Misleading and inaccurate guide littered with mistakes
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A 16-year-old student of mine recently completed an essay using the online version of this guide, and I could not believe the misleading and inaccurate conclusions he came to as a result. I did check to make sure he hadn't simply misunderstood, but no, I was astounded at the miscomprehensions and downright factual mistakes, that would lead any student using this to help their work actually to be marked down severely by any competent teacher. All of the class managed far better by using their own judgement than by using this book. To give a few examples, just from the character analysis of Aeneas: "Aeneas breaks [the golden] bough from a tree without difficulty" - this is simply untrue, as he has considerable difficulty, and Virgil describes it in detail; "In Book IX, when Aeneas is away in Pallenteum...even in his absence, his rule is respected" - again untrue, as disobedience to his orders actually leads war to break out; "Aeneas, a brave warrior, never allows his emotions to cloud his sense of duty" - this makes a mockery of the ending of the poem, where this is precisely what happens, as he kills a suppliant in a murderous rage; and the writer contradicts his own statements even within this one short section. I have serious doubts over whether the writer has understood the poem; and the inaccuracies are such that, if a student of mine wrote them, I would tell him off for not even reading the poem and make him do the work again. This is a catastrophe of a book.
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