The Love Story of Dante & Beatrice

Along with Shakespeare and Goethe, Dante Alighieri is regarded as one of the three great geniuses of Western European Literature. He is a literary theorist, moral philosopher and political thinker. Dante's verse epic called Divine Comedy is one of the masterpieces of Christianity and World Literature. Besides his successful career, at the heart of this smart man lies a love that will inspire and become the subject of his work: Beatrice Portinari.

Dante was born into a middle-class family in 1265 in Florence, Italy, where political storms blew away, but the fires of a new culture began to ignite. Dante lost his mother, Gabriella Degli Abati when he was five years old. His father, Alighiero di Bellincione, who was a lawyer, died when Dante was just twelve years old. Dante did not like his father because he was involved in the dirty business; for this reason, he makes no mention of him in his works. His father's great grandfather got the title of nobility because he participated in the Crusades. Dane prided himself on coming from a family that has shed blood for the sake of his religious beliefs, and also, he liked the title of nobility. He set himself apart from wealthy nobles because his nobility did not come from wealth; in his opinion, his father's great grandfather gained it. Even though there is no certain information about his education, it is known that he studied at Santa Croce Priest School. He learned logic, rhetoric, and grammar there like all young people of the period. Besides that, he learned French and Latin. He learned rhetoric from Brunetto Latini, the author of "Tresor," and influenced him. Also, he started to write poems in a common language thanks to Brunetto Latini's encouragement.

However, the most affected event in Dante’s life and works was his love for Beatrice Portinari. 

When Dante was nine years old, he went to the invitation of his neighbour Folco Portinari to celebrate the spring. He saw Beatrice, who was the eight-year-old daughter of the Portinari, there for the first time. She wore a girdle about her neck and was clad in light crimson. He fell in love with this sweet girl at first sight and thought of her as angelic with divine and noble qualities. Since that day, he never loved anyone else. Despite his intense feelings for Beatrice, he never told her about his feelings. After nine years, in 1283, Dante came across Beatrice in the street with two older women, and she wore a white dress. When she recognized Dante, she turned and greeted him. Her greeting filled him with such excitement that he retreated into his room to dream about her. While he was thinking of Beatrice, he fell asleep, and he had a dream that became the subject of the first sonnet in his La Vita Nuova, one of the world's greatest love poems.

"When exactly nine years had passed since this gracious being appeared to me, as I have described, it happened that on the last day of this intervening period this marvel appeared before me again, dressed in purest white, walking between two other women of distinguished bearing, both older than herself. As they walked down the street she turned her eyes toward me where I stood in fear and trembling, and with her ineffable courtesy, which is now rewarded in eternal life, she greeted me; and such was the virtue of her greeting that I seemed to experience the height of bliss. It was exactly the ninth hour of the day when she gave me her sweet greeting. As this was the first time she had ever spoken to me, I was filled with such joy that, my senses reeling, I had to withdraw from the sight of others. So I returned to the loneliness of my room and began to think about this gracious person.’’ - La Vita Nuova III

In the same year, Beatrice married Simon de Bardi, who was a banker. But, Dante continued to love her and mentioned her in his works as "Madonna," which was a name given to married women. In 1290, Beatrice died at a young age; this unexpected death devastated Dante. He lost his loved one forever and ever. He drowned in total pain and started a new era in his life. After the death of the woman he loved, he closed his inner world for a long time. In 1295, he continued to write La Vita Nuova, he used a new understanding in the book, and he elevated Beatrice to the level of angels, also he promised to say words that no one had said for her. La Vita Nuova is formed of the triangle of Beatrice, love, and Dante. Also, it is seen as the first autobiographical novel in the history of literature.

As in all loves, Dante's love for Beatrice has dreamy, stylized, detached from reality. For him, Beatrice was the holiest, most tainted, boldest, most beautiful, and best of all women.

In 1277, he married Gemma di Manetto Donati who was his neighbour's daughter. According to the families' agreement, they would both stay with their families until they got out of childhood and then get married. Dante tried to delay this marriage, but eventually, he got married because of the insistence of his friends. Even though Dante always mentioned Beatrice, he did not mention his wife or family in his works, which indicates that he had an unhappy marriage. Considering that Dante spent his life away from his family, this comment justified.

His marriage did not end his love for Beatrice; contrary, he included her in his works. Beatrice was his muse, and his well-known work Divine Comedy's inspiration was Beatrice Portinari. In Divine Comedy, he describes a journey to the afterlife. In the poem, Beatrice accompanied him in Paradise; also, Dante put her in the same layer with the Virgin Mary, it is shown that he saw Beatrice as innocent as the Virgin Mary. Also, Beatrice is a symbol of divine love. It is the love that provides the pilgrim Dante with spiritual illumination; also, she is a symbol of divine grace, which is essential to man's salvation according to orthodox Christian teaching.

There are a lot of things in Dante's life that readers are curious about; his education, marriage life, etc., but as a reader of Dante, the only thing I wonder is that would he have been such a successful writer if he had never met Beatrice?

SOURCES CITED:

Barbi, Michele, and Mario Alinei. Dante Alighieri, La Vita Nuova. Mulino eBooks, 1971.

Alighieri, Dante, and Joseph Garrow. The Early Life of Dante Alighieri: Together With the Original in Parallel Pages. 2009.