From: Subject: Peter Levine - Why Dante Damned Francesca da Rimini - Philosophy and Literature 23:2 Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 20:36:13 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00C4_01C4314E.46DC0150"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_00C4_01C4314E.46DC0150 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://0-muse.jhu.edu.opac.sfsu.edu/journals/philosophy_and_literature/v023/23.2levine.html Peter Levine - Why Dante Damned Francesca da Rimini - = Philosophy and Literature 23:2
Copyright =A9 1999 The Johns Hopkins = University Press.=20 All rights reserved.

Philosophy and=20 Literature 23.2 (1999) 334-350=20
 

Why Dante Damned Francesca da Rimini =

Peter Levine =

I

The vast majority of Dante's readers have found = Francesca=20 da Rimini an acutely sympathetic figure--a tragic heroine. Yet = Dante=20 damned her, pronouncing a stern and challenging moral judgment. = His=20 decision to place her in Hell is especially surprising when we = consider=20 that she is almost chaste compared to the other souls in the = Circle of the=20 Lustful. All she did was to fall in love with her = brother-in-law--after=20 being tricked into marriage, if we believe Boccaccio's = commentary--and her=20 husband murdered her before she had a chance to repent. Compare = Semiramis,=20 the Assyrian queen, who legalized incest in order to justify her = own=20 obsession, or the Paris of medieval legend, who lured Achilles = into a=20 temple by arranging a sexual encounter and then killed him.=20

Dante's judgment is especially surprising when = we learn=20 that Francesca was a real woman, probably an actual murder victim, = and=20 that Dante was closely connected to her family. Late in life, = banished=20 from Florence, he found shelter in the home of Guido Novello da = Polenta,=20 who was a love poet and Francesca's nephew. Dante thus finished = the=20 Divine Comedy in the very household where Francesca was = born, as=20 part of her family. In the text, she is portrayed vividly and=20 sympathetically, as if Dante had heard much about her. She even = utters a=20 phrase that appears in one of Guido Novello's sweet, ingenuous = love=20 sonnets. We cannot be sure who originally wrote this phrase, but = its=20 appearance in the Divine Comedy suggests one of two = theories.=20 Either Guido so admired Dante's portrait of his murdered aunt that = he=20 quoted her speech from the Inferno, or else Dante placed = Guido's=20 words in Francesca's mouth as homage to his friend. 1 [End Page 334]=20

Why then did Dante damn Francesca? Perhaps he = was=20 thinking like a philosopher. Actually, philosophers might reach = many=20 conclusions about this case, and few would sentence Francesca to = eternal=20 torture. But even though philosophers would reach different = conclusions,=20 they would all begin reasoning in the same way. They would first=20 analyze the story of Paolo and Francesca until the = particular=20 details of character and situation could be assessed by a general = theory.=20 One of Dante's most important philosophical influences was St. = Thomas=20 Aquinas, who argued that adultery was a distinct type of lust, and = that=20 lust was a mortal sin (Summa theoligiae, II, ii, 154, 8). = In fact,=20 adultery was wrong secundum se or intrinsically, and not = merely=20 because of any harm that it might do in a particular case. 2 Did Paolo and Francesca commit adultery? = We could=20 apply the definition that Aquinas borrowed from Pope Leo I: = "adultery is=20 committed when by impulse of one's libidinousness or consent of = the other=20 party a couple lie together in breach of the marriage vows." We = don't know=20 from Dante's account whether Paolo and Francesca "lay together," = but=20 Aquinas quotes the Gospel, "Whosoever shall look at a woman to = lust after=20 her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Aquinas = adds:=20 "Much [worse], then, are libidinous kisses and suchlike mortal = sins"=20 (ibid., 4).=20

So it seems that Paolo and Francesca were = guilty of=20 adultery, and therefore Minos wrapped his tail around himself = twice,=20 categorizing them as lustful sinners, and condemned them to the = second=20 circle of Hell. Perhaps Dante felt a personal connection with = Francesca,=20 but he disregarded this sentiment, because philosophy told him = where she=20 belonged. His moral theory could, however, be challenged on purely = philosophical grounds. At the most general level, we could object = to his=20 habit of judging each person by one deed that reflects his or her = eternal=20 character and that is punished retributively in Hell. Again, = Dante's=20 inspiration may be Aquinas, according to whom we develop = dispositions=20 (costume, in Italian) that incline us toward particular = actions. In=20 turn, all of our acts either reinforce or undermine our existing=20 dispositions, so that our characters develop. In the mature = behavior of=20 each soul, Dante finds evidence of its costume.=20

Francesca professes an alternative philosophy. = She never=20 uses the word "adultery," but explains that her story is one of=20 love, which "soon takes hold in the gentle heart" = (Inf. v,=20 100). 3 If sensitive people naturally and easily = fall in=20 love, then their behavior is excusable. Paolo, for example, could = not=20 resist Almighty Love once he beheld Francesca's bella = persona. She=20 argues, further, that "Love excuses none who're loved [End Page = 335] from loving" (Inf. v, 103). So Francesca's = requital is no=20 more voluntary than Paolo's desire: it is an equal and opposite = reaction.=20 Francesca thus deduces a moral principle (love is beyond = criticism) from a=20 theory about reality (love is omnipotent and natural). Applied to = her own=20 case, her philosophy serves as a defense. But it contradicts = Christian=20 doctrine, according to which the soul is free to fall and the only = irresistible power belongs to God's Love, "which moves the = sun and=20 all the other stars" (Par. xxxiii, 145). For the sake of = argument,=20 let's assume that this Christian moral theory is right. = Francesca's story,=20 as it is told by the chroniclers and early commentators on Dante, = is a=20 clear instance of adultery; and adultery is a voluntary act of = immoral=20 love. On that ground, Dante, the author of the Divine = Comedy,=20 assigns the couple to Hell.=20

