Symbolically translated, the sun (reality) is harmful to the passionate (because it exposes the illusory nature of their dream-ideals). Having been chased out of his house, Giorgio is now standing in the sun to dwell on the failure of his great cause. Though Teresa means only to warn against a physical illness, the line symbolically warns against the illness of debilitating disillusionment. Her exclamation "Misericordia divina" (divine misery) is an apt comment on the fatal attractiveness of the dream-ideal.