Dante's life, works, and literary influence

Dante and Beatrice

An Analysis of the Relationship of Beatrice to Dante

Dante describes his meeting with Beatrice at an early age and in La Vita Nuova (The New Life) discusses and poeticizes the love he instantly held for her. Beatrice becomes for Dante a gate to the divine love that he examines in La Comedia, today referred to as The Divine Comedy. This paper will analyze the relationship between Dante and Beatrice and show how her role in his life is like that of a muse -- an agent of God, drawing the poet closer and closer not to herself but to the Divine.

The Vita Nuova

In the Vita Nuova, of course, Dante is drawn solely to Beatrice without anticipating the higher love that Beatrice reflects in her own person. It is this reflection in her that attracts Dante, although he does not place it as a reflection of the divine love of God. Yet, as a poet, his intuition is not long in divining that the source of this love is indeed Heaven. But what draws him first is simply her: "Her apparel was of a most noble tincture, a subdued and becoming crimson, and she wore a cincture and ornaments befitting her childish years" (Vita Nuova 1). It is a vision of beauty that will compel him towards the transcendentals -- the unum, bonum, verum -- the one, the good, and the true, which reside in God Himself (as Dante will show in The Divine Comedy).

Dante gives a hint of this compulsion, however, immediately he is attracted to Beatrice: He states, "At that moment (I speak it in all truth) the spirit of life, which abides in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble with a violence that showed horribly in the minutest pulsations of my frame, and tremulously it spoke these words: & #8230;'Behold a god stronger than I, who cometh to triumph over me!'" (Vita Nuova 2). Dante remembers the poetry of Homer and is able to locate the origin of Beatrice's beauty in Heaven. He quotes Homer, applying the words of praise to Beatrice: "From heaven she had her birth, and not from mortal clay," (Vita Nuova 2); therefore, it is no surprise to see that Dante should, after the death of Beatrice, compose an epic poem in which he is the central character traversing the realms of the afterlife with the ultimate object of reaching Heaven, where Beatrice waits for him.

Yet, what Dante learns along the way is that Beatrice herself is not the ultimate goal or object to be attained -- but something else: an inspiration, a means of drawing Dante to Heaven, which is union with God. Dante desires union with Beatrice (even though he does not hear her even speak until he is eighteen), but as her death in Vita Nuova (and his encounters in the Inferno and the Purgatorio) teach him, the greater and more important desire of all human souls should be that of union with the Divine. Beatrice is Dante's introduction to love, which, his Divine vision assures him, is not located on Earth but in Heaven.

Dante's love for Beatrice did not end in earthly marriage (for she married another), nor did it end with her death (for she appears as a guide to Dante in the Divine Comedy). Her role in his life is as a light of grace, a light to God. Their relationship develops over the years of their initial contact as children (although in a largely one-sided way). What appears to be a kind of masked devotion on Dante's end, is actually revealed (in the Divine Comedy) to be a full, deep, and spiritual relationship that extends into the everlasting.

The Vita Nuova ends with Dante's conception of this relationship, for he writes, "After I had written this sonnet there appeared to me a wonderful vision, in which I saw things that made me determine to write no more of this dear saint, until I should be able to write of her more worthily" (74). But Dante then proceeds to reveal something of the vision he has received -- for he seems to appeal to the Giver of the Vision in a petition for time to do the seeming impossible: "So, if it shall please Him, by whom all things live, to spare my life for some years longer, I hope to say that of her which never yet hath been said of any lady" (74). Dante concludes by begging God for one more sight of her in Heaven -- but as Dante himself will learn throughout the completion of the Divine Comedy, Beatrice herself pales in comparison to the wonders that await in Heaven. Being herself a creation and mere reflection of God, she pushes Dante on his way to that vision of Perfection, which is God Himself, and for which Dante admits, at the end of the Divine Comedy, he actually has no words.

The Inferno

When Dante next appears, he is lost in a dark wood, and the reader may presume that he is lost in life because he has lost his spiritual light. Beatrice, in fact, chastises Dante for becoming lost when later they meet in the Divine Comedy; she abuses him for his lack of faith and his weakness in losing his way just because she was gone. God was still there, she insists. But before Dante can be reprimanded in such a way, he must go through the Inferno to see what his spiritual darkness leads to.