But Dante-the-character has a different = reaction: he=20 topples head-first and faints from pity. Not only does he feel = compassion=20 for the two wind-blown spirits, but perhaps he realizes that God = condemns=20 his pity. His moral reaction clashes with the order of the = universe.=20 Although Francesca's case is an example of sin, presumably we are = expected=20 to pity her, as Dante does, because of the details that he sees = and hears.=20

Francesca is first described as resembling a = mother=20 dove--a sweet image that predisposes us to like her. When she = speaks, she=20 appeals to Dante's "courtesy and compassion," thus requesting the = same=20 from us. Anyone who turns a deaf ear to her story is not like = Dante: a=20 "gracious and benevolent creature." After this captatio=20 benevolentiae, she describes her fate: she has been abandoned = by the=20 Lord of all Creation (not a gracious creature, apparently), and = sentenced=20 to a place where noxious purple air drowns out all conversation. = If we=20 imagine ourselves in the same condition--forever--we instinctively = rebel=20 against the injustice.=20

Francesca says that she has been cursed because = her=20 actions stained the world with blood. She thereby takes some=20 responsibility for her sins; but far from making us distrust her, = this=20 confession suggests that she has repented. It's also an allusion = to the=20 story of Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid's Metamorphoses. = 4 If Francesca is like the hapless, na=EFve = Thisbe, then=20 she is to be pitied, not blamed. The allusion, then, is an = efficient=20 rhetorical device that may persuade us to feel favorable emotions, = just as=20 Dante's dove simile encouraged us to think tenderly of Francesca. = By the=20 end of the canto, she has also alluded to Ovid's Ars = amatoria,=20 Boethius's Consolation, the Confessions of St. = Augustine,=20 the Old French Lancelot du lac, Andreas Capellanus, Guido=20 Guinizelli, Dante's own lyric poetry, and possibly Guido Novello. = This=20 habit reveals something about [End Page 336] her character: = she's=20 not an abstract example of "sinner," but a concrete human being = with a=20 passionate interest in love poetry.=20

Only now do we learn that Paolo fell in love = first,=20 compelled by the potent combination of his "gentle heart" and = Francesca's=20 "fair body." And then, she says, love "seized me for his charm"=20 (Inf. v, 104-105). Francesca's sin was minor, practically = chaste,=20 and the immediate cause seems innocent enough: she was carried = away while=20 reading the Romance of Lancelot with the charming Paolo. = Dante too=20 was the author of love poetry--specifically, poetry about = forbidden=20 love--so how could he not pity someone whose fault was to = be moved=20 by a romance?=20

It seems, then, that the message of Francesca's = story=20 conflicts with the conclusions of philosophy. Even if we employed = a=20 different philosophical theory, one that exonerated Paolo and = Francesca,=20 there are surely some stories with which this theory would = conflict. In=20 such cases, we must decide whether to listen to philosophy or to=20 literature, to theories or to stories.=20

II

I should first concede that it's impossible to=20 distinguish between philosophy and literature in general terms, = given the=20 enormous diversity within both disciplines over three thousand = years.=20 There have even been self-conscious efforts at synthesis, from = Plato's=20 dialogues to Kierkegaard's pseudonymous works and Thomas Mann's = novels.=20 Dante's son introduced him as "phylosofo poeta Dante Alighieri," = and many=20 subsequent critics have seen him as either a philosophical poet or = as a=20 poetic philosopher. I will return to the question of synthesis = later, but=20 for now it will be illuminating to pose a stark alternative. = Certainly,=20 Dante was aware of the firm distinction between philosophy and = poetry that=20 both Augustine and Aquinas stressed. 5 According to their (ultimately Platonic) = theory,=20 poems show what their narrators see from where they stand, and how = it=20 makes them feel. Poets imitate or invent concrete, particular = objects,=20 representing them either accurately or with deliberate distortion, = using=20 rhetorical devices such as metaphor, allusion, irony, and = hyperbole both=20 to describe and to stimulate emotions. Philosophers, on the other = hand,=20 seek the underlying structure of the universe, its laws and = principles.=20 Philosophy thus exemplifies reason, with its abstract, objective = rules and=20 its dispassionate, third-person style. Hell, says Dante, is for = those who=20 "place reason [End Page 337] below desire" (Inf. v, = 39).=20 Therefore, it is a sin is to favor poetry over philosophy.=20

Socrates bans the poets from the ideal state = because=20 their work can incite morally inappropriate emotions. Above all, = tragic=20 poems can make the world look sorrowful. They often suggest that = some=20 situations have no rational solution or meaning and that only pity = or fear=20 is appropriate. But Socrates argues that there is a = rational=20 solution to every moral dilemma. No matter how awful a situation = might be,=20 if we respond rationally by choosing the best available option, = then we=20 have nothing to be upset about (Republic x, 604b-d). = Beatrice=20 adopts the same view in Dante's Paradise (Par. iv, = 103-108).=20

