robb7thurston@...: Himavanti: Twin Souls: Francesca and Paolo

[Guest guest]

The letter from Himavanti concerning Twin Souls is certainly true. It

is so true, you see something of it in every major culture. Take the

Medieval culture of the Roman Catholic Church, there one finds the

poet Dante with his Divine Comedy, and its section named the Inferno.

In the Inferno, Canto five, one finds Francesca da Rimini and Paolo

united despite the terrors of Hell. In life, they were lovers, and

they were killed in illicit love. Some critics have envisioned this

as the most exquisite of all horrors, being unable to leave the scene,

and the person, which condemns one to hell. Others envision Love as

so pervasively good that it vastly transcends a fate such as

condemnation to Hell. Perhaps the interpretation one takes says more

about the viewer than about Love, but it is considered a major theme

in Western Culture.