His guide is Virgil, the Roman poet whose place for eternity is in the First Circle of the Inferno. Virgil tells Dante that he shall guide him through the afterlife -- but only so far -- and that the last portion will require a different guide. It is the first reference to Beatrice in the Divine Comedy, and comes from Virgil, who seems to know of the love that Dante has for the good woman, precisely because she has called upon Virgil to retrieve him: "Among those was I who are in suspense, / And a fair, saintly Lady called to me / In such wise, I besought her to command me… / And she began to say… / 'A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, / Upon the desert slope is so impeded" (2.54-62). Virgil reveals that he is there to help Dante because (it is presumed) Beatrice has heard Dante's cry for help. Here the reader sees that Dante's soul is dear to Beatrice even though they are separated by the grave. Here also is one of the central themes of Dante's Divine Comedy -- the efficaciousness of prayer. As Dante will illustrate timem and time again, those who pray are saved, and those who do not are damned.

Virgil goes on to tell Dante of what he has in store in this journey -- and that he will get to see the woman his soul desired to see once more at the end of the Vita Nuova: "A soul shall come, worthier for that than I: I'll place thee 'neath her guidance, quitting mine." This is Virgil's reference to Beatrice -- a reference which gives hope to Dante.

Dante is now free to traverse the underworld with the guide that Beatrice has appointed for him. It is important to realize that it is through Virgil that Dante is to be introduced to the realms of the afterlife -- and that it is Virgil whom Beatrice has chosen for Dante. Here one sees the intimate connection between the Dante and Beatrice. Knowing Dante's respect for poetry, she calls upon a poet to lead him out of darkness. In other words, Beatrice understands the needs of the man who has loved her (albeit from a distance) in life. She knows, too, how to reach him.

But by appointing Virgil as his guide, she also reveals something else about their relationship: that it must needs be more spiritual than earthly. Virgil was admired by the medieval world for his seemingly prophetic remarks concerning the coming of the Christ. Virgil thus represents something higher and more divine in Dante's eyes -- and constantly calls him back to himself, reminding him that the Inferno is no place to tarry, and that his presence is demanded in a higher realm. Virgil is for Dante a kind of ambassador sent from Heaven (though not of Heaven), to prepare Dante both in mind and heart for the vision he is to have later in the Comedy.

Yet Virgil also reveals that Beatrice herself had been preoccupied in discourse with the "ancient Rachel," and that she was only moved to find him and request his services in the salvation of Dante by the intercession of one Lucia (a name which means light), who herself interceded on the behalf of "a gentle Lady in Heaven," who could be none other than the Virgin Mary. Beatrice relates all of this to Virgil herself, explaining why she has come to call on him. But it reflects much of the way Dante's relationship with Beatrice went on in life: she was always at one remove from him, and if he loved by way of a third party. Her interest in him was no more than what her Christian duty owed, and it is only now, moved by Christ's mother, that she is provoked to action. Dante's prayers for help have been heard first and foremost not by Beatrice, as she herself confesses, but by the Mother of God. Thus, Beatrice reveals a definite hierarchy in Heaven, and shows that she herself is not the greatest, nor on a level with the Blessed Virgin, but sits rather with Rachel, the wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and therefore the house of David and of Christ. The emphasis, of course, is on Christ. Heaven is union with Christ -- not Beatrice nor any other human creature (although these may be in Heaven). But Beatrice herself hints at the major theme of the work and the major conversion in Dante's own life: a turning from courtly, romantic love to higher, spiritual love of God. Beatrice, once again, is a facilitator.

By facilitator, of course, the meaning is that it is because of Beatrice that Dante is inspired to move toward the higher things, i.e., God. This is what Lucia says to Beatrice, when the former reproaches the latter for not attending to Dante now in his earthly plight: "O Beatrice, why / Dost thou not succor him who loved thee so / That he, for thee, the vulgar herd did fly" (2.103-105). What is most amusing, however, is that Dante does not seem to mind that Beatrice should ignore him in Heaven. He appears to accept her social slighting (preferring the company of Rachel) as part of the charm and mysterious aura of her whom he loves. He counts himself unworthy of being heard by her and thus shows his respect for her. He thinks no ill of her even when she does not give him the succor he needs until prompted by a higher authority.

Nonetheless, even Virgil himself lauds Beatrice when he exclaims that through Beatrice alone "the human race exceedeth" (2.77). Dante's guide does not disparage Beatrice or give any other estimation of her beauty or virtue than that which Dante has always given. She is the very finest creature ever to have been created -- and yet she is not finer than the Mother of God. Dante is preparing the reader and himself for the awesome vision of Heaven to which Beatrice herself will finally lead him. Again, all is revealed here in the second canto of the Inferno: the Divine Comedy is not a journey to Beatrice -- it is a journey to God.

