Preview

La Vita Nuova; Dante's Definition of True Love

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1329 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
La Vita Nuova; Dante's Definition of True Love
La Vita Nuova; Dante’s

Definition of True Love
Liberal Studies 323/ALH3 Art, Literature & Humanism

Samantha Ritchie 07/15/12
1

La Vita Nuova; Dante’s Definition of True Love
La Vita Nuova is a collection of poems by Dante about an unconventional love story. Dante expresses his Love for a woman named Beatrice but his definition of love is not of courtly or romantic love. To Dante, the meaning of true love in La Vita Nuova is God.

On the surface, the Love Dante feels for Beatrice seems like it could be romantic or courtly love because they are defined as being an intense feeling of deep connection. However, his love is not derived from sexual desires, or lust for Beatrice and his Love is not reciprocated. He never portrays any attempt to get her attention or wanting to have a relationship with her; in fact he does the opposite. Dante would watch her from afar, secretly, without anyone knowing his Love for her. In his poems, he never reveals who his desire is actually for and ends up using a screen to protect his secret. This shows Dante’s Love is not the traditional understanding of love because it is not really for another human but for God. To Dante, God is everything love is, for instance, Love is peace and forgiveness. Dante said he believes Beatrice was put on this earth to show him peace; "This is a gracious lady, beautiful, young and wise; perhaps she has appeared by Love's will so that my life may know peace." (XXXVIII, 1). He said this because peace is a symbol of God for Jesus died for our sins so we could be forgiven. Beatrice was Dante’s stimulus for his spiritual journey through life.

Dante’s pilgrimage for Love began when he first saw Beatrice. At the very beginning of La Vita Nuova, Dante talks of when he first saw her at the age of nine and describes the Love he has for her, saying:
2

“The moment I saw her I say in all truth that the vital spirit, which dwells in the inmost depths of the heart, began to tremble so violently
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Comparison Of Dante's Inferno: Ancient World And Christian World
    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Comparison Of Dante's Inferno: Ancient World And Christian World

    Inferno is Dante’s first poem in his The Divine Comedy. The poem starts with Dante traveling in dark where he loses his way. He is trying to get to his beloved Beatrice who is waiting for him. She sends ghost of Virgil to bring Dante to her. In order to get to Heaven, Dante will have to go through heaven, something that almost everyone did in Christian world. At the beginning, they enter the gate of hell. The First Circle of the Hell is for those people who never done anything good or bad in their life, here they run all day long with hornets biting them. In the Second Circle of the Hell, Dante sees that the some souls are stuck in a devastating storm. In the Third Circle of Hell, Dante sees that Gluttonous…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    AP Substantive Writing Assignment
    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages

    AP Substantive Writing Assignment

    “He watch’d th’ Ideas rising in her mind, Sudden he view’d, in spite of all her art, An earthly Lover lurking at her heart.”…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Inferno is a work that Dante used to express the theme on his ideas of God's divine justice. God's divine justice is demonstrated through the punishments of the sinners the travelers encounter.
    • 2632 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The Inferno is a work that Dante used to express the theme on his ideas of God's divine justice. God's divine justice is demonstrated through the punishments of the sinners the travelers encounter.

    Thesis statement: In Dante's Inferno, the first part of the Divine Comedy, Dante develops many themes throughout the adventures of the travelers. The Inferno is a work that Dante used to express the theme on his ideas of God's divine justice. God's divine justice is demonstrated through the punishments of the sinners the travelers encounter.…

    • 2632 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Inferno: Pier Delle Vigne and Guido Da Montefeltro
    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Inferno: Pier Delle Vigne and Guido Da Montefeltro

