A representação de Dido e o discurso feminino na épica e na elegia

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the character Dido and its representation in the epic of Virgil, Aeneid, and the elegy of Ovid, Heroides. Dido, Queen of Carthage, after a divine manipulation, is dominated by an inordinate love for Aeneas. Love is consummated, but the epic hero abandons her to follow his destiny: to found a new Troy. The extreme consequences of this abandonment are described in Book IV of The Aeneid. Verses of Virgil are recreated by Ovid to give voice to an elegiac Dido, in one of the letters of his work Heroides, where Dido writes her lamentations to Aeneas. The similarities and differences between these representations of Dido are analyzed, stressing the feminine discourse of the character.