Tragedy in Dante’s Comedy essay
The mysterious and tragic events, the readers are fond of in Dante’s works, seem to have their roots in his personal life. He was born in Italy, in 1265 – the period of serious political transformations in the country. At the age of 20, Dante had to marry a woman, which his family had chosen for him. It was a personal tragedy for the author, who was at that moment in love with another woman – Beatrice. Her past, her roots and finally her sudden death are bearing a cover of mystery and melancholy, which the readers are able to sense, when reading one of his most famous works The Comedy. The writing of The Comedy coincided with deep political crisis in Italy, developed on the basis of confrontation between state and church authorities, along with personal love anguish of the author. The two major characters of The Comedy Beatrice and Virgil are in a way similar – as serving the guides for the author, at the same time the directions, they are going, are not the same: Beatrice is taking Dante to Heaven, reflecting his spirituality and morality, whereas Virgil – is his wise mentor and supporter in Hell, symbolizing his common sense and reason.
Inferno, being the first part of The Comedy, is considered to be a virtuous political allegory, the outstanding exercise of intellect, breakthrough in the development of language and literature of the medieval times. The Comedy was written in Italian language, this played a vitally important role for expressing the Dante’s attitude towards political situation in the country, he used to live in. All the previous works he wrote in Latin, which was the language of the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. The name of the poem was another allegory, because there was no intention either to make it humorous or to entertain reader with happy end, rather to penetrate into a classical tragedy with its intriguing beginning and tragic end.
On his way through the afterlife, Dante meets a lot of characters, all of them have their stories and appeal to the deepest emotions of the readers, However the key figures in the whole poem remain Virgil, or better to say Virgil’s ghost and Beatrice. These two characters play different roles in the afterlife travel of the author. Most critics agree that Virgil is the presentation of human reason, which protects and guides any person throughout his life. In Inferno Virgil is the only character, who is constantly very close to Dante, who is protecting him from monsters and demons, who is wise and resolute as any mentor should be. Dante trusts him and listens to him. At the moment of their meeting, he says to Virgil: ‘O light and honor of all other poets, may my long study and the intense love that made me search your volume serve me now. You are my master and my author, you-the only one from whom my writing drew the noble style for which I have been honored.” (Alighieri 13). He derives his moral strength in Virgil’s support, learns his moral lessons. Dante is not that impartial as Virgil, as he often feels sympathy towards the sinners, they meet on their way in Inferno. Here Virgil’s impatience contributes to his presentation as a human being, instead of ghost, as such emotions can only be inherent to an individual. However general attitude of the author is rather dual, because along with this admiration of Virgil’s wisdom, Dante often underlines his poetic weakness as a classical bard. Thus, if Virgil is seen by the author on the one hand as wise mentor and on the other hand as a poetic competitor, Beatrice is Dante’s inspiration. Real relationship with Beatrice is mysterious and the only fact, which is evident nowadays, is the passion and desire, Dante felt towards his muse. There are no evidences if his love was answered by Beatrice, but in The Comedy, she is the one, who initiated this journey, because she loved him and was concerned about the path he chose. She has to leave her place in Heaven and go to Hell, to guide Dante. Actually the role of the Beatrice is not so prominent in Inferno, as it becomes further, when she takes the leading role instead of Virgil and shows Dante the way to Heaven. The same like Virgil at some moments, managed to become a strong supporter for the author, Beatrice is also a kind of light at the end of the tunnel – when Dante believes, that he can not go any further, he only has to think of his love to Beatrice and meeting with her is the strongest motivation for him. From the way, Beatrice is presented in the poem, from her role in it, we can assume, that she is the reflection of spiritual love, as it was seen by the author, the strongest and the most gentle feeling a human is able to experience in his life.
During his whole life Dante Alighieri was surrounded by moral, ethical, philosophical political problems, the solution for which he was so much eager to find. All the historical and political events, he had witnessed, had deep impact upon formation of his ideals and conceptions. Looking for the answers for the most burning questions, he was creating his famous works, which attract readers till nowadays. The brightest characters, which he managed to create, penetrate the readers into his world of pure love, literary and philosophical wanderings: Virgil, being his mentor and competitor and Beatrice – his spiritual love and muse.
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