If Dante considered tragedies while he was = writing his=20 own Commedia, he might have thought of Tristan and Yseult. = In fact,=20 Tristan blows in the same infernal storm that buffets Francesca. = According=20 to the Romance, he and Yseult fell in love because of a potion = that they=20 tasted in error. Their irresistible, mutual passion clashed with = Yseult's=20 marriage vows and Tristan's feudal oaths. This conflict could only = be=20 resolved by their simultaneous and voluptuous expiration. The = cause of=20 their sin was bad luck, and death was the only solution--a common = tragic=20 formula. In Francesca's case, another Arthurian romance is the = potion that=20 engenders adultery and death. So literature evidently has the = potential to=20 be a poison.=20

Dante heightens his critique by daring to = imagine what=20 tragic lovers would experience beyond the grave. Whereas Tristan = and=20 Yseult clung together for a few moments in death's embrace, Paolo = and=20 Francesca "will never be parted." They are for ever panting, and = for ever=20 young. By making their death scene infinitely long, Dante = heightens the=20 pathos--pushes it to such an extreme, in fact, that he deflates = the whole=20 romantic-love tradition. In romantic verse, lovers commonly yearn = for=20 perfect union, just as religious mystics sometimes strive to lose = their=20 separate identities altogether and merge with God. Since actual = union is=20 impossible on earth, the Tristan myth and similar stories suggest = that=20 death alone can bring lovers together. 6 But for orthodox Christians, love is = always an=20 ethical relationship among distinct souls. Even in heaven, the = saved=20 retain their identities as their relationships with God become = perfect.=20 Dante indicates what ideal love is like when he explains how his = Lady,=20 Beatrice, would treat him in Purgatory. Far from merging her soul = with his=20 in ecstasy, she chides him for his sins--thereby showing concern = for his=20 specific history and the future of his soul (hers is already = saved).=20 7 Meanwhile, down in Hell, Paolo and [End = Page=20 338] Francesca must remain separate characters for all = eternity, but=20 their punishment for having wanted to merge is to be permanently = coupled.=20 Dante suggests that death is not a satisfactory resolution to the = pathos=20 of romantic love, so it's better to do what reason and morality = demand.=20 There would be no tragedy, only the happy-ending of salvation, if = people=20 would avoid sin in the first place. And this is always possible = for=20 rational agents.=20

Literature clashes with philosophy whenever it = depicts=20 inappropriate pathos--a serious danger, since skilful storytellers = can=20 make us sympathize with almost anyone. Poets and novelists also = differ=20 from most philosophers in their attitude toward metaphors, = similes, and=20 symbols that are not literally true. Aquinas writes, "To go = forward with=20 various similes and representations is proper to poetry, which is = the=20 feeblest of all disciplines. Thus to use similes is not suited to=20 [theology]." According to Aquinas, only God has license to write=20 metaphorically, as He does in Scripture (Summa theol. I, i, = ix.).=20 Dante uses literary tropes, but with an important qualification = that=20 aligns him with Aquinas. "It would," he writes, "be a great = embarrassment=20 if someone wrote a poem and placed something under the cover of a = figure=20 or a rhetorical coloring, and then, when asked, didn't know how to = strip=20 his words of this cover so as to reveal the intended truth." = 8 Apparently, each rhetorical figure points = to a=20 meaning that could be stated in plain words. If this is true, then = metaphors (which are half-lies) are illegitimate unless their = moral or=20 spiritual meaning is both true and obvious.=20

But what about the Divine Comedy, a = concrete story=20 that is not literally true, and that is full of pathos? No one can = read=20 the accounts of human beings under eternal torture without feeling = some=20 sympathy for the damned and some anger at the God who contrived = this Hell.=20 Such pity fills Dante's eyes with intoxicating tears and forces = him to=20 block his ears; it pains him even in recollection; and it tempts = him to=20 write without moral restraint (Inf. xxix, 44; xvi, 12; = xxvi, 19).=20 But all this is quite immoral. Hell was made by the "divine = authority,=20 highest wisdom, and first love" (Inf. iii, 5-6). As Virgil = asks,=20 "Who can be more nefarious than he who brings compassion to bear = on God's=20 judgment?" (Inf. xx, 29-30).=20

Dante learns better as he ascends toward = heaven; his=20 language grows less vivid and concrete as his subjects become more = virtuous. He's on the right track in Purgatory, where he "consoles = himself" at the sight of God's "just punishment," and tells = his=20 readers, "I do not want you to stray from your good purpose when = you hear=20 how God requires debts to be paid; attend not to the form of = correction,=20 but to the outcome" [End Page 339] (Purg. xxi, 6; x, = 106-110). Already, the narrative dwells less on sinners' emotions = than on=20 general questions, such as the taxonomy of sin and the = relationship=20 between freedom and evil. By the time Dante reaches = Paradiso, the=20 poem is largely an excuse for theological treatises by dead = saints.=20

Finally, at the highest point in Heaven, Dante = beholds=20 Divine Love itself. What he sees is a metaphysical theory = articulated in=20 the vocabulary of scholastic philosophy, although it is = paradoxical and=20 beyond the power of human minds to grasp:=20

     In that = profundity I=20 saw confined,
sewn with love into a book's cohesion
that = which=20 in the universe is unbound:
     = substances,=20 accidents, their disposition--
all but combined in such a = way=20
that what I say gives scant illumination. =