    In his poem, Inferno, Dante Alighieri meets the damned souls in hell. His mentor, Virgil, a well-known poet and a good friend of Dante’s, guides him through out their journey of hell and encourages him to farther question those souls damned in hell. Virgil also explains the structure of hell, how it is divided into circles and each circle is the place where those guilty of certain sins are being punished. Through out the poem, the souls that Virgil and Dante encounter, all try to justify their sin and they indirectly ask for pity. Here is where Dante the poem leaves the decision up to the reader, whether or not the punishment fits the sinner and the sin and whether or not they deserve pity. Two characters that Virgil and Dante encounter are Pier delle Vigne and Guido da Montefeltro. Pier delle Vigne was a famous Chancellor of the Emperor Frederick II, he is in hell because he committed suicide after being accused of treason. Guido da Montefeltro, on the other hand, was an important military general, strategists, and a politician. Guido is in hell because he was found guilty of false counsel.…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    A Few Words on Dante's Inferno
    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Few Words on Dante's Inferno

    In the first Canto, Dante realizes he is lost. He says that he does not remember how he lost his way, but he has wandered into a fearful place, a dark and tangled valley. Above, he sees a great hill that seems to offer protection from the shadowed vale. The sun shines down from this hilltop, and Dante attempts to climb toward the light. As he climbs,…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dante's Changing Attitude in Dante's Inferno
    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Dante's Changing Attitude in Dante's Inferno

    Dante’s journey began by meeting Virgil who is described throughout the story as Dante’s guide, master, teacher, protector and Lord. Virgil stated to Dante, “I think it well you follow me and I will be your guide and lead you forth through an eternal place.” “There you shall see the ancient spirits tried in endless pain,” (Canto I:105-110)…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dantes Inferno Essay
    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dantes Inferno Essay

    In the Inferno, mutilation is the most common way for those in hell to be given the ineluctable punishment for their sins. Mutilation is an act or physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of the body. Mutilation is both used in the inferno as a way to cause physical pain to those in hell, but the form of mutilation used on the sinners is also a form of emotional torture because it pertains directly to their sin. Because mutilation is used so frequently in the inferno Dante must use varying ways to depict the mutilation that is forced on the sinners. Dante uses vivid imagery, Homeric similes, and symbolism to help develop the theme of mutilation as he travels through the Inferno.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Christianity In Dante's Inferno
    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Examples Of Christianity In Dante's Inferno

    On the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300, Dante is travelling through a forest, when he gets lost. In the morning, he finds a mountain and tries to climb it, but is stopped by a lion, a wolf, and a leopard. The spirit of the poet Virgil appears and offers to take him to the top of the mountain to Heaven when his love, Beatrice, is, but the way first leads through Hell.…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Dante's Inferno and Classical Mythology
    • 1818 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Dante's Inferno and Classical Mythology

    Franke, William. "Dante’s Inferno as Poetic Revelation." Philosophy and Literature 33.2 (2009): 252-66. Web. 30 April 2010.…

    • 1818 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Contentment In Dante's Inferno
    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page

    Contentment In Dante's Inferno

    In brief, for Dante, the possible intellect, which is identified with the human mind, represents the most noble part of the immortal soul, and comes from God, as from God comes the limited knowledge granted to man and his natural need for knowledge of science, whose contentment is constituted by the supreme happiness in man's earthly life, where to be blessed means to settle for what philosophy can reveal, according the limits of the natural reason. Dante clarified this concept into Convivio:” The most noble thing, and that which is written down as the goal of all others, is to be satisfied, and this is being blessed ; and this pleasure is verily (although in another way) in her aspect ; for, by gazing upon her, folk are satisfied (so sweetly…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Struggle of Pity Within the Inferno
    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Struggle of Pity Within the Inferno

