That is, he conveys that beauty is clearly more than a pleasure as judged by the senses and that it is more than a subjective taste. His vision is not focused upward toward God, but is instead focused downward to the immediate, superficial, and passing - to anything but what is beautiful.ĭante’s Divine Comedy conveys the objectivity and redeeming power of beauty. Dante looks at Satan, and Satan looks at the ground weeping. As a result, he fixates only on himself and his own misery, thereby inverting the pattern of sight seen with Beatrice and the Virgin Mary. Narcissism is the fixation on one’s own self, and Satan is the biggest narcissist of all. Without the light of truth to illumine him and his surroundings, Satan does not see Dante and Virgil as they pass by him. On the other hand, the further Dante wanders from God in the Inferno, the uglier things are.įor this reason, Satan dwells in the dark and cold pit of Hell and embodies brute ugliness. The Virgin Mary is closer to God than any created being and therefore she is the most beautiful. As Dante gets closer to God, what he experiences is more beautiful. Of that exalted Light of Truth Itself (4)ĭante conveys that holiness and beauty go hand-in-hand.
Of other creatures pierce with such insight.”
Into whose being, we must believe, no eyes Now fixed on him who prayed, made clear to us After seeing the light of God reflected in the Virgin Mary’s eyes, his vision is then clear enough for the Beatific Vision. The Virgin Mary looks at God, and Dante looks at the Virgin Mary. When Dante encounters Mary in Heaven, the reader sees the same pattern of vision as was with Beatrice. As the highest created masterpiece, the Virgin Mary is the most beautiful and her eyes reflect most clearly the eternal light of God. Only the Blessed Virgin Mary has eyes that are more beautiful. Beatrice as a symbol of beauty encourages, directs, and points the pilgrim to God. When he is unable to see the light of God directly, her eyes give him an indirect vision. When the pilgrim is tired, she encourages him to go on. Indeed, Beatrice gives Dante the strength to complete his journey. And as often happens after staring into her eyes, Dante ascends further upward (3). “Then, to the eyes of beauty my eyes turned,” says Dante in Canto XXII of the Paradiso. She said: “Now turn around and listen well,Īs Dante sees beauty in Beatrice’s eyes, he finds himself ascending higher into Heaven. Then, with a smile whose radiance dazzled me, My heart was freed of every other longing, I can recall just this about that moment: It is not in her eyes that paradise is found. Instead she reminds him that the beauty in her eyes is only a reflection of God’s splendor. “The beloved does not imprison the poet within herself on the contrary, she opens up for him the perception of all reality.” (1) Dante might be tempted to enclose himself in the eyes of Beatrice, but as a symbol of true beauty she does not let him. “Beatrice looks at God, Dante looks at Beatrice and sees in her, as in a clear mirror, the sign from God,” writes Hans Urs von Balthasar. And so, in the Divine Comedy, a poem written in her memory, Beatrice serves as Dante’s guide to God and as a symbol of beauty.Īs Dante ascends through the heavens, he sees the light of God reflected in the eyes of Beatrice. As the woman who Dante loved in real life, her goodness and purity helped the poet glimpse the heavenly world. This is conveyed through Beatrice, who serves as Dante’s guide through the heavens. Dante’s Divine Comedy shows readers the redeeming power of beauty.
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