Analysis of Dante’s Divine Comedy Essay Sample

Finding love has always been a desire of people throughout history, but the way which we understand love has changed.  It is true that between the time of Dante and that of Dostoyevesky, people have changed from thinking love motivates actions that meet the need of other people to believing that love ought to be a means of self-fulfillment because Dante’s work shows the focus of love is outside of oneself, while the later literature paints a story of love satisfying personal desires.

In Dante’s Divine Comedy, he uses souls to depicts the expression of love. Many soul’s desire is simply to just share their love with Dante and Beatrice guides him through the spiritual realms, but the perhaps the best example and mostly clearly stated reason for their love is had when Dante meets St. John. In the sphere of the fixed stars, St. John asks Dante to expound on what believes to be the purpose of his soul: “for the good, once it is understood as such, enkindles love; and in accord with more goodness comes greater love. And thus the mind of anyone who can discern the truth on which this proof is founded must be moved to love, more than it loves all else, that Essence which is preeminent” (Dante 235-237). Afterwards, St. John rejoices because Dante recognizes that the purpose of his love is not about self-fullfillment, but about the “Essence which is preeminent” (Dante 237). The love is focused outward, it’s based on recognizing truth and the love that gives more love.

Dante speaks on how the importance of love has nothing to do with anything you can acquire which would mean money, but Mrs. Bennet from Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice would strongly disagree. When talking to her husband about what she desires for her daughters, Mrs. Bennet speaks about the wealthy Mr. Bingley’s Netherfield, “If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield . . . and all the other equally well married, I shall have nothing to wish for” (Austen 5). Mrs. Bennet’s only desire for her daughter, and her only personal desire is to see them get married to wealthy men. By stating this goal is Mrs. Bennet’s only desire, it implies that the whole purpose of a marriage is to acquire wealth. In the time between Dante and Austen, wealth has become to hold a greater importance than love within the bounds of marriage.

Fydor Dostoyevsky would strongly agree with Austen’s critique of marriage. The narrator in the short story, A Christmas Tree and a Wedding by Dostoyevsky, has a strong reaction realized an old man marrying a young wealthy girl for the sake of money, “Glancing attentively at the bridegroom, I suddenly recognised him as Yulian Mastakovitch, whom I had not seen for five years. I looked at her. My God!” (Dostoyevsky 214). Because the narrator witnessed the bridegroom preying on the wealthy girl years before, the narrator is repulsed not only that the two are getting married but by how normal it has become. He recognizes that everybody is accepting the young girls will never experience love because the older man wants monetary profit.

Unfortunately, money has not only been favored over love within the bounds of marriage, but has also been favored in the bounds of friendship. Dostoyevsky addresses the comparison of money to friendship in his short story, The Crocodile. When Ivan Matveitch and Timofey are talking about the blame and costs of the crocodile situation, Timofey says “And a crocodile is private property, and so it is impossible to slit him open without compensation” (Dostoyevsky 114). Instead of loving and helping their neighbor, the gentlemen discuss the economic repercussions of a man being swallowed by an alligator. Again, people are showing greater concern for the money involved in the ordeal than the love they could express towards the suffering man.

Humanitie’s perspective of love has dramatically changed from Dante explicitly talking about how important the outward expression of love is what most import to Dostoyevsky showing concerns of physical wealth taking precedence over human life. Throughout history money has represented our affections for worldly wealth over relational love. Dante, Austen, and Dostoyevsky were able to show us how  people have changed from thinking love motivates actions that meet the need of other people to believing that love ought to be a means of self-fulfillment.