(Par. xxxiii, 85-90) =

Augustine, Aquinas, and other medieval = authorities had=20 warned about the dangers of metaphor. But Dante's description of = the=20 universe as a book justifies his own poetry. Viewed from Paradise, = all of=20 the concrete, emotional details that he has seen are mere parts of = a=20 divine whole that exceeds human reason or speech. This is true, = for=20 example, of Francesca da Rimini, whose disposition = (costume) was=20 that of a romantic lover. She should not be pitied as an = individual, but=20 viewed as a necessary component of a perfect totality.=20

The whole Comedy, then, is a journey = from=20 literature to philosophy, from emotion to reason, from metaphor to = abstract language, from concrete instance to general rule, from = fictional=20 memoir to speculative theology, from perspective to the = thing-in-itself.=20 If Dante has synthesized narrative and philosophy, it is by = telling a=20 story about overcoming all stories.=20

III

I have argued that Dante equates reason with = philosophy,=20 and desire with poetry, and consequently he condemns his own pity = for=20 Francesca. We readers should ignore all the pretty similes and the = language about "gentle hearts," "sweet sighing," and "deep = passion." The=20 text is a moral test. We will pass if we feel no pity except when = reason=20 tells us that [End Page 340] someone deserves it. = Francesca, having=20 committed a mortal sin, is fit for punishment, not for sympathy.=20

It is possible to adopt exactly the opposite = position,=20 preferring personal emotion over dispassionate reason, narrative = over=20 theory, and particular cases over abstract generalizations. = Longfellow=20 baldly stated the Romantics' preference: "It is the heart, and not = the=20 brain / That to the highest doth attain." The story of Paolo and = Francesca=20 became very popular in Longfellow's century, because the Romantics = sympathized with the doomed lovers. Keats dreamt that he = had kissed=20 Francesca, and when he awoke, he turned his dream into a sonnet: = "Pale=20 were the lips I kiss'd, and fair the form / I floated with, about = that=20 melancholy storm." The Romantics deliberately ignored the overall = lesson=20 of the Divine Comedy--that it is sinful to allow desire to = prevail=20 over reason. "O for a Life of Sensations rather than of Thoughts!" = Keats=20 wrote. 9=20

Like Dante, I think that our moral judgments = should be=20 rational. We shouldn't assess people as we want to, but = should look=20 for reasons and explanations for every judgment. Our emotions can=20 obviously be improper, whereas our reasons can be tested, = considered,=20 debated with other people, and thereby improved. So it is wrong to = make=20 reason a slave of the passions.=20

But I don't agree that philosophy is = necessarily more=20 reasonable than literature. Why should we rely only upon thought = that=20 happens to be abstract, general, and theoretical? Consider = Francesca's=20 greeting:=20

     O gracious and=20 benevolent creature,
moving through mulberry air to visit =
us,=20 who dyed the world a bloody color,
     = if we=20 had a friend in the universe's lord
we'd pray to him to = grant you=20 peace,
since you took pity on our bitter plight.=20

(Inf. v, 88-93) =

Here she uses several logical connectives to = link=20 concrete images, references, and ideas into a single sentence = whose=20 deliberate purpose is to move us. This is surely evidence of a = rational=20 intellect. Like her, we can tell stories or use metaphors with = good=20 sense--or we can apply general rules in a completely irrational = way. For=20 example, just when King Lear is losing his mind, he starts to make = broad=20 philosophical pronouncements: "Man's life's as cheap as beast's," = and so=20 on (II.iv.271).=20

Moral philosophy aims to tell us in advance = what facts=20 are going to be morally relevant in any case that we may = encounter.=20 Benthamite [End Page 341] utilitarians advise us to = concentrate on=20 only one fact in all cases: the net change in happiness. But = philosophers=20 need not be monomaniacs like Bentham. Aquinas wrote thousands of = pages,=20 carefully distinguishing the virtues, vices, sins, sacraments, = meritorious=20 acts, and other categories that could be relevant in select = circumstances.=20 Nevertheless, he sought a finite list of moral concepts.=20

If such concepts were clearly defined, and each = one ruled=20 a separate territory, then we could solve any ethical problem by = correctly=20 analyzing the case at hand and applying the appropriate concept. = Given the=20 morally relevant facts of her case, Francesca's story would either = be an=20 example of "adultery" or an instance of "love." Or both words = might apply,=20 but one would outrank the other. I don't believe, however, that = most moral=20 terms are clearly defined. 10 "Love" is hopelessly vague and = polysemous. As for=20 "adultery," we can understand it in one of two ways. First, it can = mean=20 "sexual relations outside of an existing marriage." Then the word = will=20 deserve a negative ring, because we will often use it along with = other=20 pejorative terms: "betrayal," "egoism," "hurt," "deceit." However, = alternative vocabulary, such as "love," "liberation," or even = "duty,"=20 might be more appropriate under specific circumstances. Twelfth- = and=20 thirteenth-century theologians noted that God sometimes commands = or=20 excuses particular instances of sexual infidelity, as He did in = the cases=20 of Reuben, Gideon, and other righteous Israelites. Perhaps, then, = the=20 prohibition on adultery is a rule-of-thumb generalization, derived = from=20 the majority of concrete stories about infidelity, and not a = categorical=20 principle.=20

