Dante's transmutation of classical friendship

Title

Identifier

d_2009_2013:474f7cad0e8d:10132

identifier

10260

Creator

Modesto, Filippa,

Contributor

Paul Oppenheimer

Date

2009

Language

English

Publisher

City University of New York.

Subject

Abstract

This dissertation proposes a study of friendship in Dante's Commedia, understood as a synthesis of the classical and Christian notions of the subject. It is argued that friendship constitutes a handmaiden to Dante's journey toward complete happiness and perfection. To the extent that it bridges the distance between the human and the divine, friendship in Dante is to be understood as a relationship that transcends humanity to reach divinity. Dante's friendship with Virgil and Beatrice will be studied parallel to the interplay between the human and the divine, flesh and spirit, philosophy and theology.;The dissertation is divided into five chapters. By exploring the ideas of various philosophers and scholars, the first chapter serves as a general introduction to the topic of friendship. It will become clear that the meaning of friendship has altered through history and within particular socio-political and socio-cultural realities.;Chapter two focuses on the Classical notion of friendship. Particular attention will be given to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Cicero's De Amicitia. It will become clear that, while providing a lucid and comprehensive understanding of classical friendship, Aristotle's analysis of friendship in the Nicomchean Ethics is much broader than our modern English understanding of the term. Philia encompasses a wide spectrum of associations to include relationships of a personal, political, social, and religious nature. The common ground for the various types of unions is man's natural desire, as a socio-political animal, to connect with others of the same species. The chapter explores Aristotle's classification of friendships, corresponding to three motivations: utility, pleasure, virtue. Since people are pleasant or useful incidentally and since only the good are good for and in themselves, friendship grounded on virtue alone is of the highest order (NE, 8.3, 1156 b6-11). 1 An exposition of Cicero's ideas on the subject will follow my analysis of Aristotelian friendship.;Chapter three studies the Christian notion of friendship. The ideas of St. Augustine, Boethius, and St. Thomas Aquinas will be explored. Friendship in this chapter is studied in relation to the love of God, to caritas . It is also understood in relation to man's ultimate perfection and happiness. Human friendship is seen as a preparation and prefiguration of the spiritual happiness that is to be found in Heaven.;Chapter four studies friendship in Inferno 2 in relation to discourse, change, and movement. More particularly, the changes that occur in Inferno 2 are examined in relation to Dante's friendship with Virgil and Beatrice. The words of friends are understood in relation to the Word of God. By means of compassion and discourse characters in this canto are moved first internally (emotionally), and then externally (physically). Virgil and Beatrice are understood as active friends: they are participants in Dante's journey toward perfection. They do not merely wish him good, rather through their words and deeds they become integral parts of his good.;Chapter five finally explores Dante's transmutation of classical friendship. It proposes an understanding of friendship from a lower to a higher form, parallel to the disappearance of Virgil and the appearance of Beatrice at the summit of Purgatory. A close reading of pertinent passages in Purgatorio 30 and Purgatorio 31 presents friendship as a relationship that transcends human boundaries. Friendship is explored in relation to the interplay between human reason and divine grace. Virgil guides, instructs, and prepares Dante for divine grace, but it is Beatrice who takes him to the experience of divinity. Singleton notes well that, "Virgil's guidance in the Comedy is that of praeparatio ad gratiam,"2 and Beatrice is "lumen gratiae."3 It is precisely in relation to praeparatio ad gratiam and to lumen gratiae that Dante's friendship with Virgil and Beatrice is to be understood.;1Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Terence Irwin (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1985), 8.3 1156 b6-11, pp. 212-213. 2Charles S. Singleton, Dante Studies 2: Journey to Beatrice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967), p. 46. 3Singleton, Journey to Beatrice , p. 42.

Type

dissertation

Source

2009_2013.csv

degree

Ph.D.

Program

Comparative Literature

Item