Le Donne di Dante: Representations of Women in the Divine Comedy

with Alexandra Lawrence

Women are central to Dante, as evidenced by his earliest poetry all the way through to the very end of the Divine Comedy. The image of Beatrice might even come to mind as soon as you think of him. As a love poet in the thirteenth-century lyric tradition, Dante’s initial treatment of women followed convention—they were a silent instrument to understanding his own desires and the fears that those desires conjured.

In the Vita nuova, however, Dante’s poetry turns toward a more theologized version of courtly love called the stil novo, where Beatrice appears as a kind of woman angel, facilitating the poet’s connection to God but still silent herself. By the time Dante gets to the Divine Comedy he is ready to give not just Beatrice, but many other women, a voice.

This lecture series looks at the myriad female voices and presences in the Comedy, going beyond mere biographies to get to an understanding of why Dante chose these particular women, analyzing his treatment of them, and positioning it all in relation to the literature that would follow (particularly Petrarch and Boccaccio).

While an in-depth understanding of the Divine Comedy is not required to follow along, a basic knowledge of the poem will be helpful in order to understand some of the references. We recommend the Allen Mandelbaum translation published by Bantam and Dante: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Hainsworth & David Robey for a brief crash course on Dante’s life and works.

30 September - 4 November 2025
Tuesdays, 18:00-19:30

In person lectures in the Library and simultaneously available on Zoom.

Recordings will be available for registered participants.