Petrarch and the Priest*

Post date: Mar 19, 2017 11:15:03 PM

Once upon a time in a faraway place there lived a humanist in Avignon. Although his life was pretty good, he still longed for a different one.

But then, one waking night, an "indescribable beauty" came into his sight offering Augustine and truth in exchange for Petrarch's salvation. Our Humanist resisted this gift, pretending that he held no sin as Augustine said. But, Augustine warned him not to be deceived by himself (245) for truth lies in knowing oneself. Still Petrarch refuted this, claiming he did know. Augustine warned that if Petrarch did not learn to recognize and combat his vices before he died, Petrarch would be damned. As time wore on, Petrarch found wisdom in the words spoken, and learned to recognize the truth of himself. He remembered to be concerned with the eternal, not the ephemeral, for salvation is found within, and who could ever love a sinner? (259).

Perhaps it's because I just watched the live action Beauty and the Beast (it was okay but ugh some of that plot and character development was subpar), but I saw many similarities between Truth and that of the Enchantress as well as that of Augustine and Belle. Like the Enchantress who twists fate to teach the Prince a lesson, Truth comes to Petrarch in his hour of need to stop him from being damned. Augustine is his Belle, teaching him how to be "virtuous" and how to save himself. Granted, Petrarch's rendition is much more boring and Christian, but the idea of supernatural intervention into the lives of the sinful or beastly is an interesting theme in both. In Beauty and the Beast, the outside reflects the outside while in Christianity and My Secret temporal life reflects the state of eternal life.

Augustine is meaner than Belle, but both smack some sense into their respective man. Augustine is the Mirror that Petrarch must look into to see his faults and defects in order to overcome them and become virtuous. Augustine is someone who shows Petrarch how to better himself, but only Petrarch can better himself.

In this sense, the spirit guide / person is a catalyst to create change but only the subject of the change can accept that change. This trope is seen in many genres and pieces of literature like A Christmas Carol, Beauty and the Beast, and basically any movie or show where a grumpy anti-hero meets an idealistic kid. Going off of this, this could also relate to Luke's relationship with Vader...

It's an interesting trope to create change and character development because it makes it so that a person cannot better themselves alone but needs outside help. In a sense, this relates to the idea that "man cannot be chaste except by God's will" but in a much broader sense. We cannot help but be sinners except by God's intervention. We need religion and God to guide us to virtue, at least according to Petrarch.

*title to be sung to the tune of "Beauty and the Beast"