Between Beatriz's earthly and deific entity: transfigurations of the Dantesque muse in New Life and The Divine Comedy

Abstract

In this study, we will focus on the maximum inspiration of Dante Alighieri, Beatrice. One of the muse's greatest assets - and Dante's, in building it in such an elaborate way - is found in the transmutation the character receives in Dante's works: in the courteous and stilnovist love of New life, in the philosophy of Convivio, and in the allegories and theology of  The Divine Comedy, it is possible, through it, to weave a representation not only of the intellectuality of the medieval man but also of the different representations of the woman in the literature of the fourteenth century. In the character is where we can also find the greatest symbol of this Italian literary school, which will allow us to glimpse the apex of the conception of women as a beatified figure in the Middle Ages. Beatrice, as a prophetic figure, brings with herself the genesis of Italian literature. By expressing such a transformation effect in each Dantesque work and by constituting meanings that supplement each other and, at the same time, that denote the gradual change of the character, we will begin by addressing the genesis of Beatrice in Vita Nuova until her post mortem transfiguration in the Comedy.