Dido, Cleopatra, and Elizabeth: Another (very unholy) Trinity

Today in class Ms. King pointed out the connections between Dido and Cleopatra, and that got me thinking—especially in the context of the age in which Virgil wrote his Aeneid.

As we know from our Spirit of Rome presentations, Rome had recently come out of a pretty unpleasant civil war when Virgil wrote the Aeneid, praising Augustus and Roman values/virtues.  Surely, if we, ages later, can see the resemblance between Virgil's character of the queen Dido and the queen Cleopatra, Roman readers could see it too.

For one, both were widows.
Two, both were run out of their countries by their brothers (in Cleopatra's case, also her husband...perhaps incest was not as horrific a crime in ancient Egypt as in ancient Greece).
Three, both Cleopatra and Dido's kingdoms at some point challenged the power of Rome (whether directly or indirectly).
Four, both were independent and strong female rulers.
Five, both committed suicide.
The list goes on.

It seems unlikely that contemporary readers of the Aeneid would have not connected Dido and Cleopatra.  Most would also have probably not viewed Cleopatra very kindly, given her revolt with Mark Antony (not to mention that she was a woman!  ruling!  alone!).

While reading the Aeneid, I found myself taking issue not infrequently, especially with how Virgil portrays most of his female characters.  I mean, yeah, I know they were "different times," but still.  Dido is basically described as a psycho with an unhealthy obsession with Aeneas (she goes "whirling" through Carthage like a bacchante, having lost control to her passions).  Sure, Virgil says she was a pretty good ruler before Aeneas came, but then it's like, "oh my gosh a man I can't function anymore" and Dido's queenly discretion takes a complete 180.  She no longer cares about her city and its well-being, too enamored with Aeneas, and her people begin to resent her.  Not to mention, Aeneas unofficially marries her in a thunderstorm (a bit of a long story, suffice it to say that Juno's wiles strike again).  Finally, pious Aeneas (after Mercury's prompting) realizes he has to leave Dido and Carthage to fulfill his destiny.  That, I understand.  The man has a duty to his people, I get it!  But his original plan is actually to surreptitiously leave Carthage, making his escape before Dido can suspect that anything is amiss.  Sadly for him, he doesn't realize how smart Dido is.  Dido realizes his plan and confronts him, and Aeneas guiltily confesses.  When he does finally leave, Dido is heartbroken and kills herself, cursing Aeneas all the while.  SERIOUSLY, AENEAS?  WAS ALL THAT REALLY NECESSARY?  I say no, others say yes.

Anyway, what does this have to do with Elizabeth I of England?  Wasn't she the Virgin Queen?

Yeah, and some of her people hated her for it.  Like Dido, and like Cleopatra, she was a strong female ruler.  She didn't want a man taking over her country.  But the people of England were concerned because that meant she couldn't produce a male heir, much less a legitimate one, and that was a prospect that could invite yet another civil war to England's front doorstep.

However, I don't call these three women unholy because of their religious faiths.  (Being Protestant, Elizabeth was commonly known as the "heretic" queen, and of course, neither Cleopatra nor Dido were Christians.)  I call them such because in the eyes of their contemporaries, they might very well have been considered evil.  The fact that they were women didn't help; in fact, many people, including John Knox, for example, bitterly cursed Elizabeth for trying to "usurp" power from the righteous rulers (men, obviously).  Cleopatra and Dido were probably reviled (at least by some) for their sexual exploits, while Elizabeth was reviled for remaining chaste.

Just some interesting parallels and differences between the three that I was thinking about today...