    Dante's sympathy towards the damned souls gradually changes as he progresses in his journey through hell. At first his actions of pity were through his own ignorance and lost sense of moral disposition. Dante is led by Virgil, through limbo and on to the second circle of hell, lust. Here is where the souls, condemned by lust spend eternity blowing in the squalling wind. Dante encounters Francesca da Polenta of Ravenna, whom is one of the first damned souls to attest Dante and his sense of pity. Dante's newly met curiosity encouraged Francesca to share her lustful tale in which secured her fate in hell. Francesca vividly tells Dante of her tragic tale, which ultimately ended in her and Paolo's lives. "Love brought us to one death" (V. 106). Francesca's sin is lust; she tries to remove guilt by deviating the blame from herself to ‘love', as the culprit. Francesca ultimately gives into her desires, which is her lust for Paolo. The love that Francesca and Paolo shared was not one out of romance, but one out of lustful desires. Although, Francesca has wronged, Dante feels sympathetic or pity upon her soul. "…Francesca, your torments/ make me weep for grief and pity" (V.116-117). Dante is captivated by Francesca's sorrowful tone in her story that he weeps in pity. Dante has in a sense…

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Dantes Inferno
    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Dantes Inferno

    The development of Dante begins in the first Canto when he is lost in some woods and Virgil appears to him. Dante character in the first Canto shows fear on two occasions. The first sign of fear he expresses is when he tries to travel down the path towards paradise and the she wolf shows herself. Dante demonstrates his fear again when Virgil appears, as Dante yells “have pity on me…..whatever you may be- a shade, a man.” Dante’s dialogue shows his fear as he asks for mercy, before knowing whether or not the being that appeared to him wanted to harm him. As Dante and Virgil began to approach the entrance of hell, Dante began shows to fear as he begins wondering whether or not he should make the journey. Dante begins thinking about how Aeneas and St. Paul made the journey and begins doubting believes that he too should be included in this group. Virgil reproves Dante for his fear and tells him to have courage as Beatrice, the Virgin Mary, and St. Lucia all care for him. Dante upon hearing this decides that he is ready to begin his journey and tells Virgil to lead on. In the first two Cantos, Dante develops his character into a coward as he fears…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dante Inferno
    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dante Inferno

    Amidst a world that is constantly new, changing, and terrifying, the comforting voice of reason explains everything to Dante the pilgrim and the reader. He describes the geography of the place, why sinners are punished according to their sins, why we see what we do - in short, Virgil always provides the reason why things are the way they are. This is essentially the role of rationality in a philosophic sense of the world. As we know, Dante was a student of philosophy, so he was well familiar with philosophers' tools to explain the world. Virgil therefore symbolizes human reason in a very didactic sense.Viewed in this frame of reference, then, we can see that Dante's placement of Virgil in the Divine Comedy reflects his struggle to reconcile these two views. First, Virgil's separation from Paradiso is absolutely essential. That Virgil doesn't accompany Dante into heaven shows that Dante the writer believes that his two views must be kept separate. Classical reason, symbolized in Virgil, has no place in the revelation of Christianity and must remain autonomous. Dante hopes to avoid the conflict by keeping the two separate in his mind - as separate as Virgil and Beatrice are from one another. irgil also represents the best bridge between Dante's conflicting ideas of classicism and Christianity. In his 4th Eclogue, Virgil wrote of the coming of a little boy who would restore order and bring about happiness. In hindsight, it is eerily reminiscent of the story of Christ, but there is no way Virgil could have known about Jesus at the time of his writing. The 4th Eclogue has intrigued scholars for centuries, and Dante was no different. Virgil's message was prophetic, he thought, which made him the most "Christian" of the pagans. Virgil, as a pagan poet possibly predicting Christ's birth, represented for Dante the closest link between his conflicting fascinations with Christianity and classicism.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dante Essay
    • 664 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dante Essay

    The Inferno by Dante Alighieri written around the fourteenth century depicts the three sins; treachery, greed, and violence which are relevant in today’s society.…

    • 664 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dantes Theme Analysis
    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dantes Theme Analysis

    Dante also uses The Divine Comedy as a spiritual map and moral compass, not only for others, but also for himself. He was frustrated and dismayed by his own sinful ways and the growing corruption he saw around him. He hoped that his…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics