Where, in your Opinion, does the Responsibility for the Suffering and Death of Dido Lie? You Should Give your Reasons.

The issue of with whom the blame for Dido’s death lies is one that has been hotly debated for millennia. On the one hand, it could be Dido’s own shortcomings which are the ultimate cause of her death, though on the other, people argue that it is the intervention of the gods which cause the tragedy.There are those who place the responsibility of Dido’s death at the foot of Aeneas himself. It is, ultimately, due to Aeneas’ departure that Dido decides to kill herself. Had her not left her, then she would not have felt the grief that she did, and so would not have taken her own life. However, Aeneas has a divine mission to found the Roman race, and Dido has waylaid him for several years: he has to go. He has no choice in the matter; he is fated to travel to Italy and found the Roman race, and he is driven by his pietas to comply with this, and so any blame that we may apportion to him must be absolved as he is undertaking a fated, divine mission. Furthermore he is compelled to leave Carthage, not by his own accord, but by an order, delivered by Mercury, from Jupiter himself.There is undoubted divine intervention when it comes to the relationship between Dido and Aeneas. When first they met, Venus, Aeneas’ mother, arranged for Cupid to disguise himself as Iulus and make Dido fall in love with Aeneas, so that she would not harm him, no matter what Juno said to her. However, it is much discussed whether Cupid was actually winged cherub, or whether he was actually the embodiment of Dido’s ‘furor’- her desire and lust. If it were the latter, then there was no intervention of Venus, and Dido’s falling in love with Aeneas was completely her own fault. Furthermore, Juno drove Dido and Aeneas into a cave, in which she ‘married’ them, though this was not an actual marriage, and simply involved them having intimate relations. Although Juno did intend for this to happen, Dido goes on to treat this as an actual marriage, and then begins to neglect her duty to her yet-unfinished city. In addition, Mercury is sent by Jupiter to get Aeneas to leave Carthage, and to complete his divine mission, which causes him to leave Carthage. However, despite all of this, Vergil clearly states that Dido is not at all fated to die when she does, and that is something which she herself brings about.