The substance of hope is a deep conviction that something is meaningful, independent of any concern for whatever actual results are achieved. Hope is located in the transcendent, beyond the inner-worldly course of events. As a faith, it makes it possible to act amid absolute despair. The goddess of hope – Speranza – whom Orfeo invokes in the underworld, leads him through Hades, the kingdom of the dead, which represents negativity. Without Speranza, orientation in this place is impossible. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo transforms this speranza assoluta into song:
