12-04-2017, 12:05 AM
There are three parts to The Divine Comedy. Dante was guided through Hell and Purgatory by Virgil, the epic poet.
But he needed Beatrice to guide him through the mysteries of Heaven.
In real life though, Beatrice was more like this idealized symbol of unattainable love. He said he loved her "at first sight", and he wrote her love poems, and was just love sick and couldn't stop thinking of her.
I'm not sure if there was or was not any expectation that his love would ever be consummated, but I'm guessing there wasn't, and being hopelessly unobtainable and yet somehow spiritually elevating seems to have been the point.
In fact this is so common you can just read the wikipedia for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtly_love
And again... the weirdest thing about it is that DANTE knew what he was doing. HE knew there were two Beatrices, a literal and symbolic one, but for some reason... you'd think The Paradisio would be a poem about Heaven, or God, or something right? But no... still basically a love poem for Beatrice.
But he needed Beatrice to guide him through the mysteries of Heaven.
In real life though, Beatrice was more like this idealized symbol of unattainable love. He said he loved her "at first sight", and he wrote her love poems, and was just love sick and couldn't stop thinking of her.
I'm not sure if there was or was not any expectation that his love would ever be consummated, but I'm guessing there wasn't, and being hopelessly unobtainable and yet somehow spiritually elevating seems to have been the point.
In fact this is so common you can just read the wikipedia for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtly_love
And again... the weirdest thing about it is that DANTE knew what he was doing. HE knew there were two Beatrices, a literal and symbolic one, but for some reason... you'd think The Paradisio would be a poem about Heaven, or God, or something right? But no... still basically a love poem for Beatrice.