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One of the main themes in Dante's Divine Comedy is the idea of love. What kinds of love does he focus on in his writing, and how does he...

Throughout the Divine Comedy, Dante returns to the theme of love. In considering this theme, I'd like to discuss the two kinds of love that Dante focuses on the most and structures his poetry around: human love (the kind of love shared between humans on earth) and divine love (God's love).


On the one hand, Dante devotes a lot of time to human love. After all, Dante is originally compelled to begin his journey for salvation by Beatrice, a woman Dante loved but who has since passed away and been changed into an angel. Much of Dante's desire to forge a new spiritual path comes from his love for Beatrice, and so we can see that Dante views human love as a powerful motivating, and often virtuous, force. That said, Dante does not present human love in an entirely positive light. For instance, in Hell Dante encounters Paolo and Francesca, two lovers whose passionate and adulterous romance led to their murders and subsequent suffering in the afterlife. Thus, if Dante shows the positive affects of human love, he is sure to also show its potential drawbacks. 


After human love, we come to divine love. While human love is important, Dante ultimately concludes that divine love transcends human love, as it is God's divine love and grace that allows humans to enter Heaven. Beatrice ultimately goes beyond human love and learns to depend on divine love, which in turn inspires Dante to do the same. As such, divine love becomes an important structural component to the poem, as it is one of the chief forces driving Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Moreover, unlike human love, divine love has no potential drawbacks, as its only offering is boundless salvation.   

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