Talking about Death - Western Culture III – Memento Mori I

The concept of an immortal soul, which up to that point had largely been restricted to scholastic churchmen, came to gain almost universal acceptance because it represented a refusal to let identity dissolve into biological or social anonymity.
That death was nevertheless a rude separation from life is demonstrated by the gruesomeness of the MEMENTO MORI that also emerged during this era.
According to Aries, however, the frightfulness of these images was not merely a means by which religion maintained its hold on the populace, as interpreters have often claimed. Instead of signifying fear of death, they express a passionate love of life, and a painful awareness that it must inevitably be renounced.