warrior. She is the leader of the Volscians, allies of the Rutulians against Aeneas and is killed while she chases a retreating soldier.
So, she is a very courageous woman who risks her  life unhesitatingly.
See at:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_vergil_aeneid_vii.htm
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/aeneid/section11.rhtml


Hope this can be helpful to you.
Regards,
Maria
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