The scholastics adopted a different approach, = however.=20 They argued that "adultery" meant unjustified sex out of = wedlock.=20 Thus, even though the Ten Commandments forbade adultery = secundum=20 se, some cases of extramarital sex could be excused. 11 If we follow this second route, then we = can=20 declare adultery (and murder, lying, theft, and other sins) to be = wrong in=20 all cases, but we will have achieved this result by using the = words only=20 when the acts are unjustified. We will possess a moral theory = composed of=20 prohibitions, but their definitions will be circular. Kant reasons = much=20 the same way when, following scholastic practice, he distinguishes = between=20 a "lie" (mendacium), which always violates moral law, and a = mere=20 "untruth" (falsiloquium), which is permissible. 12=20

No matter which of these approaches we take to = defining=20 "adultery," we must admit that philosophy gives us little = guidance. By=20 reading the Bible or by applying the Categorical Imperative, we = can=20 discover that adultery, lying, and murder are wrong intrinsically. = But we=20 cannot tell [End Page 342] which acts are murders instead = of=20 homicides, or lies instead of untruths, or cases of adultery = instead of=20 examples of love, pity, freedom or happiness. So there is no = escaping our=20 responsibility to make concrete judgments of particular cases. We = make=20 such judgments by devising detailed, perceptive stories, = metaphors, and=20 analogies that show us what considerations are salient, and what = moral=20 words we ought to use to describe the events in question. To be = sure, more=20 than one story can be told about most situations. Indeed, several = stories=20 should be told, and then we must deliberate. This requires = weighing=20 narratives, considering their perceptiveness, accuracy, = completeness,=20 consistency, impartiality, and other values that we are accustomed = to=20 citing when we evaluate literature. The results, unfortunately, = are rarely=20 certain. But certainty is purchased only at the price of = simplification.=20

Philosophy asks us to apply general rules, and = in the=20 process we may forget details that are morally relevant. So, for = example,=20 if we define Francesca's behavior as "adultery," we lose sight of = the=20 unusual circumstances, such as the fact that she was murdered = before she=20 could repent. And even if she was guilty of adultery, that's not=20 all that we could say about her. She was unfaithful, = perhaps, but=20 also spirited, passionate, tender. Philosophy can make us too = quick to=20 judge (or to excuse)--too apt to reduce complex individuals to = simple=20 formulas. 13=20

Still, if philosophy presents moral dangers, = aren't there=20 also risks inherent in story-telling? There are many, including = the=20 possibility that any narrative may be too ambiguous to guide = action, may=20 be misunderstood by careless readers, or may deliberately advance=20 pernicious doctrines. Even if fiction teaches us empathy for = concrete=20 characters, this is not necessarily a moral advantage, because = sadists as=20 much as saints want to know how other people think. 14 But philosophy has also failed to make = its adepts=20 into good people, and has taught immoral doctrines. Aristotle = condoned=20 slavery, gentle Hume was a racist, and Heidegger was beneath = contempt. Nor=20 are philosophical arguments so clear that everyone must interpret = them=20 alike. It seems, then, that no mental discipline will guarantee = moral=20 results. At best, literature helps us to understand the interior = life of=20 concrete fictional characters, thereby cultivating an interpretive = and=20 empathetic skill that is useful if we want to act sensitively in = our own=20 lives. This skill will prove equally useful if we choose to act = cruelly,=20 playing on the weaknesses of our fellow human beings. Still, when = people=20 behave viciously, it is sometimes because of a philosophical or=20 theological doctrine.=20

The best solution, then, is not to replace = stories with=20 theories, but to [End Page 343] build fair procedures of = judgment.=20 In law courts, for example, we allow both sides to call and = question=20 witnesses; we exclude interested parties from juries; and we = separate the=20 roles of judge, juror, and counselor. Similarly, in moral = discussions, we=20 can strive to make the procedures fair and rational, so that many=20 perspectives can be considered without prejudice. One of our goals = should=20 be to identify the best stories and interpretations, and here = Dante has=20 useful advice.=20

IV

Francesca is depicted as a person who thinks = almost=20 entirely in the terms of romantic literature. Practically every = word she=20 says is quoted from the popular fiction of her day, whether the = dolce=20 stil nuovo of Dante and Guido Guinizelli, or such French prose = romances as Lancelot du lac. Given the popularity of these = works,=20 Francesca is like a modern person who speaks entirely in lines = borrowed=20 from top-forty songs.=20

In other words, she speaks in clich=E9s. = Clich=E9s are=20 generally seen as the opposite of good writing--as an aesthetic=20 failing--but Hannah Arendt has described their power to produce = (or to=20 excuse) true evil. On trial in Jerusalem, Adolf Eichmann remarked = that the=20 Holocaust was "One of the greatest crimes in the history of = humanity."=20 15 He also said that he wanted "to make = peace with=20 his former enemies" and that he "would gladly hang [himself] in = public as=20 a warning example for all anti-Semites on this earth." Arendt = writes that=20 these remarks were "self-fabricated stock phrases" popular among = Germans=20 after 1945. They were as "devoid of reality as those [official = Nazi]=20 clich=E9s by which the people had lived for twelve years; and you = could=20 almost see what an 'extraordinary sense of elation' it gave to the = speaker=20 the moment [each one] popped out of his mouth. His mind was filled = to the=20 brim with such sentences" (p. 53). In fact, she writes, "he was = genuinely=20 incapable of uttering a single sentence that was not a clich=E9" = (p. 48).=20

When Eichmann told a "hard-luck story" of slow=20 advancement within the SS, he apparently expected his Israeli = police=20 interrogator to show "normal, human" sympathy for him (p. 50). = Similarly,=20 when he visited a Jewish acquaintance named Storfer in Auschwitz, = he=20 recalled: "We had a normal, human encounter. He told me of his = grief and=20 sorrow: I said: 'Well, my dear old friend, we [!] certainly got = it! What=20 rotten luck!'" He arranged relatively easy work for = Storfer--sweeping=20 gravel paths--and then asked: [End Page 344]=20

