Zusammenfassung der Ressource
How does Virgil maintain the reader's attention
- Constant deaths throughout & Gory imagery
- The constant killing of people makes this story extremely gripping
as the reader eagerly wants to find out what as a result of their
deaths - throughout the story we see numerous deaths including
those of Tagus, Rhoetus, Sulmo, Volcens, Nisus & Euryalus
- Virgil's gory, vivd descriptions of the deaths also
makes them very gripping - eg. 'Rhoetus spewed
forth his dark red life-blood and as he died, he
bought back wine mixed with blood'
- Clear characterisation
- Through conversations and variations in the narrative
voice, the reader is able to create a clear impression of
each character's personality which provides interest - For
example, Virgil is able to accurately protray Nisus's heroic
nature as the reader is able to access his thoughts about
what he should do in his states of ambivalence - 'Unlucky
Euryalus in which place have I abandoned you? Where am I
to follow you?'
- Invested in their relationship
- From the very start, we gradually become invested in Nisus and Euryalus's relationship due to the
way in which Virgil represents them both as likable people (heroic, handsom, young) - as the reader
wants them to stay safe, the reader may feel anxious when the pair find themselves in dangers,
causing them to want to read on
- Wanting to find out their fate
- As Virgil is constantly foreshadowing Nisus and
Euryalus's deaths and reminding us of their
unfortunate fate (eg. 'but the winds scattered them
and have them useless to the clouds'), the reader
wants to read right to the end in the hope that they
might discover the reason for their fate and what went
wrong
- Chance
- Throughout there is a lot of chance involved (eg. the helmet) which makes the story very dramatic
and often gives the reader a slight hope that their fate might change. Along their journey they have
many struggles causing the reader to want to read on to discover whether or how they overcome
these struggles
- Vivid descriptions of landscapes
- The detailed description of the wood 'with thickets and dark holm oaks' creates a very dramatic
atmosphere and they way in which Virgil describes the scene (eg. at night) allows the reader to
sense that something bad is going to happen and so, they wan to read on to find out what this is