Why is the Divine Comedy also a love story?

Posted on April 1, 2017 by unholypursuit

Who is Beatrice in The Divine Comedy? 

Although much of the details of her life remain uncertain, we know that Dante fell passionately in love with her as a young man and never fell out of it. She has a limited role in Inferno but becomes more prominent in Purgatorio and Paradise.

Beatrice is Dante’s muse and inspiration for writing the Divine Comedy. Thanks to Giovanni Boccaccio, the author of the Decameron and a biography on Dante, we know that Beatrice’s real identity is Bice di Folco Portinari. She married a prominent Florentine banker and died when she was only 24 years old.

Scholars have long debated whether the historical Beatrice is intended to be identified with either or both of the Beatrices in Dante’s writings. She was apparently the daughter of the banker Folco Portinari, and was married to another banker, Simone dei Bardi. Dante claims to have met a “Beatrice” only twice, on occasions separated by nine years, but was so affected by the meetings that he carried his love for her throughout his life.

I hate to say this but this explains his wife being out to get him.

About unholypursuit

A. White, an award winning former librarian, who is also a long time member of Romantic Time and Publisher's Weekly. A. White has been writing for over fifteen years. She took classes in creative writing in college, specializing in ancient myths and legends. and later at a local community center while living in Chicago. In college she won the national contest to verbally list every country in the world, it's capital and ingenious language. Her works are mainly horror, fantasy, extreme, and sci-fi as well as, as some may says, "the truly strange predicament and puzzling." Books that I've written are "Clash with the Immortals, and eleven others which are part of the "Unholy Pursuit saga,". She has been working on the Chronicles since 2007. She wished to complete them all before introducing them to public so the readers wouldn't have to for the continuation to be written. The ideas of the book come from classic literature such as whose work greatly influence the world world such as Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus, Euripides, Socrates, Hippocrates, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle and many more. The "Book of Enoch" influenced the usage of Azazael as a main character and love interest. I created the primary main character from the Chronicle of Saints. I wanted to show them as real flesh and blood with thoughts, desires and yearning as any human. Not as they are so often depicted. So I created one of my own to show her as a real human that everyone can relate to.
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6 Responses to Why is the Divine Comedy also a love story?

  1. unholypursuit says:
    April 1, 2017 at 6:24 am

    Perhaps I could call it a story of infatuation.

    On Sat, Apr 1, 2017 at 2:20 AM, The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Tra

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  2. marketing@themusesport.org says:
    April 2, 2017 at 3:27 pm

    Sounds like the original Rome and Juliet to me.

    Bruce

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  3. Straub says:
    October 6, 2020 at 12:55 am

    Because it’s believed to be dedicated to Beatrice Portinari. His one true love.

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    • unholypursuit says:
      October 6, 2020 at 1:07 am

      You are right. He saw her once when they were both nine years old.According to Dante, he first met Beatrice when his father took him to the Portinari house for a May Day party. They were both nine years old at the time, though Beatrice was a few months younger than Dante. Dante was instantly taken with her and remained so throughout his life even though she married another man, the banker Simone dei Bardi, in 1287. Dante married Gemma Donati in 1285 and had children. Yet in spite of this, he maintained a deep love and respect for Beatrice, even after her death in 1290. After Beatrice’s death, Dante withdrew into intense study and began composing poems dedicated to her memory. The collection of these poems, along with others he had previously written in his journal in awe of Beatrice, became La Vita Nuova.

      Eventhus they both were married to other people he never stopped loving her.

      Scholars have long debated whether the historical Beatrice is intended to be identified with either or both of the Beatrices in Dante’s writings. She was apparently the daughter of the banker Folco Portinari, and was married to another banker, Simone dei Bardi. Dante claims to have met a “Beatrice” only twice, on occasions separated by nine years, but was so affected by the meetings that he carried his love for her throughout his life.

      Dante saw Beatrice as a saviour, one who removed all evil intentions from him. It is perhaps this idea of her being a savior.

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  4. amleta says:
    February 13, 2021 at 7:44 pm

    I am very happy that an Italian opera is so much appreciated by all of you too. 😊😊😊

    Liked by 1 person

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