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- Title
Lust, Desire, Hope. Dante and the Problem of Love (Inf. V; Purg. XVII–XVIII; Purg. XXVI).
- Authors
Gubbini, Gaia
- Abstract
The article reconstructs the ‘strategy’ used by Dante in the Commedia for solving the problem of love: moving from lust (Inf. V), to the possibility of controlling natural desire through free choice (Purg. XVII–XVIII), to the role of hope in the pursuit of divine love, abandoning cupiditas and embracing caritas (Purg. XXVI). This trajectory is identified through lexical, rhyme-related, and thematic connections. It begins and ends with the first and the last sinners Dante encounters during his journey: Francesca and Arnaut Daniel – both condemned for their lust. The article also explores the reflections of Dante on the previous romance literature dealing with love, providing in particular a more convincing explanation of the presence of Arnaut Daniel – whose courtly love poetry was grounded on the theme of hope – at the end of Purgatory, the supernatural realm of Hope. Moreover, the investigation is set in the context of Dante’s philosophical and theological background – confirming with new elements the coexistence of his Augustinian imagery with the Thomist moral structure of the Commedia.
- Subjects
DESIRE; DANTE Alighieri, 1265-1321; LOVE of God; ROMANCE language literature; PURGATORY; DANIEL, Arnaut; RELIGION
- Publication
Romanistisches Jahrbuch, 2017, Vol 68, Issue 1, p173
- ISSN
0080-3898
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/roja-2017-0007