Too bad Dante’s not around to hear Taking Back Sunday.
From the very beginning of Vita Nuova, I get that Dante has elevated Beatrice beyond just Beatrice, some girl he bumped into a couple of times during her life. Rather Beatrice becomes a heavenly entity through Dante’s work. In fact, early on I believe he actually refers to her as a god(dess)– in one of the phrases that required a translated footnote. Dante even devotes an entire section or two of Vita Nuova to the dazzling effect Beatrice has on the people who encounter her, almost as a religious experience. When Dante encounters pilgrims, his first thought is that they must know nothing of the death of Beatrice, the tragedy that his town has suffered. (His second thought is an almost haughty assertion that, were he able to communicate his plight to the pilgrims, Dante could certainly cause them to weep. A little sick, yes?)
What is interesting then, is what this belief does to his poetry. The sole purpose of his work is to praise Beatrice who sustains Dante, even after her death. Love, then, becomes Dante’s religion, Beatrice is his god(dess) and his poetry is his prayer. Granted, courtly “love” thrives on this sort of extreme devotion, but what pushes Dante’s case over the edge, then, is the Divine Comedy.
Truth be told, my knowledge of the Divine Comedy before starting the Inferno was (is) limited. I get the gist, but what is interesting after reading Vita Nuova is Dante’s approach to describing this tour of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. Dante asks Virgil how it is that he obtained permission to see what becomes of the soul before actually dying, and Virgil explains that Beatrice requested it. This answer is sufficient for Dante, thus likening Beatrice to God again. It is through poetry– represented by Virgil– that Beatrice’s message to Dante is communicated and her wishes executed. As far as Dante is concerned, Beatrice is the keeper of the afterlife. What’s more, a footnote early on in the Inferno points out that Dante rarely if ever (I don’t remember which) refers to Christ or the Virgin Mary; Dante has no need of these traditional religious figureheads as he has Beatrice.
At times it seems that Dante is attempting to translate his praise of Beatrice into praise of God, her creator, but the references relating them are few and far between, as if the use of “God” were only for emphasis. I wonder if Dante’s obsession with Beatrice would not be seen at the time as idolatry? But then again, it was not Catholicism that was quick to condemn idolatry, so perhaps not. It seems there is a fine line between traditional courtly love and idolatry, if there is a line at all, and if so, where is it drawn?
You could slit my throat
And with my one last gasping breath
I’d apologize for bleeding on your shirt
Taking Back Sunday