Wednesday, March 26, 2008
BA 7
In this reading we are presented with a new kind of hero. Although I strongly believed after the first three canto's that Dante was not a hero and was a coward, I am seeing a growth as a person in him. I do believe that the new mold of a hero to note is Virgil. We can also consider the people who have died for love to be heroic. Most notably is the love of Francesca. She is able to tell her story although it hurts her to do so. She can admit the wrongs of their relationship and the greatness of their love. "But one particular moment alone it was defeated us: the longed-for smile, it said, was kissed by that most noble lover: at this, this one, who now will never leave my side, kissed my mouth trembling." (118, 43). The lovers believed in their love and were willing to commit a sin to have it. In the previous books we have read we were presented with hero's that stood up for what they believed in, here the lovers did the same.
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2 comments:
I believe it is inconceivable to characterize Francesca as a hero. One reason is the lack of background information we have at hand regarding her relationship with her husband, as well as her lover. When The Poet asks how this "love first show" itself to Paola and Francesca, she states that the affair began when, "One day, for pleasure, we read of Lancelot" (5.106,113). A hero does not read a book with her husband's brother, encounter a scene where characters kiss, and then give in to lustful desire. A hero would have resisted this temptation for a multitude of reasons, including the sanctity of marriage and the pain an affair heaps onto the innocent partner. I will attempt not to moralize about the nature of cheating, but I can state with some degree of comfort that, in this instance, the pages of this book incited ignorant lust, and not the love that Francesca wants us to believe she died for. Francesca is not a hero.
I don't believe that Francesca is a hero either. From what we know about her she hasn't done anything that goes along with being a hero. Nothing is said about her bravery, strength, helpfulness to others, or anything of the sort. What we do know about her is that she cheated on her husband, which makes her more of a villain than a hero.
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