The Purgatorio

The reason for Dante's pilgrimage through the Inferno and up the climb of Purgatorio is finally revealed to the poet by Beatrice herself when she comes to lead Dante to the ultimate vision in Paradiso. But before that meeting, Dante's character is deepened, his spirit strengthened, his mind broadened, and his will hardened. These qualities are furnished by his company with Virgil and the Roman poet's take on the souls around him. Thus, Dante shows that man is not formed by romantic love only, but also by learning and labor (two things he engages in while traveling with Virgil).

Dante's ascendance upward, however, is not marked solely by Virgil's assistance, but also by another Roman poet -- this one a Christian convert -- Statius. Statius joins the poets in Purgatorio and becomes a second companion for Virgil (only now a Christian companion to off-set Virgil's paganism -- which signifies a lack of illumination), and helps prepare Virgil for the Christ-centered Paradiso.

Statius is introduced in the Purgatorio by way of a mighty tremor in Mount Purgatory: "And here -- even as Luke records for us / That Christ, new-risen from his burial cave, / Appeared to two along his way -- a shade / Appeared; and he advanced behind our backs" (21.7-10). Dante not only combines the entrance of Statius with Biblical reference to Christ's Resurrection, he also draws a spiritual parallel between the Roman pagan poet and the Christian Redemption and promise of Resurrection. In a way, the Resurrection has a double-meaning: it testifies to Christ's divinity but also to the new life of sanctifying grace in the soul following conversion to the Christian faith. Statius represents the fulfillment of Virgilian poetry by figuring as a kind of Christ -- and as a kind of Virgil.

Indeed, Statius tells Dante that he converted to Christianity thanks in no small part to Virgil's poetry. Thus, he exalt's Dante's guide by saying to Virgil, "You did as he who goes by night and carries / the lamp behind him -- he is of no help / To his own self but teaches those who follow" (Purgatory 22.67-69). Virgil, according to Dante's Statius, acted as a guide on earth as well -- a prophet of the coming of the Word Incarnate, the Redeemer of mankind, the Light which Statius' "lamp" references.

As Dante travels with both Statius and Virgil upward through Purgatorio, inspired by these two lights, he dreams of Rachel -- the same Rachel who sits with Beatrice at the beginning of the Inferno. It is a foreshadowing of the reunion of Beatrice and Dante, and it is prepared for no small thanks to Statius, who is a kind of Christianized Virgil, accelerating Dante's ascension and calling him toward those same virtues and that same wisdom which fill Beatrice and make her so pleasing. Statius becomes an even greater inspiration for Dante than Virgil. And yet Statius does not slight Virgil.

It is to Virgil that Statius pays homage and to Virgil's fourth eclogue of the Aeneid in particular: "When you declared: 'The ages are renewed; / justice and man's first time on earth return; / from Heaven a new progeny descends" (70-72). Statius takes this passage as a prophecy of the Incarnation and birth of Christ, in whom mankind would remodel itself.

Statius' role in the poem thus becomes one of proof -- proof that there is much to be merited by reading the works of the virtuous pagans. Statius is thus placed in Purgatorio to confirm Dante's own opinion that Virgil is an appropriate guide -- not only for his earthly wisdom, but for his seemingly profound sense of an impending Christianity as well.

And now Dante is finally purged of many of his weaknesses and is ready to see Beatrice -- or so it seems. When she appears, the first thing she does is scold him for sobbing at the realization that Virgil has left him. Dante shows that he is perhaps too much attached to earthly wisdom rather than to heavenly wisdom -- and Beatrice has no patience for it: "Dante, do not weep yet, though Virgil goes. / Do not weep yet, for soon another wound / shall make you weep far hotter tears than those!" (30.55-57). Her demeanor is stern and her decorum regal. Dante accepts her rebukes as though they were justified -- and she continues to ream him as he lowers his head in shame: "Look at me well. I am she. I am Beatrice. / How dared you make your way to this high mountain? / Did you not know that here man lives in bliss?" (30.73-75). Yet Beatrice is not alone and her companions intercede on Dante's behalf (as her words crush him and reduce him to tears): "Lady, why do you treat him in this fashion?" (30.96). The answer is simple: Dante is still in need of perfecting and Beatrice knows it. Part of her greatness and part of the reason Dante loves her is that she does not hide the truth but instead points the way to perfection even if it hurts. Beatrice has once again become Dante's guide to God, and will now introduce him to Paradise.

The Paradiso

But still Beatrice is not finished accusing Dante -- and before he can enter into Paradise, he must bathe in the river Lethe. Beatrice tells Dante that "the waters have yet to purge sin from your memory" (Purgatorio 31.12). The statement perfectly illustrates Beatrice's relationship to Dante and her role in his life: she is the image of sanctity, greater than any Virgil or Statius (for she resides in Heaven whereas the others in Hell and Purgatory respectively).