Beatrice: "She Who Makes Me Happy"

    As we travel with Dante on his journey though Inferno, Purgatorio, and, finally, Paradise, we witness his growth. We also see how much he relies on his guides. Dante’s guide through Inferno and Purgatory was Virgil; Dante looked up to Virgil as a scholar, and he relied on him very much in his journey with him. Virgil was always quick to answer Dante’s questions and explain to him what was happening around him. In Paradise, Dante is guided by Beatrice, the woman he loved even after she left the earth. The portrait Dante paints of Beatrice is one of beauty and kindness, and her presence and guidance were necessary to prepare Dante for being in the presence of God.

Beatrice guides Dante in a way that is different than Virgil’s guidance. Virgil was always quick to answer Dante’s questions or explain what was happening before he even asked. Beatrice, however, knows Dante’s thoughts and encourages Dante to ask questions himself (15, 27). When Beatrice explains things to Dante, she is very plain-spoken. Dante even compares himself to a sick child and Beatrice his mother (9). She is patient with his human mind. Whenever Dante is doubting himself, Beatrice gives him the courage to express what is on his mind. After being surrounded by the beings in the fourth sphere, Beatrice gives Dante the courage to look up are see that they have ascended once again (149). Beatrice is the comforting and encouraging presence Dante needed while ascending through Paradise.

   

Beatrice had to be Dante’s guide because she was Dante’s motivation as he traveled through the various levels of Inferno and Purgatory; while gazing on her from afar, Date writes, “It was your power and excellence that sustained my pilgrimage to see all I have seen; to you I owe the grace and strength I’ve gained” (335). Dante thinks of Beatrice often as motivation to keep pressing on in his journey. Since she was his motivation, it is fitting that she is his guide once he reaches Paradise. And it is through Beatrice that Dante sees the glory of God.

    Dante needed Beatrice to guide him so he could fully understand the beauty of Heaven. Dante speaks quite a bit about the beauty of Beatrice. He says her beauty is greater than words can describe (319). As the duo ascends higher in Paradise, Dante realizes that Beatrice becomes even more beautiful. He says, “I could sense that in my sweeping round to higher Heaven there came a widening bow, seeing that wondrous lady grow more grand” (193). Dante acknowledges that the closer Beatrice is to God, the more beautiful she becomes. As Dante and Beatrice rise to the seventh sphere, Dante notices that Beatrice is no longer smiling. The reason she gives is that if her beauty, being so enhanced by their closeness to God, isn’t kept in check will “grow so bright, your mortal power would be a branch destroyed by a thunderbolt” (223). If Beatrice, a mere spirit in the realm of God, could impact Dante so much by her beauty, imagine how great the beauty of God is. The closer we draw to God, the more like Him we are;  the closer we are to God, the more beautiful we become. We may not vaporize people with our dazzling good looks, but we will stand out from others by being a light for Christ.

Beatrice’s beauty is important because her eyes reflect the glory of Paradise. Dante describes Beatrice’s eyes as “holy” (27) and full of love (189). Beatrice herself describes her eyes as Paradise (189). Dante writes, “But as I gazed, my soul was free of all its many cravings to possess anything else [...] Because the everlasting winsomeness shone upon Beatrice, from whose lovely eyes reflected radiance contented me” (189). The eyes are often seen as windows to the soul, and Beatrice’s eyes were windows to the glory of God. The radiance, the love, the power of God shines through Beatrice.

Beatrice acted like a lens through which Dante viewed Paradise. Dante could not look directly at the glory of Heaven, so he had to look through Beatrice. Dante writes, “So she instilled her gazing —through my eyes — into my powers of fancy, and I too stared at the sun more than our sight can bear” (7). Due to the human nature of Dante, he is not able to see Paradise clearly. When Dante is blinded at the end of Canto 25, Beatrice is the one who heals him (275, 281). Dante writes, “So all the dust and chaff that filmed my eyes the eyes of Beatrice swept away, with more than thousand thousand flashing of her flashing rays, And I saw clearer than I had before” (281). Where once Dante had to look through Beatrice, he is now able to look and understand with his own eyes.

When the pair reaches the Empyrean, the highest ring of Paradise, Beatrice leaves Dante to take her place on the third tier (335). Dante is surprised at first, but he realizes that he no longer needs her to be his guide. He looks forward to joining her in Paradise when his life is over. In his parting words to her, he says, “I was a slave; you brought to me liberty, through every road I walked, by every means you had within your power to succor me” (335). Dante recognizes all that Beatrice has done for him, and she smiles at him one last time. Dante is ready to stand on his own feet and approach God.

Dante needed Beatrice to guide him through Paradise because she was the closest thing to Christ on earth for him. Dante’s love for Beatrice can be a model for our love to Christ. Christ is our motivation on earth; if we follow him, we can one day join him in Heaven. Beatrice’s kindness towards Dante is nothing compared to the loving-kindness God has for us. Dante’s journey through Paradise is full of beautiful scenes that should give us Christians great motivation to be in Heaven. May we all have eyes like Beatrice — eyes that reflect the glory of God.