"'Will that be all right, Mr. Storfer? = Will=20 that suit you?' Whereupon he was very pleased, and we shook = hands, and=20 then he was given the broom and sat down on his bench. It was a = great=20 inner joy to me that I could at least see the man with whom I = had worked=20 for so many long years, and that we could speak with one = another." Six=20 weeks after this normal, human encounter, Storfer was dead--not = gassed,=20 apparently, but shot. (p. 51)

If Arendt is to be believed, Eichmann's total = reliance on=20 clich=E9s permitted him to ignore the smoke from the Auschwitz = ovens and to=20 believe that Storfer was "very pleased." Eichmann's "inability to = think,"=20 she writes, was an "inability to look at anything from the other = fellow's=20 point of view" (pp. 48-49). Since the circumstances were = extraordinary, we=20 shouldn't immediately conclude from this example that clich=E9s = are=20 pernicious. It's one thing to rely on stock phrases when you're in = love,=20 and quite another thing when you're the logistical mastermind of = the=20 Holocaust. Nevertheless, there is always a risk that = clich=E9s will=20 prevent us from exercising judgment and seeing the details of the = world=20 around us. Banal stories can be at least as harmful as = philosophical=20 generalizations. And even Hamlet or the Gospels can be = misread as=20 treasuries of clich=E9.=20

Consider Francesca. She is not in love with = Paolo, for=20 she hardly knows him. Her speech to Dante tells us nothing about = his=20 character except that he has a gentle heart (a medieval = commonplace) and=20 that he is attracted to her. She doesn't even utter his name. She = thinks=20 she's in love with Paolo because she has been soaked in the = platitudes of=20 romantic poetry. She's really in love with the idea of a = courtly=20 suitor, not with the actual human being who's reading poetry with = her.=20 It's not his character that makes her love him, but the book that = they're=20 reading together. In her mind, Paolo becomes Sir Lancelot, and she = become=20 Guinivere.=20

Love ought to be a bond between two whole human = beings.=20 This requires some mutual knowledge of the other's thoughts, = plans, and=20 values, without which we cannot act sensitively. It is not an = automatic=20 "fit" between people, as in the case of Pyramus and Thisbe, nor an = accident, like the potion-induced passion of Tristan and Yseult, = but=20 rather something that we create through effort and adjustment. = When people=20 are attracted only physically, we call it "lust"--the sin that is = punished=20 in the second circle of Dante's Hell. I'm suggesting that, far = from loving=20 Paolo, Francesca feels for him a kind of lust. It's not his body = that=20 attracts her, but his superficial resemblance to characters from = romantic=20 fiction. [End Page 345]=20

To say that love ought to be a bond between = whole persons=20 is to propose a normative definition. I am not claiming that such = love=20 generally produces better results, but that it is = better--more=20 admirable. This is a philosophical theory. But it will mean = nothing to=20 people who don't already know what a loving relationship is. We = gain that=20 kind of knowledge from narratives, both real and fictional, and = not from=20 abstract arguments. Furthermore, one can freely doubt a = philosophical=20 opinion. But well-told, concrete stories are highly persuasive.=20

Francesca has read a great deal, including many = excellent=20 works that she can quote at will. Thus, if literature can help = make=20 readers morally sensitive, we would expect Francesca to be a fine = person.=20 Unfortunately, she has misread every literary work that she = cites,=20 and her poor interpretations reflect badly on her character.=20

Take the passage from Lancelot du lac = that she=20 blames for her fall. In the Roman, Lancelot is so nervous = that he=20 becomes mute and almost faints. Meanwhile, his friend Gallehaut = engages in=20 a long, coy colloquy with Guinivere. The actual kiss is studied = and=20 awkward: Gallehaut shields Guinivere and Lancelot so that the Lady = of=20 Malahaut won't see them, but she does. In the known versions of = the=20 Roman, Lancelot is bashful and passive to the point of = foolishness,=20 and the Queen makes all the advances. 16 But Francesca recites the text as she = remembers=20 it--"the desired smile then was kissed by the ardent lover (da = cotanto=20 amante)"--thereby making the initiator clearly male. Barbara = Vinken=20 argues, "Francesca must have kissed Paolo and is trying, through = false=20 citation, to obliterate her initiative." 17=20

We cannot be sure of this, because we don't = know how=20 Dante imagined the original scene (if indeed he had anything = precise in=20 mind). But Francesca certainly seems unwilling to read the romance = correctly. At least in recollection, she confuses it with other = episodes=20 from the courtly-love tradition, such as the one in which Tristan = kisses=20 Yseult while they play chess together. The details of the Lancelot = story=20 fade in her mind, to be replaced with a generic formula: damsel = taken by=20 ardent knight. Perhaps this is because she wants to shift the = blame from=20 Guinivere to Lancelot. Or perhaps it is because she reads = literature as a=20 set of clich=E9s.=20

