“And in the center of all this slaughter Camilla raged, an
exultant Amazon, one breast bared for battle, a quiver on her back. Whipping
javelins from her hand, or wielding a heavy battle-axe for hours on end… Whom
did you strike down first, fierce girl, whom last? How many dying bodies did
you leave on the earth?
These lines from page 293, starting on line 770, depict
Camilla as a powerful warrior, and also emphasize that she is a woman. She is
shown as the leader of this battle, who is fierce and strong. When she dies,
the troops disperse, and the battle pauses. The Latin troops are lost without
her. This is quite a strong and countercultural role that Virgil gave to a female for his time. Female gods are also given a strong role as Juno and
Venus essentially control the warfare. Other women, however, are portrayed as
much weaker or as possessions. Queen Amata is shown crying about the prospect
of Turnus fulfilling his duty and going off to battle, and Turnus brushes her
off and insinuates that she is bothering him. Laviania is also depicted in a
typical womanly fashion, as a possession that can be married off to whomever
will be best for the kingdom. One could also look back to Dido to see an unflattering portrait of a woman. The contrast between the different roles that
Virgil creates for the women in his epic is quite strong, and makes one wonder
what Virgil’s view of women was, as well as how these women fit in with the
ideal of a good Roman woman.
Throughout this book we see this woman and other women fighting for their city and home; Camilla is strong and is killing scores of men. I took this as Rome becoming more progressive and more inclusive in the ways they treat women when contrasted with the ways the Greeks treated women, which is that of a prize of war, and in the Aeneid, we see this strong woman, Camilla, who is a virgin, amazon warrior with powers from a god - Artemis. This is Virgil's way of being a feminist in his own right and fighting for the limited rights of woman in his day. He is portraying this woman as strong to make Roman women strong, so in this way, he is fighting for the rights and strength of women in his time as much as he can while keeping his work in the realm in which Augustus an the public would accept it.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading Book 11 of the Aeneid because of the empowering description of the Amazon warrior Camilla. A lot of times, although an emphasis is put on female characters in similar epic poems, it is done so in order to expose them as the source of the problems. It seems that traditionally women are portrayed as manipulative, overly-dramatic, and selfish. Goddesses meddle in people's lives and cause trouble for everyone else. In contrast, Camilla is shown as strong and fearless, and is put on the same pedestal of some of the greatest male warriors in the poem. I think Brad's idea that Virgil is a feminist is interesting, especially since he was writing in a time period where women were hardly close to being thought of as equal to men. Whatever Virgil's reasons were for creating this character, I am a huge fan and really enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by the portrayal and attention payed to Camilla in Book 11. Her presence and role in discussing battle stratagem with Turnus and then commanding her own army is unlike anything I remember from similar texts and is a contrast from the roles of other women in the story. I found her backstory and relationship with Diana interesting, in that they made me question what qualifiers Vergil found necessary in depicting a woman that was taken seriously by those she led and interacted with and could be taken seriously by readers at the time as well. I also wonder if her character was inspired by an actual woman who had renown in battle..?
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