She is one of Virgil's strangest and most original creations, both delicate and savage, both virginal and fierce.

• A. Richard Jenkyns
• B. Damien Nelis
• C. Bob Cowan
• D. Philip Hardie

Answer: (A)

This question hinges on how modern scholars describe Virgil’s female figures, especially the way he crafts Dido in the Aeneid. Richard Jenkyns is known for readings that highlight Dido as one of Virgil’s most striking and idiosyncratic creations. He consistently draws attention to the character’s paradoxes: she is delicate and noble in her royal bearing, yet capable of fierce, passionate action; she embodies a virginal ideal of womanhood while also being a powerful, autonomous player on the epic stage. This tension—softness paired with savagery, purity paired with ferocity—marks Dido as unusually original in Virgil’s universe.

In Jenkyns’s analysis, these dualities are not just character traits but strategic moves in Virgil’s poetry, intensifying the emotional and political stakes of the narrative. Dido’s controlled tenderness, her decisive rhetoric, and her ultimate, dramatic arc embody a complexity that stands out in the epic, making her one of Virgil’s most memorable and unconventional creations.