In Defence of Francesca: Human and Divine Love in Dante and Chaucer

Author / Editor
Mann, Jill.

Title
In Defence of Francesca: Human and Divine Love in Dante and Chaucer

Published
Strumenti Critici 28 (2013): 3-26.

Description
Argues that "Inferno" V does not justify dismissing Francesca's love for Paolo as "lust," given the continuity between the "disiato riso" that leads them to kiss and the "santo riso" of Beatrice that draws Dante upward to Paradise. Echoing Dante and Guinizelli, Chaucer shows Troilus discovering a divine dimension in human existence.

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations