Research Paper on:
The Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus and Virgil's Aeneid

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
in The Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus and Virgils Aeneid. In these two brilliant literary classics, we find that humans in fact had little control over their actions or outcome  when it came to the Gods and Fate that were there to direct them. While the human action is necessary to make the action take place, it is the  guidance, for the most part, of the Gods that dictates what these actions might be. THE AENEID The Aeneid is a founding myth. According to author John Cox,  the Aeneid is a story about how this particular destiny got started, and "virtually every episode is symbollically charged with the weight of Aeneas historic destiny" (PG). This destiny  is actually formulated by Fate and the Gods, and is what enables Virgil to "create the character he found in Homer, transforming a warrior hero into a man with a  mission that will influence the world for centuries to come" (Cox PG). Virgil makes this transformation of Aeneas an actual part of the story he tells. Aeneas gradually  changes throughout a series of crises throughout the first half of the poem. The depiction here presents Aeneas departure from the city of Troy as a departure from the  values that had defined Homers story of the war to capture Troy. Aeneas reluctance to leave his native city is therefore both "a credit to his commitment and an  impediment to his historic mission" (Cox PG). It is the decisions of the Gods and Fate, however, that guides these actions. Throughout Virgils epic we see that mankind  is simply puts symbolic feet to the wills of the Gods. Because of this, it appears that there is not much freedom of human action; and yet, the Gods