Aeneas Character Analysis

Aeneas is the protagonist of the Aeneid. He is the son of Anchises and Venus. He is the father of Ascanius, with his Trojan wife, Creusa, who died at Troy. He has a fling with Dido, the queen of Carthage, before leaving her (to her despair) and continuing on to reach his destined home in Italy, where he'll marry Lavinia and become the forefather of the Latin-Trojan people, whose descendents will found Rome and include Julius and Augustus Caesar. Aeneas is famous for his piety—his devotion to his friends, the gods, and, most important, fate. When he faces difficult decisions, he piously choses his fate over his own wants or any other human emotion. But at the end of the Aeneid, his anger overcomes him and he mercilessly kills Turnus. Despite his piety and great leadership, he's a complex and imperfect man.