The Ascent Of Mont Ventoux Sparknotes

Climbing a mountain is no small task for anyone, especially a Renaissance, humanist scholar. However, Petrarch turns his journey into an affective allegorical story entitled The Ascent of Mont Ventoux. Petrarch tells a comprehensive story from finding a climbing partner to reaching the summit with all of the challenges presented in between. Though Petrarch often complains of being out of breath or find detours on his path, he ultimately succeeds in scaling the mountain. Within himself, Petrarch must decide if he is going to reach the top of the mountain despite his physical limitations and want to view nature. Petrarch’s The Ascent of Mont Ventoux provides a strong allegory for the lifestyle or climbing style which provides the best chance for successfully
The humanist focus on his corporeal being, one could argue, distracts Petrarch from the task at hand and, therefore, pulls him further off the path. Because humanists place a particular focus on the corporeal being, Petrarch, by definition, cannot live an ascetic life. Petrarch even shows that he has made an attempt at the ascetic life, but ultimately failed saying: “What I used to love, I love no longer. But I lie: I love it still but less passionately. Again I have lied: I love it but more timidly, more sadly” (42). In this specific quote, Petrarch is describing the exact problem which many christians face in this period: he loves what is on earth and has to grapple with the fact that most doctrine says that he cannot go to heaven because of this love. Yet, Petrarch continues to love earthly things, albeit more sadly, and does not deny the pleasure of these things from himself. Later on, Petrarch discusses the sight of the Rhone River from the mountain and how he took the time to look and partake in the “earthy enjoyment” (44) of the view, not caring about how it will affect his progress to the top of the