Part of the definition of a clich=E9 is that it = is portable=20 and recyclable--a ready-made sentiment that shows up in many = contexts.=20 When we read a text as a series of clich=E9s, we often commit what = Alfred=20 North Whitehead called the "fallacy of misplaced concreteness." = 18 This is the fallacy of taking something = specific=20 that belongs in one context and [End Page 346] applying it=20 elsewhere. It is particularly easy to commit this error when a = text=20 contains conventional sentiments and scenarios, or when we misread = it that=20 way. Francesca treats the love scene between Lancelot and = Guinivere as a=20 clich=E9, suppressing the peculiarities of that rather odd episode = so that=20 it can justify her own behavior.=20

Strangely enough, Lancelot also commits the = fallacy of=20 misplaced concreteness. Before the momentous kiss, Guinivere asks = him what=20 originally caused his love. (Dante asks Francesca the same = question at=20 Inf. v, 118-120.) Lancelot recalls the moment when he left = Arthur's=20 court: "I said, 'Adieu, lady.' And you said, 'Adieu, sweet = handsome friend=20 [amis].' Never after that did courage forsake me. . . . = These words=20 comforted me in all my anguish, these words protected me from my = evils and=20 guarded me in all perils; these words satisfied all my doubts; = these words=20 made me rich in all my great poverty." 19 The Queen replies that she's glad about = the=20 results, but actually she didn't mean anything serious. She just = uttered a=20 conventional parting to a young knight who was leaving on a = mission for=20 her husband. But Lancelot understood amis to mean = "amante,"=20 or lover (which is one of its senses). Like Francesca, he believed = himself=20 loved, and so loved in return. He thereby transformed an utter = commonplace=20 into a specific expression of passion for himself. Francesca does = roughly=20 the opposite. She transforms a rather idiosyncratic scene into a = paradigm=20 of courtly love, and then uses it to give her own adultery an aura = of=20 romance.=20

When Francesca quotes one of Dante's own = sonnets to him=20 in Hell, she chooses a poem that he wrote as a young man and then = included=20 in his Vita nuova. This book has traditionally been seen as = an=20 anthology of excellent verse and a serious autobiography. = Following Mark=20 Musa, however, I see it as a critique of the author's own youthful = love=20 poetry. Francesca overlooks Dante's self-criticism, and thereby = proves=20 herself to be a careless reader of poetry. Indeed, she selects the = very=20 poem that Dante thinks is his worst.=20

On the first page of the Vita nuova, = Dante's=20 narrator calls Beatrice "the glorious woman of my mind" = (VN, ii).=20 This phrase aptly describes the subject of his poems, because he = does not=20 come to know Beatrice's real character or her desires. Instead, he = becomes=20 love-sick, swooning at her distant sight, and asking his friends = for a=20 definition of the mighty force, Love, that has appeared to him in=20 allegorical visions. As if to indicate his own solipsism, he = offers no=20 descriptions of places, physical objects, clothes, or people other = than=20 himself. 20=20

When he encounters Beatrice again in The = Divine=20 Comedy, she says [End Page 347] insistently: "Look = well! I am,=20 I am Beatrice" (Purg. xxx, 73). In the Italian = text--"Guardaci=20 ben! Ben son, ben son Beatrice"--she repeats the word = ben three=20 times (meaning "well" and then "I am"). She thereby emphasizes = Dante's=20 moral obligation: he must see her as she is. This is just what he = fails to=20 do in the Vita nuova. He resolves to devote all his verse = to=20 praising Beatrice, but there isn't much he can say about a person = whom he=20 doesn't know. Consider, for instance, the sonnet that Francesca = cites when=20 she meets its author in Hell:=20

Love and the gentle heart are one
As = the=20 sage in his canzon writes;
Who dares to be either = thing alone=20
Is like a soul that reason quits. =
    =20 Nature makes them when amorous:
Love the master and the = heart as=20 home,
In which the lord when latent sleeps
For the = longest=20 season or the briefest term.
     Then = beauty=20 arrives in wise woman's form
That pleases the eyes until in = the=20 heart
A desire for the pleasing thing is born,=20
     Which fixes there so firmly that =
A=20 loving spirit is aroused.
And ladies alike to worthy men = respond.

(Vita Nuova, xx) =

Francesca presumably admires this poem because = its=20 doctrine supports her case: love is inevitable between gentle = hearts.=20 Musa, however, finds it "weakly imitative"--its staleness = "unmitigated,"=20 its lack of inspiration "obvious," and its last line "sheer = bathos."=20 21 Dante says that this is one of his = praise-poems,=20 but he has neither found anything concrete to say about Beatrice, = nor has=20 he discovered an allegorical language that can explicate Christian = doctrine. Instead, he has offered platitudes from the profane = Courtly Love=20 tradition. At the end of the Vita nuova, Dante seems to = realize=20 that his story has been an ethical and aesthetic failure. Like = Francesca,=20 he has loved without reason. The fact that she quotes from his = weakest=20 poem shows that she has not absorbed the critical message of the = Vita=20 nuova.=20

Faced with failure, Dante has a choice. First, = he could=20 renounce the effort to praise Beatrice's beauty as an aspect of = her=20 personality or her body; it could "become spiritual" and "spread = the light=20 of love across the sky" (VN, xxxiii). In other words, Dante = could=20 allegorize Beatrice, [End Page 348] making her symbolize = some=20 general truth. He ends the Vita nuova with an account of a=20 "miraculous vision": Beatrice appears transfigured and speaks = words that=20 Dante cannot grasp (xlii, xvli). Most commentators think that this = vision=20 is spelled out in the Divine Comedy, where Beatrice is = Dante's=20 guide to theological wisdom.=20

