mantovano  

Re: VIRGIL: Dido -----> Desdemona?

Alice Rubinstein
Tue, 29 Oct 2002 20:51:49 GMT

actually, I have often thought of this comparison and mention it to my studetns 
 for me, the point of comparsion is the fact that both women are attracted - at 
least in part - to their men by their stories of heroism. the story creates, in 
part, the love.

>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10/29/02 01:22PM >>>
I suspect you _are_ out on a limb, though it's a very attractive one, and 
Marlowe's Dido - if not Virgil's - must have been fresh in the memory. I 
guess it depends whether one traces any similarities to the source - an 
Italian novella, if I remember right - or Shakespeare's treatment of it.

If the said limb can bear a little more weight, might one note that Dido is 
repeatedly 'infelix', while Othello's wife is also - etymologically - 
unfortunate, 'dysdaimon'?

Just a thought

Bob


>From: "Ambros Hieronymus Prechtl" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: VIRGIL: Dido -----> Desdemona?
>Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 13:42:51 -0400
>
>The intriguing similarity of Dido falling in love with Aeneas as he tells
>his story and Desdemona falling in love with Othello as he tells his
>story -- I am sure people have noticed it but has anyone written about it?
>
>We have two strangers, heroes both of them, who have travelled far,
>encountered many adventures and faced many horrid dangers.  There is
>something in the setting of each woman that argues against their falling in
>love and yet they do fall in love..  And both ended up dead after only a
>short period of happiness, both killed by their husbands: Desdemona 
>directly
>and Dido indirectly, her man
>
>     Aeneas [who] praebuit et causam mortis et ensem :
>
>Though Shakespeare may have had little Latin, he knew more than most people
>alive then of Greek mythology and ancient history and literature.  It would
>be quite unreasonable to assume that he did not know the story of Dido.
>
>  Any opinion on this anyone?  Am I out on a limb?
>
>Ambros
>
>
>
>
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