The Role of Beatrice Portinari in Dante The Divine Comedy

899 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Dante and Beatrice in the divine comedy

Beatrice Portinari is seen throughout the book of “Dante The Divine Comedy”. She originally meets Dante in the year 1274, on May Day in Florence, Italy. Beatrice is from a wealthy Florentine family and was eight years old the first time they meet and did not speak a word to each other (Cotter, 21). She was the principle inspiration for Dante’s La Vita Nuova, a book about Dante’s love connection to her (Passages to the Past). Dante and Beatrice have only met twice, but Dante was so touched by both meetings he shares his love for Beatrice with the reader. The second encounter occurred when they passed each other on the streets of Florence. She turned and greeted him; this filled him with such joy that he ran to his room and started to dream about her. Beatrice died at the age of twenty-four. This meeting has sparked the first sonnet in La Vita Nouva, which he wrote in 1293 (Rosetti).
Beatrice sees Dante in the book, “Dante the Divine Comedy” when he has to travel through the underworld. She represents divine love, and it is her concern that drives Dante to seek out Virgil to be his guide. Since Virgil lived before Christianity, he dwells in limbo with other non-Christians (NovelGuide.com). By trusting Beatrice, Dante trusts Virgil, who gets him through hell. Virgil is used as Dante’s knowledgeable guide through the underworld and into heaven (NovelGuide.com). It was told to Dante in Canto II when he was losing his way that Beatrice descended down from heaven into limbo to find Virgil to explain to him her concern for Dante. Beatrice is there to spiritually guide Dante up to heaven (NovelGuide.com). Virgil explains to Dante that the lady that came down to have Virgil lead him had “eyes [that] shone more brightly than the sta...

... middle of paper ...

...medy.com, 7 June 2012. Web. 05 May 2014.
"Dante's Purgatorio - Terrestrial Paradise." Dante's Purgatorio - Terrestrial Paradise. The University of Texas at Austin, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
"Divine Comedy: Character Profiles." Novelguide. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
La Vita Nuova." The New Life I-X. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.
"Inferno Canto I: 1-60 The Dark Wood and the Hill." Dante: The Divine Comedy. Trans. A.S. Kline. PoetryInTranslation.com, 2000. Web. 05 May 2014.
Malik, Keenan. "A BOOK IN PROGRESS [PART 8]: DANTE, POET OF THE SECULAR." Pandemonium. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
"Passages to the Past: Dante, Beatrice and La Vita Nuova." Passages to the Past: Dante, Beatrice and La Vita Nuova. Www.passagestothepast.com, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
Rosetti, Dante Gabriel. "Romance: Dante & Beatrice." Romance: Dante & Beatrice. WisdomPortal.com, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Divine Grace and Justice in Dante's Inferno

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. Notes Allen Mandelbaum and Gabriel Marruzzo. New York: Bantam Books, 1980

    Read More

  • Artemisia Gentileschi

    1992 Words  | 4 Pages

    Two years ago I went to an exhibition in Milan titled: “Artemisia: storia di una passione” (“Artemisia: history of a passion”). The exhibition was sponsored by the Assessorato alla Cultura of the Comune of Milano and curated by Roberto Contini and Francesco Solinas, with the scenographic and theatrical work of Emma Dante.

    Read More

  • Untitled and Advice to My Son, by Peter Meinke

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    Meinke, Peter. “Untitled” Poetry: An Introduction. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s 2010. 89. Print

    Read More

  • The Divine Comedy vs. Paradise Lost

    3039 Words  | 7 Pages

    The primary characters in Dante’s poem include himself, who is also the narrator, Virgil, a poet he has admired, who serves as his guide through most of the first two sections, and finally, Beatrice, his inspiration, who greets him at Paradisio and escorts him through the remainder of his journey.

    Read More

  • Courtly Love In Dante's Paradiso

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dante, an Italian poet during the late middle ages, successfully parallels courtly love with Platonic love in both the La Vita Nuova and the Divine Comedy. Though following the common characteristics of a courtly love, Dante attempts to promote love by elevating it through the lenses of difference levels. Through his love affair with Beatrice, although Beatrice has died, he remains his love and prompts a state of godly love in Paradiso. Dante, aiming to promote the most ideal type of love, criticizes common lust while praises the godly love by comparing his state of mind before and after Beatrice’s death. PJ Klemp essay “Layers of love in Dante’s Vita Nuova” explains the origins of Dante’s love in Plato and Aristotle themes that designate

    Read More

  • Ekphrasis and the Other in Picture Theory

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the poem “Fiammetta Breaks Her Peace”, Fiammetta is a retelling of Boccaccio’s character and often muse in the Decameron. However, Dove provides a voice to the voiceless, removing the male gaze of otherness, using the significanc...