But another course is open to Dante: to write = about=20 someone in particular. His subject could be the dead Beatrice, a = living=20 person, a historical character, a figment of his imagination, or = himself.=20 But he would have to use reason to describe this person well. The=20 necessary type of reason would not comprehend general truths; it = would=20 understand individuals in their specificity. And no one could do = that=20 better than the perceptive, inventive, compassionate, judgmental,=20 humorous, earthy author of the Inferno.=20

It seems, then, that there are two explanations = for=20 Dante's decision to damn Paolo and Francesca. Perhaps he was = thinking like=20 a philosopher, suspicious of passion and of narrative. His = abstract reason=20 told him that Francesca was guilty, and he wanted to warn us that = stories=20 can mislead by making us sympathize with particular people who = have=20 violated general laws. But it's also possible that Dante was = thinking like=20 a great poet, one who saw literature's capacity to describe = concrete=20 individuals perceptively and revealingly. Literary descriptions = encourage=20 us to feel appropriate emotions, whether sympathy and fear or = scorn and=20 anger. We can thereby learn empathy and judgment, which are = indispensable=20 skills if we want to act morally. But if stories have value, they = also=20 have risks. Whereas philosophy can prevent us from thinking by = giving us=20 abstract laws to apply by rote, so bad fiction contains clich=E9s = and=20 stereotypes that get in the way of thinking and judging = accurately. In=20 that case, the moral of Canto V is to use stories for moral = guidance: but=20 only good stories, well and carefully read.

University of Maryland, = College Park

Notes

1. Compare Inf. v, 135, "che mai da me = non fia=20 diviso," and Guido Novello's Sonnet XII, line 13, "che = gi=E0 da me=20 non fia diviso." This similarity, writes Eugenio Chiarini, "by = itself=20 seems to establish a very special rapport between the lord [of = Ravenna]=20 and the poet of Francesca" (Chiarini, "Ravenna" in the = Enciclopedia=20 Dantesca [Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, = 1970-1973], vol.=20 4, p. 860).=20

2. See John F. Dedek, "Intrinsically Evil Acts: = An=20 Historical Study of the Mind of St. Thomas," The Thomist 43 = (1979):=20 385-413.=20

3. I translate the Divine Comedy from the = edition of=20 Emilio Pasquini and Antonio Quaglio (Milan: Garzanti, 1987).=20

4. That Dante associates the story of Pyramus and = Thisbe=20 with the staining power of blood is clear from Purg. xxvii, = 37-39,=20 and Purg. xxxiii, 69.=20

5. See, e.g., De doctrina christiana, IV, = 4-7;=20 Summa theol. I, i, ix.=20

6. This is the theme of Denis de Rougement, = Love in the=20 Western World, trans. Mont-gomery Belgion (Princeton: = Princeton=20 University Press, 1983).=20

7. See Martha C. Nussbaum, "Beatrice's 'Dante': = Loving the=20 Individual?" Apeiron 26 (1993): 170-71.=20

8. Dante Alighieri, Vita nuova = (VN), XXV, pp.=20 57-58, in Vita nuova, rime, edited by Fredi Chiappelli = (Milan:=20 Mursia, 1978).=20

9. Keats to Bailey, November 22, 1817, in Hyder = Edward=20 Rollins, ed., The Letters of John Keats (Cambridge: Harvard = University Press, 1958), vol. I, p. 185.=20

10. For a much fuller version of the following = argument,=20 see Peter Levine, Living Without Philosophy: On Narrative, = Rhetoric,=20 and Philosophy (Albany: SUNY Press, 1998), chap. 1.=20

11. Dedek, pp. 408-9.=20

12. Lectures on Ethics, trans. Louis = Infield (New=20 York: Harper & Row, 1963), p. 229. For the scholastic = background, see=20 Dedek, p. 412.=20

13. On the dangers of quick judgment, see = Aquinas's speech=20 to Dante at Paradiso xiii, 112-42. In Paradise, this = systematic=20 theologian becomes a biographer of St. Francis.=20

14. For this and other arguments, see Richard A. = Posner,=20 "Against Ethical Criticism," Philosophy and Literature 21 (1997): = 1-27.=20

15. Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A = Report on=20 the Banality of Evil, rev. ed. (New York: Penguin, 1994), p. = 22.=20

16. See Anna Hatcher and Mark Musa, "The Kiss:=20 Inferno V and the Old French Prose Lancelot," = Comparative=20 Literature 20(1968): 97-109 and Barbara Vinken, = "Encore:=20 Francesca da Rimini; Rhetoric of Seduction--Seduction of = Rhetoric,"=20 Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift f=FCr Literaturwissenschaft und=20 Geistesgeschichte 3(1988): 404.=20

17. Vinken, p. 405.=20

18. Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the = Modern=20 World (New York: Free Press, 1967), pp. 58-59.=20

19. I translate from H. Oskar Sommer, ed., = The Vulgate=20 Version of the Arthurian Romances, vol. 3, Le Livre de = Lancelot del=20 lac (Washington: Carnegie Institution, 1910), part I, p. 261. = (See p.=20 131 for the scene that Lancelot is recalling.)=20

20. Mark Musa, Dante's Vita Nuova: A = Translation and an=20 Essay (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973), p. 100. = Much of=20 the following discussion relies on Musa.=20

21. Musa, p. 150.

http://0-muse.jhu.edu.opac.sfsu.edu:80/journals/philosophy_and_= literature/v023/23.2levine.html=20 		 
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