The Humanities Index

Dante seems to climb the ladder of love literally, metaphorically, and contextually to achieve the supreme artistic expression.

Dante’s journey begins in Hell where he hears the stories and witnesses the suffering of many sinners, some of which he empathizes with, and most of which he pities.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight represents a new conception of the heroic ideal, women, nature, and narrative technique. A comparison/contrast to Beowulf illustrates these changing ideals.

Somewhere between the merry sensuality of Ovid and the ecstatic spirituality of Platonism is the tradition of Courtly Love. Courtly love resembles the Ovidian convention in that it is not supersensous: its aim is physical consummation, its object of love physical beauty. It differs from the Ovidian tradition in its interpretation of the nature of [...]

We, as humans, decide that we will take the pilgrimage of life to its ultimate conclusion — we decide to play the game.