Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

70 Martha Gimbel
She cries, “I am not able to be of use to him” (Il. XVIII.62), repeating the same
statement at XVIII.443. Even when she warns him that death will come if he
fights Hector, Achilles ignores her advice. Despite her emotional support, Thetis
has no power to affect the course of her son’s life.
While Venus affects the course of actions in the Aeneid, Thetis has no
power to influence her son. Venus can convince Vulcan to make Aeneas a
shield, get Neptune to provide safe passage to her son and send doves to guide
Aeneas to the golden branch. Thetis, on the other hand, remains powerless to
change the course of her son’s life. Even when she gets Achilles the shield, she
does so in accordance to Achilles’ orders, and it cannot ultimately save his life.
She can never convince Achilles to do anything, and in fact usually follows his
orders. Achilles often specifically orders her to follow his will. The powers of
the two goddesses do not differ—Thetis even had the power to nurse Hephaestus
back to health and help him avoid Zeus’s anger—rather, the difference results
from their different relationships with their sons. Since Venus remains focused
on her divinity, never embracing her maternity except when it can help her goal
of founding an empire, she never becomes a human character. Therefore her
divine power remains intact. Thetis, on the other hand, ignores her divinity for a
more personal relationship with her son; thus taking on a more traditional female
role and coming under the sway of her son.
References
Homer. 1920. Homeri Opera in Five Volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. [All
citations were translated by the author.]
Virgil. 1984. Aeneid. Ed. by H. E. Gould & J.L. Whiteley. Duckworth Publishing,