    Read More

  • The Allegory of the Cave and Dante

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ards monstrous figures and sympathy towards those who seem to be tortured unjustly. In his perverse education, with instruction from Virgil and the shades, Dante learns to replace mercy with brutality, because sympathy in Hell condones sin and denies divine justice. The ancient philosopher Plato, present in the first level of Hell, argues in The Allegory of the Cave that truth is possible via knowledge of the Form of the Good. Similarly, Dante acquires truth through a gradual understanding of contrapasso and the recognition of divine justice in the afterlife. Ultimately, Dante recognizes that the actions of the earthly fresh are important because the soul lives on afterwards to face the ramifications. By expressing his ideas on morality and righteousness, Dante writes a work worth reading, immortalizes his name, and exalts the beliefs of his Christian audience.

    Read More

  • Righteous Life In Dante's Inferno

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the epic poem Inferno, Dante the Pilgrim travels into the different circles of Hell told by Dante the Poet. The story examines what a righteous life is by showing us examples of sinful lives. Dante is accompanied by his guide Virgil, who takes him on a journey to examine sin and the effects it has in has in the afterlife to different sinners. Through the stories of Francesca and Paolo, Brunetto Latini, Ulysses and Guido da Montefeltro, we are able to understand that people are self-interested in the way they act and present themselves to others and that those in Hell are there because they have sinned and failed to repent their sins and moral failings.

    Read More

  • Dante's Divine Comedy - Close Reading of Canto V of the Inferno

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.

    Read More

  • Rappaccini's Daughter

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rappaccini’s Daughter does not consist of many characters but each one of them contain interesting characterization. Giovanni Guascounti is a young man from Napels who moved in order to attend school in Padua. Giovanni fell in love with Beatrice and became the subject in one of Dr. Rappaccini’s experiments. In the story it is exclaimed that Giovanni’s window is lofty and overviews the garden which could suggest his perspective on the light and dark in Beatrice. Giovanni is the young protagonist, therefore he found Beatrice, at once beautiful, which could state his weakness to women, not excluded to her. When Giovanni first understood that Beatrice was dangerous he dismisses his thoughts of any truth to the possibility. Eventually, he comes to terms with facts but becomes concerned for himself. Giovanni calls Beatrice a “poisonous thing”, and made him feel “as hateful, as ugly, as loathsome and deadly a creature as her”. However, at the end of the story Giovanni’s selfishness diminishes and flips to being completely in love with Beatrice. As a result, he give her an antidote in hopes it would reverse the poison in her and allow a live a life full of love with him. As known, this hope did not become reality. Youth in love should have been the way Giovanni and Beatrice played out but it was merely curiosity, lust, and...

    Read More

  • Dante’s Inferno - The Evolving Relationship between Dante the Pilgrim and Virgil the Guide

    2166 Words  | 5 Pages

    When we are first introduced to Dante the Pilgrim, we perceive in him a Renaissance intellectual, who despite his intelligence and religiosity has lost the “path that does not stray” (I.3). Having thus lost touch with the tenets of orthodox Catholicism, a higher power has chosen for him to undertake an epic journey. (The devout are able to identify this power with the one Judeo-Christian God, while pagans and sinners often attribute the impetus behind the Pilgrim’s voyage to fate.)

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: Dante's Inferno

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.

    Read More

  • The Weakness of Human Nature in Dante's Inferno

    2210 Words  | 5 Pages

    Alighieri, Dante. "The Inferno." The Divine Comedy. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: First New American Library Printing, 2003.

    Read More

  • The Structure and Content of Dante's Inferno

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Moreover, such belief in human reason signifies Dante's hope towards a bright society and the pursuit of God’s love as the other part of self-reflection. In conclusion, a great deal of tension and contrast between “dark” and “light” in The Inferno helps us to explore Dante’s self portrait—he fears dangerous desires and sinful darkness, but shows much courage and hope towards life since he nevertheless follows his guide Virgil to dive into horrible Hell. As shown in Canto I, such emotional reaction to dark and light symbols lays a great foundation for developing Dante’s broad and universal traits as his journey progresses.

    Read More

  • The Vaule of Personal Development in The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy, Inferno. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.

    Read More

More about The Role of Beatrice Portinari in Dante The Divine Comedy

Open Document