Aeneas Leadership example essay topic

A. THE GATE OF IVORY The path to Hell is dark and grim. The Entrance Hall consists of Grief and Resentful Care. Disease, Old Age, Fear, Hunger, Evil, Poverty, Death, and Pain all dwell there. Death's close kin, Sleep, Joy of Sinning, and War are right outside. Furies and Strife the insane live there. The center has a giant shady elm-tree in which False Dreams consume.

Many monstrous beasts can be seen there including Centaurs, Scylla's, Briareus, Lerna's Beast, and Chimaera. Also, Gorgons, Harpies and Geryon. They seem harmful but they are actually bodiless and safe. From there begins the road to Tartarean Acheron. Among the mud and murk you find Charon, a ragged, filthy, evil figure. He guards the Acheron River which consists of unburied souls who cannot pass until one hundred years have passed.

When you cross the river, a huge dog with three heads named Cerberus guards Hades. As you enter Hades the first souls you encounter are those who have died as infants. Then there are those who have been put to death by false charges and those who have taken their own lives. Nearby reside those individuals who have died of mourning. Another group there are the heroes who have died in battle. The way then splits into two paths.

The one on the right leads to Elysium, and the one on left leads to Tartarus. Tartarus is the section where evil souls are punished. The River of Hell is there. It has a current of white-hot flames and boulders spin and roar.

Groans can be clearly heard from a distance. You can also hear sounds of iron chains being dragged from far away. The tortured include those who hated their brothers, committed adultery, or engaged in war against their own country. The Sacred Gates are guarded by a monstrous hydra with fifty black throats. Rhadamanthus of Cnossos rules there.

He knows of all deceitful actions and censures each fault. Tisiphone, a fury, is in charge of whipping the guilty. Her left hand has hideous snakes in which she threatens them with. The other path leads to Elysium, the home of the blessed in the afterlife. There are fields of grass in which the spirits play. They sing and dance in the Land of Joy.

It is a Heavenly Paradise. At the far end of the valley, you can find many souls gathered at the River Lethe. It flows before the Homes of Peace. The souls who are destined to live in the body a second time drink the waters which abolish care and memory. They must pay the penalties for sins committed in life for one thousand years before they can be reborn in to a new body.

The Twin Gates of Sleep provide the exit from Hades. The gate of horn allows an easy exit for shadows that are true. The other is a portal all of white ivory in which the spirits send visions false in the light of day. B. THE GATE OF HORN Heroes can be portrayed by many different qualities. Leadership and emotional strength, I believe, make Aeneas a true heroic character in the Aeneid. Leadership often arises in times of chaos, as was the case in the Aeneid. In the confusion of war, Aeneas naturally rises to a role of leadership.

In the battle of Troy, Aeneas saw flames, and fighting everywhere. Aeneas immediately prepares himself for battle. Aeneas demonstrates a passion for leadership in order to defend the city and his companions. But Aeneas' leadership is not limited to times of warfare.

Once Aeneas had escaped to safety it becomes clear that the people of Troy also recognized his leadership qualities. They look to Aeneas for strength and for guidance, putting their lives in his hands willing to be lead with loyalty. The quality of leadership is not the only quality that Virgil uses to show heroism in Aeneas. Another characteristic that shows Aeneas' heroism is emotional strength. This can be illustrated when he is forced to disregard his love and leave Dido behind. Juno sees an opportunity to keep Aeneas from going to Italy, and takes advantage, sending Cupid to influence Dido's love for Aeneas.

Dido finds out the Aeneas is leaving she is infuriated, scolding Aeneas. Aeneas holds strong with little compassion towards Dido. Virgil depicts Aeneas to be unaffected by his decision to leave. The true struggle of what Aeneas puts behind him for the will of the gods is shown just before he leaves.

Virgil shows an emotional struggle between what Aeneas is destined for and what he desires. Virgil shows that the gods will play no role in the outcome of the battle to prove the heroism of Aeneas. Without the help of the gods, Virgil illustrates Aeneas' true passion and will to succeed using his own natural strengths. There is in fact a humanistic aspect of Aeneas that is revealed by creating physical and emotional strife, which he must endure by himself. It is these human aspects of Aeneas, his leadership and his emotional strength that make him a true hero in the Aeneid.