The Love of a Mother: Amata’s Perverted Love for Turnus
While love takes many forms, the love that a mother expresses is often viewed as sacred and cherished. However, in The Aeneid, Virgil highlights Amata’s perversion of maternal love into romantic love for Turnus. Throughout the course of Book VII continuing through Book XII, Amata acts as both a mother and a wife towards Turnus. Paul Burke in his work, “Virgil’s Amata” comments on how, “Virgil has combined in Amata the roles of the hero’s wife and mother; the Latin queen’s feelings toward Turnus are those maternal and wifely emotions which she so inadequately expresses toward her own daughter and husband,” (Burke 26). Consumed by her love for Turnus, Amata led down a path of madness and destruction. Amata rejects normal familial roles and neglects her role of queen to satisfy her unnatural love for Turnus. The unnaturalness of this love causes disorder within Laurentum, which leads …show more content…
When she decides to take her life, Turnus is in fact still alive, though the news of her suicide that inspires Turnus to face his fate. Her hastiness in the taking of her own life, shows how she is truly consumed by the madness and her love as she cannot possible comprehend living in a world without Turnus. The ripping her gown to create a noose, symbolizes how her place as queen means less to her than Turnus. Amata has pushed away everything she once held dear for Turnus and disgraces herself even further in death, “Amata as a suicide, dead by the disgraceful means of hanging, guilty of betraying family and country out of an excessive attachment to a prospective son-in-law,” (Burke 28). In her pursuit of unnatural love, Amata has given herself an unnatural death. Amata feels not only guilt for Turnus’ death, but also for the war. Her guilt becomes as consuming as her madness leading to untimely
While love takes many forms, the love that a mother expresses is often viewed as sacred and cherished. However, in The Aeneid, Virgil highlights Amata’s perversion of maternal love into romantic love for Turnus. Throughout the course of Book VII continuing through Book XII, Amata acts as both a mother and a wife towards Turnus. Paul Burke in his work, “Virgil’s Amata” comments on how, “Virgil has combined in Amata the roles of the hero’s wife and mother; the Latin queen’s feelings toward Turnus are those maternal and wifely emotions which she so inadequately expresses toward her own daughter and husband,” (Burke 26). Consumed by her love for Turnus, Amata led down a path of madness and destruction. Amata rejects normal familial roles and neglects her role of queen to satisfy her unnatural love for Turnus. The unnaturalness of this love causes disorder within Laurentum, which leads …show more content…
When she decides to take her life, Turnus is in fact still alive, though the news of her suicide that inspires Turnus to face his fate. Her hastiness in the taking of her own life, shows how she is truly consumed by the madness and her love as she cannot possible comprehend living in a world without Turnus. The ripping her gown to create a noose, symbolizes how her place as queen means less to her than Turnus. Amata has pushed away everything she once held dear for Turnus and disgraces herself even further in death, “Amata as a suicide, dead by the disgraceful means of hanging, guilty of betraying family and country out of an excessive attachment to a prospective son-in-law,” (Burke 28). In her pursuit of unnatural love, Amata has given herself an unnatural death. Amata feels not only guilt for Turnus’ death, but also for the war. Her guilt becomes as consuming as her madness leading to untimely