Aeneas

I've spent a lot of time pondering exactly why Aeneas is such a (for lack of a better descriptor) douchebag.

Think about it. Throughout the Aeneid, he (or someone else) is in the throes of a slaughterous (if one can use such a word) rampage, or Aeneas is engaging in some kind of relations he ought not be having with whomever he's having the relations with because whenever he engages in the aforementioned relations, it always leads to death and mild destruction.

BOOK 1: Juno, in a slaughterous rampage, tries to kill Aeneas because she dislikes him. Unfortunately, she fails, so Aeneas goes forth to Carthage, meets their queen, and begins his inappropriate relations.

BOOK 2: As a subset of his inappropriate relations with the aforementioned queen of Carthage, Aeneas tells of other people's slaughterous rampages during the sack of Troy.

BOOK 3: The aftermath of the slaughterous rampages of the sack of Troy. Aeneas continues his inappropriate relations.

BOOK 4: Aeneas' inappropriate relations bear fruit. He engages in much impropriety with Dido. Jupiter is unimpressed. Jupiter tells Aeneas to get the hell back on track to Italy. Aeneas does so. Dido is unimpressed. Dido kills herself.

BOOK 5: Juno is unimpressed (although not to the extent of a slaughterous rampage). Thus whilst the Trojan men are having a marvellous time with their Sicilian counterparts, she gets her messenger to get the Trojan women to burnt the fleet. They oblige. Aeneas is unimpressed. Aeneas' mummy asks Neptune not to lay waste to the Trojans as they sail to Italy.

BOOK 6: Aeneas goes to the underworld (although unfortunately doesn't stay there for good), where he is once again visited by the fruits of his aforementioned inappropriate relations (namely Dido's ghost). He feels guilty. Dido is unimpressed.

BOOK 7: The subject of Aeneas second round of inappropriate relations is introduced: Lavinia, daughter of the king of the Latins, who at the start of the book is in all likelihood destined for Turnus, another king. Juno is still unimpressed, so she sends on of the Furies to stir everyone into a slaughterous rampage. Aeneas' inappropriate relations once again bear fruit, and the slaughterous rampaging begins on a rather grand scale.

BOOK 8: Aeneas collects some buddies to build up an opposing slaughterous rampage. Aeneas' mummy asks the god of fire (who happens to be her husband, but not Aeneas' father. Oh my, Venus, you whore) to make Aeneas some pointy implements to augment his slaughterous rampaging. He does. Everyone is muchly impressed.

BOOK 9: Aeneas for some reason has left the camp. Juno, still unimpressed with him, tells Turnus of this turn od events. Turnus capitalises. He sets fire to their fleet, but jupiter turns their ships into nymphs (I mean we knew he was a bit of a nymphomaniac, but still). Nisus and Euryalis decide to lay some waste to the Latins, but their slaughterous rampages occur whilst their opponents are asleep, which means their actions are somewhat less Cricket.

BOOK 10: Here we jump from slaugterous rampage to slaughterous rampage. Many people are slain in imaginative ways. Turnus acts like a bit of a bitch my killing Pallas, Aeneas acts like a bit of a bitch by killing Lausus.

BOOK 11: Regardless of the fact that Aeneas let Pallas die, Evander is nonetheless impressed, and stays all buddy-buddy with Aeneas. The Latins engage in a little internal turmoil, so Camilla amasses a force and begins to lay some righteous waste to the Trojans. Camilla gets killed. Turnus is unimpressed.

BOOK 12: Aeneas and Turnus finally get around to going all slaughterous on each other. Aeneas wins. Juno is unimpressed.

With regard to plot, it's almost as bad as 'Le Mort D'Arthur': namely, man number 1 slew man number 2 and took his horse. Man number 1 was in turn slain by man number 3 who took not only his horse but his wife and teenage daughter. Man number 3 was killed in revenge by man number 4 who as it turns out was man number 1's brother. Man number 4 however had no interest in either horses or incest, and instead opted to take man number 3's land instead.

But back to the initial question: why is Aeneas such a dickwad for such a majority of the poem?

The answer: mummy issues. Aeneas has a Oedipus complex (his mother is Venus, after all), and in an attempt to address his self-loathing, and in all likelihood his sexual frustration as well, Aeneas goes about killing people, pissing off powerful goddesses, and doing things he shouldn't be doing with women he shouldn't be doing those things he shouldn't be doing with.