Essay Example on Aeneas & Arjun: Duty Before Love and Self

Aeneas and Arjun are heroes who sacrifice their human needs and follow the course of duty. Aeneas has his responsibility transcending his life- he leaves his lover Dido to move along and serve the Roman Empire in the building of the city. His duty outweighs Aeneas' personal life, and he works as a soldier at his own expense. At some points in the book, Aeneas has forces from the gods reminding him of his commitment and that he must leave the woman that he loves. As a Trojan leader, Aeneas incorporates the prophecy of destiny from Juno, the god, and his word to Dido in chapter IV shows his commitment to the god's fate rather than romantic love. Arjun has similar decisions like those of Aeneas- he is first very emotional to his cousins and argues that he cannot battle them; he says that he is confused in mind about dharma. God Krishna influence Arjun by saying that true masters realize the reality in eternal and are not on the influence of temporary changes, but instead, warriors must follow dharma, and nothing is higher than the war against evil. In the gods' eyes, death is a way to enter heaven, and it is a sin for Arjun to disobey Krishna. Both Aeneas and Arjun conquer victory in their quest- Aeneas liberate his kin to get a city for the Roman Empire. Arjun gets the kingdom back to his brother Yudhishthira by defeating his kin enemies. In contrast to the two hero soldiers' missions, Aeneas fights for his family outside the home place, and Arjun has a dharma fight against his kin. However, the two soldiers battle for reigns.

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Krishna tells Arjun that for existence, man has to be wise. The wise man is unconcerned with the state of things, either good or bad, but instead, he abandons attachment to the fruit of labor by allowing them to attain beyond the capability of evil. When a man is steady to wave by the confusion, he gets united in the peace of action and not ideas- this gives a perfect yoga. Krishna says that a best-fit man is not agitated by lust, fear, and anger but has natural meditation independent from material and ego- such man exists after assuming the 'I, me, and my' concept of living. Krishna focuses on duty achievements to convince Arjun to get into battle. In essence, the god wants to prove superiority over the evil led by Arjun's cousin army. More so, Krishna wants to make a true master in Arjun by showing him the pathway of decisions and transform Arjun's thinking from external influence into internal take, which will concede to honor from Arjun. At the end of the discourse, 11 Arjun now decides to obey his friend Krishna- this is from the mysterious things that Krishna shows Arjun by giving him divine eyes. Arjun sees Krishna with every wonder conquering everywhere; a thousand suns rise together, the whole world bow to Krishna in awe all in praise of Krishna.

Furthermore, Krishna explains his superiority and imperishable greatness through a powerful yoga that he shows Arjun. In essence, this has representation in a thousand different divine forms, colors, and shapes that are the composition of deities never seen before. Arjun declares his engagement in the battle as Krishna has banished the confusion in him.

The poem Aeneid has themes of pros about war, and therefore, it has a clear definition as a war concluding poem. In the first half of the poem, Venus declares that war is the deity of Aeneas and that the fate of the Troy community is war and can never be changed. "Aeneas will wage a great war"- this statement is clear that the theme of the poem supports the war. At the beginning of the poem, line 110, Virgil suggests that Aeneas faces hardship wars that can never be evaded- war is depicted as supremacy, and a shield is brought forth in presenting the achievements of the war. Besides the themes of peace, among the epic passages in the poem, is the responsibility of proper battling techniques shown by the Roman Empire in their vast creation of the city. The poem also glorifies the mythological and historical battles by showing their necessities worth personal sacrifice- war is the goal of Aeneas. The Trojan war is a war of storm and refuge; the war is caused by the wrath of Juno the god due to exclusion in Paris judgment- this war is a war between the god and human, the results of this war is the displacement of Aeneas and his family. In contrast, the fight against Latins involves practices of collaboration army of Aeneas soldiers, the gods, and the enemies of the king of Latins. Results of this war are the overruling of Latin by Aeneas, and in this war, there are no considerations of the fleet, but conclusively the war ends in the victory of Aeneas.

In the three books, there is a tense relationship between the human and the gods, but first. Still, at every confrontation, the gods rule over humans through imposing some strong beliefs in humans either by authoritative words or by actions. In the storyline of the three books, human personalities have to make indefinite choices that cost sacrifices to follow god's callings. The gods in all these books have a media of communication to human, in the Aeneid, a prophecy is the channel of communication, in Bhagavad Gita, direct conversations occur through transfigurations, and in the Bacchae, the gods come to the Thebes people and reinforce an idea that mortals should bow down to him. A similar concept about the gods are portrayed in all the books, and humans ought to obey and praise the will of these gods not from the point that these gods set particular useful moral virtues but because their powers are immense and superior from the human perceptions. A contradiction occurs in the three books in that in the Aeneid, and the gods give contradicting information according to their role - the god of love is happy for Aeneas love while Juno wants him to battle. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, is pleading with Arjun in his fate, he engages in a soft conversation with a lot of convincement- Krishna allows Arjun to make comments and ask questions. In Bacchae, the gods have a limited engagement with humans; the gods take human thinking as mere and that they cannot understand what exists beyond their mortal comprehension. The gods enact cruel recharges to the people of Thebes and any rational decision against their will, either rightfully or wrongfully, the results of failure are annihilation.

Works cited

Euripides. The Bacchae - Euripides - Summary & Analysis| Ancient Greece. www.ancient-literature.com/greece_euripides_bacchae.html.

Laurie, Patton L. "s2 Books." s2 Books, 6 Mar. 2018, www.s2.nl/books/the-bhagavad-gita.

Virgil. "The Internet Classics Archive: The Aeneid by Virgil." The Internet Classics Archive | The Aeneid by Virgil, classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.html.