Echoes of Dido: Literary Transformations From Virgil to Marlowe and Nash

Abstract

The paper would critically study Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid and Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nash’s play Dido, Queen of Carthage in order to understand the manner in which Dido’s character is represented by Virgil and later resurrected by the English playwrights. The study would involve a careful investigation into how and why Marlowe and Nash’s text, which depends on its literary predecessor for the plot line, differs from it. With the emergence of these differences between the two texts, the epic tradition, the classical text by Virgil and several other themes that The Aeneid evokes shall stand challenged. Lastly, one would witness the powerful effects of this resurrection as gender, desire and power collide in these texts through the central character of the queen of Carthage, Dido.

The paper would begin by critically studying the way Virgil constructs and writes Dido’s character in his epic poem The Aeneid. In order to completely understand the implications of this characterisation, it will also be imperative to study Virgil’s Aeneas, especially as represented in Books I, II, and IV of The Aeneid. Once a preliminary critical analysis has been done, the paper would move onto Marlowe and Nash’s play Dido, Queen of Carthage by analysing the play on the basis of its characterisation, style of writing and its departures from Virgil’s epic. From this point onwards, the paper will move back and forth between the two texts, critically studying the implications of these differences and the diverse issues that these might raise for the contemporary readers.