Lavinia Virgo: Function and Portrayal of a ‘Marginal’ Character
Abstract
The analysis of the character of Lavinia and of its function in the tradition before Virgil is the first step to take in order to understand the reason why, despite the fact that she plays a central role in the plot, she always stands in the background. We will interweave textual analysis with an anthropologically oriented approach. The character of Lavinia appears to be not related to a specific geographical location, and it can appear in different contexts in which she always serves the same function, namely to allow a foreigner to settle or to leave significant trace of his passage by way of her marriage to him. Only in the light of this considerations Virgil’s innovation will be adequately appreciated. What he does is making of a flexible but already well defined character one of the main elements of his work. He transforms Lavinia – formerly nothing more than the generic empty role of a filia with no characteristic features – into a virgo, by supplying her with all the particular features required by the specific context of the Roman society; by doing so he renders her a true cultural paradigm.
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