The Tain And Dante's Purgatory

Love is powerful force that humankind has observed over centuries. It can be seen as a driving force for many people, no matter what the subject of the love is. Gandhi once said “love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the humblest imaginable”. Though love has been viewed as a weakness, Gandhi and countless others view it as strength, and that it can inspire many to act. The Tain and Dante’s Purgatory are just two of endless amounts of stories that show love as that strength, and as a motivation to act, whether it is in a positive or negative way. With love being so important to many cultures and viewed so differently, it is important to understand the distinction between the different types of love. There can be love for another being and love for an object or idea. Both types of love can create a desire to act a certain way. People that love playing a sport may decide to pursue a professional career in that sport is similar to how a person that is in love with another person may decide to pursue that love interest. What the person does with that love is important, and affects the way people interpret love and its effects. One famous story that focuses on ideals of love and relationships is the story of The Tain. It is an important text in Irish literature that

It is not always a source of weakness, it can be the spark that ignites a person’s will to act. In Purgatory the versions of love shown and its effects are not in a positive light, most being a form of sin, but the ideas learned about it can be applied to positive love. In contrast, in The Tain, love is shown in both a positive light, through the refusal to fight and the respect while fighting, and a negative light, when ego overcomes brotherly love. Despite those differences in portrayals of love, both tales emulate the same idea that love is a force to be reckoned