Canto V Of The Inferno Analysis

"We use the word love in such a sloppy way it can mean almost nothing or absolutely everything,” says Diane Ackerman in A Natural History of Love. People often throw around the world love and begin to equate it to the feelings of lust or attraction, leaving many desensitized to the true act of love. When we say we love things, people, and places multiple times a day, it doesn’t hold the gravity that such a poignant word should. That’s why it is impossible to know if someone truly loves just through their words, and we must rely on the examination of their words to see the true act of love.

In Canto V of the Inferno, the characters Francesca and Paolo are introduced to Dante in the first Circle of hell. Upon being summoned, Francesca laments

Love is first explained as “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” Like previously stated, this depicts love as something that must be done and must be cultivated with time. This also shows love as a matter of spirit and mind because a person must first want to see the other person thrive and then actually make a conscious effort to help them achieve. This excerpt also brings up the idea, “we can’t claim to love if we are harmful and abusive.” With this definition of love, it is contradictory to say one could love someone and harm them at the same time because you can’t help someone grow spiritually while physically or emotionally harming them. Many of the differing views of love stem from how you classify love, or as put in this line "thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility.” As people we tend to classify feelings as an uncontrollable force, and if you think of love as a feeling you excuse can excuse bad behaviors because you can’t help what’s happening. On the other hand, as this quote explained, if you think of love as an action you are choosing to do you have to put in effort to do things for the other person not just say you love them. This concept of love is must more accurate than the lustful picture painted by Francesca in Canto