How successful is Juno in creating a
rhetorical and dramatic speech?
Juno starts her speech with a lot of
rhetorical questions: “Could they not have died on the Sigean plains?... Could
they not have burnt with it?” This
repetition of rhetorical questions emphasise the fact that she is ranting and
in a fit of rage. This constant questioning portrays Juno to appear quite mad
as she seems to have little control over her anger which arguably makes her
seem all the more dangerous as, at this stage, she is unpredictable in what she
will do. What she says is also very harsh as she is wishing that they burnt
with Troy. This again adds to the fact that she is mad with anger and can be seen
to undermine her arguments against the Trojans due to the fact she is letting
her emotions get the better of her and making her irrational. In this sense,
the speech is not as successful as it could have been if she was a lot calmer
as it would make her seem all the more devious and deadly rather than simply
appearing to be a woman in an irrational mad state.
She then goes on to discuss the ways she has
tried to apprehend them before such as setting a storm against them while they
were sailing and generally just causing problems. “I have used every resource
of sea and sky against these Trojans.” The way she is described as using every
resource she can shows just how desperate she is to cause trouble for the
Trojans and how much she despises them. The fact she cannot beat them with her
own power has obviously infuriated her and now she has decided she will really
do whatever she can to cause trouble. “But if my own resources as a goddess are
not enough, I am not the one to hesitate… if I cannot prevail upon the Gods
above, I shall move hell.” We can clearly see from this speech that she is not
going to give up on causing trouble for the Trojans and the audience do fear
for them as we can tell just how desperate Juno is. Her saying “I shall move
hell” is in particular very dramatic as we get a very visual image of how far
she is prepared to go. This passion for her revenge is what makes this passage
so successful for being dramatic.
The main line of argument that Juno puts
forward to justify her attacking the Trojans is that other great gods, like
herself, have had permission to destroy entire races therefore she should also
be allowed to destroy the race that she does not like. “Mars had the strength
to destroy the monstrous race of Lapiths.” She feels impotent because she also
sees herself as one of the great gods and yet she is being defeated by Aeneas
and feels she is restricted in what she can do to change that. She also implies
that there was no real justification for why the races she mentions are slaughtered
however the Trojans have wronged her and therefore she should be allowed to
eradicate them. “And what great crime had the Lapiths or Calydon committed?”
Arguably both the arguments she puts forward are highly flawed. The first is
obviously childish and shows little justification for her actions. Secondly,
the reason why she hates the Trojans so much is that there was a prophecy that
Aeneas would ruin Carthage, her favourite city, however ironically, if it
hadn’t been for her actions of causing a storm which sends the Trojans to
Carthage then Carthage would have been fine so it is arguably her own fault.
Therefore her argument is lessoned and the speech is made less rhetorical and
dramatic.
Juno also includes a lot of descriptive language
within her speech which undeniably makes it a lot more dramatic. “Your dowry,
Lavinia, will be the blood of the Rutulians and Trojans, and your
matron-of-honour will be the goddess of war herself, Bellona.” It is quite a
disgusting image that Juno puts into the minds of the audience and casts a very
dark light on the marriage of Lavinia and Aeneas. It is very foreboding of what
she will do to the Trojans and shows just how dangerous she intends to be. The
suspense created here adds a lot of drama to the speech as we as an audience
can see what Juno intends to do however there is no stopping it seeing as we
know how determined she is to ruin things for Aeneas.
Juno’s final line in her speech is yet again
loaded with drama. “Venus too has a son, a second Paris, and the torches will
again be fatal, for this second Troy.” It is very decisive and final making it
a very successfully dramatic and rhetorical way to finish her speech.
Ultimately she sums up what she intends to do in order to wreck things further
for the Trojans however we do not know how she is going to do it which again
adds to the suspense. Her comparison of this situation to the Trojan War is
extremely threatening as we know the horrors the Trojans have had to face from
the Trojan War as well as the war lasting 10 years. For Juno to make a
comparison on this scale shows just how much she is wanting to cause chaos and
destruction which is very dramatic for the audience. We also have this
interesting comparison of Aeneas to Paris which, although is meant to be
insulting for Aeneas, is relatively accurate in the sense that a marriage
starts a war and that Aeneas will kill Turnus who was earlier addressed as
being the “second Achilles” in Sibyls prophecy. All the comparisons to the
Trojan War make this speech all the more dramatic as arguably the Trojan War
was the most dramatic event in mythology.
Overall, there are many parts of this speech
that are highly successful when it comes to being dramatic and rhetorical. Juno
uses a lot of descriptive language to create a sense of fear, particularly when
she describes Lavinia having a dowry of blood from both sides of this fight.
Without a doubt, Juno’s final line of her speech has to be the most effective at
creating a sense of foreboding. The comparison of this fight to the Trojan War
would have been devastating to anybody that heard this, making it a highly
successful dramatic speech. However, despite it being highly successful in
being dramatic, there are many flaws to the arguments of her speech which
lessen the overall dramatic effect. She also could be seen to come across as
too emotional and generally acting too mad to make a rational decision. All in
all Virgil does make this successfully dramatic however this effect is lessened
by the fact that we do not perhaps believe the Juno can completely justify her
reasons against the Trojans.
This question got 24/25 getting an
A*
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