God has given us the right, the power, and the freedom to choose between good and evil, love and hate, or light and darkness. He gave us the gift of free will, and thus we have the freedom to make our own decisions and whether to tend to God freely or not. Man can either gain or lose merit through his freedom of will, which is then justified by means of reward or punishment. Since the "gift that He most prizes, was the freedom of the will" (Canto 5, l. 21-22), the will itself is naturally inclined towards God, but the desire, which is inclined towards the Earthly pleasure, can cause man to fall into sin. The will should be directed towards the purpose of serving God such that it overpowers the desire. Thus, in order to overcome sin and enter Heaven, God has to be recognized and

The painting, "The Swing", by John-Honore Fragonard, is for me the perfect representation of how freedom is gained from directing the free will towards God. This painting shows how the woman finds gladness as she is being pushed on the swing. The man is pushing her as the sun shines through the opening of the forest. Seeing that the sun directly shines at the woman, it seems as if she is being directed towards God's love, which is represented by the light in the painting. Since the man, who is pushing the woman, stands in the dark, he can be a representation of the Earth and its desires. As mentioned earlier, the Earthly desires can cause man to sin; therefore the woman is being lead away from sin. The forest is generally dark but the opening, where the sun shines through, brings more life to the painting as God's love makes our lives more meaningful. The light can also signify enlightenment and how the souls in Heaven have realized the importance of directing one's will towards the will of God. The two men in the painting, therefore, are not in a state of grace since no light shines on them. Furthermore, they are not as visible and radiant as the woman, because the color of their attire is painted in such a way that they blend in with the surroundings. This shows that they are overpowered by Earthly desire rather than spiritual pleasure. The woman, on the other hand, is the heart of the painting as she is the one directing her will towards God. She is the center of attention as the color of her dress is much brighter and livelier compared to the surroundings and the men, which are painted green. The painting also has a lot of movement, particularly o

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Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)