22 February 2013

Historia Calamitatum: The Story of his Misfortunes

Introduction

Historia Calamitatum (The story of Misfortunes) is an autobiography in Latin written by Peter Abelard. He was one of the pioneers of pedagogic philosophy, and the middle age France's intellectual. Historia Calamitatum was one of the first works during the middle age of Western Europe, and it was in structured as a letter. This autobiography provided the reader an open self-analysis of Peter Abelard. This self-analysis also provided the reader with information about the life, women's views, learning, and social settings of that era. This work of Peter Abelard is an essential part of literature, as it not only told the story of love as well as it is also told the important aspects of middle age history. It should be noted that this book was written at a time when there were no intellectual activities in the Western Europe. This autobiography presented a character of a man who could be arrogant and frequently felt mistreated. This letter also narrated his love affair with Heloise, and it is one of the most well-known love stories. Frequently in this letter, he expressed his feeling of persecution, and at one spot he judged his condition against the struggle of Christ.

Discussion

The personality of Abelard outside the world of academic and theological was elegant. Furthermore, Abelard was also a musician and poet. The appearance of Abelard though small but handsome and was loved by Heloise.

In Historia Calamitatum: The story of his Misfortunes, Abelard confessed the only wrongdoing was the sexual relationship with Heloise. In spite of all the fact that he got involved in extreme conflicts, he did not have any regret of sins. The impact of his wrong doing with Heloise led him to removal of the testicles that resulted in the loss of prestige, reputation and esteem. The other consequences, he had faced included harsh religious life, and exposure to heresy (Abelard, Pierre, Heloise, & Muckle, 1953, pp. 47-94).

The sensual views of Abelard and Heloise were also diverged from the views of real love that is associated with kindness and love into a superlative, and asserted that sensory surrender is the original and supreme sin. Abelard and Heloise after entering the monastic life identified some external resemblance in their views and the ideal. On the contrary, the original love is the passion based on sentiments rather than the physical pleasure. Abelard and Heloise meaning of love was drastically changed from these views, and narrated it as the symbolic obstacles. There were no magical elements in the love between Abelard and Heloise, the only way to enhance the love was physical attraction.

There was no power of transcendental in the love of Abelard and Heloise, but there was a strong bond between them. In the story of Misfortunes, Abelard described his love as physical and carnal without any connotation of transcendental. There was no divine origin in the erotic love of Abelard and Heloise. The reason behind this sin was not the lack of love ...