Jaime Stout Mrs.

Bessire AP English 12/ Period 2 18 November 2012 Love in the Divine Comedy Dante discusses many different types of love in his divine comedy. The first that came to my mind was Francesca and Paolo in Canto V of Purgatory. Canto V alone, which is in circle two of Hell, contains all of the misrepresented form of love and lust, and how theyve been eternally punished. Francesca, in her tale to Dante of her tragic tale, personifies love, explaining that it made her incapable of resisting her lover, Paolo (Inf.5.97-104). In this form of love, in the Divine Comedy, the lovers are incapable of seeing the folly in their love for each other. They selfishly see only their own feelings for each other, and therefore end up in Inferno. On the complete opposite end of the love spectrum, you have the love that Beatrice and Dante share. Although Dante and Beatrice were never actually lovers, and the only met prior to meeting in purgatory once, when they were both extremely young, this love represents pure admiration and caring for another person. When they meet in Purgatory again, in Canto XXX, Dante is unable to take his eyes off of her, and Stood trembling in her presence, stupefied by the power of holy awe (Purg. 30.35-36). He soon realized that what he felt was the full mastery of enduring love (Purg. 39). Unlike Francescas and Paolos love, the one shared between Dante and Beatrice has no physical aspect at all, and is one of the purest and most true forms of love.

Humility in the Divine Comedy Humility is one of the, if not the ultimately, strongest themes throughout the divine comedy. Essentially, the trilogy should be entitled Dantes lessons in Humility because that is how often it is referenced, especially in Purgatory. In Canto III, when Virgil and Dante first have come to mount Purgatory, Dante, master of the simile, brings a group of souls into the view. In an extended simile, he compares these souls to a heard of sheep, a timid, gentle, peaceful, wandering flock to represent humility. He goes on to describe them as silly, and mute, not knowing their own causes (Purg. 3.84). This represents how we must humble ourselves in order to have faith that God exists without actually seeing, or having any tangible or solid proof. To simply trust that he is there, and omnipotent carries through into Canto IX, when Dante and Virgil make it through the gates into Purgatory, they are told to not look back, and that if they do, they will be on the outside of the gates once again. This is to represent the trust in God that Dante must have in order to make it up to Mount Purgatory. Much later up the mount, once Virgil has left Dante, in Canto XXX, Beatrice explains to Dante the bliss that lives at the top of the mountain, as he bows his head in a humble show of shame, shrinking as a wayward child in his distress shrinks from his mothers sternness (Purg. 30.79-80). Dante uses humility as a major theme throughout to represent the faith and humbleness we should show for God.

Past in the Divine Comedy Of course every soul in all of inferno, purgatory, and paradise have a past, but unlike the other two, the souls in Hell are constantly stuck in and tortured by their pasts. Take Canto 26 of Inferno, for example. While Dante is in circle eight of Hell, he comes across the evil counselors, Ulysses included, and all it takes is one question to get Ulysses started on his long, winding tale

explaining his past, and why he is stuck in the lowest part of Hell, to sit in agony for all of eternity. Yet, although these souls can recall perfectly their sides of their pasts, not a single one of them is able to recognize their fault, and what actually got them there. Going back to Francesca and Paolo, in canto five, Francesca actually places the blame on her being in Hell completely on God, accepting it be no fault of her own. This rose-colored lens view of their pasts causes the spirits to reside in the tortures of Inferno, sometimes actually tied to, or torturing the person they sinned with in life. In Canto thirty we meet Count Ugolino, who is literally sinking his teeth into the others nape at the base if the skull, gnawing his loathsome dinner (Inf. 29.127-129), because he believes this other, Archbishop Ruggieri, wronged him completely in life, yet does not weep for the death of his son himself. All of these spirits, no matter how deluded they are, are unable to escape their past as they see it, and are doomed to live in it for all of eternity.

Political Party/Divide in the Divine Comedy In addition to being stuck in the past, many of the souls find themselves stuck slinging to their old political parties and the divisions that were formed while they were still alive. This prejudice mainly remains prevalent in Inferno, but there is some evidence of its existence here and there scattered throughout Purgatory as well. In Canto X of Inferno, we come across Farinata and Calvalcante, both stuck in the heretic circle, circle six of hell, who are both related y marriage, but are parts of opposing political parties. The first words out of Farinatas mouth are of what line do you come? (inf. 10.43). He doesnt ask why Dante is there, where he is going, or anything beside his last name, only to know if they are friends or foes. He is extremely prideful and learning of Dantes lineage, positions himself as his enemy immediately.

Meanwhile, fast forward all the way to Canto thirty two of Purgatory, and you come across the allegorical masque on the base of the tree of good and evil. This masque has a representation of almost every rival political division at the time, and how they are attacking one another. An eagle (the roman empire) attacks the tree and chariot, while a fox (representing heresy) does the same. Along comes a dragon (Satan), who rips at its foundations while a giant (The French monarchy) beats a harlot (the corrupted papacy) and drags the monstrous beast out into the woods(Purg. 32). Every division is accounted for, and everyone is at odds with the other. It was very much of Dantes time for political affiliation to rule ones entire life, and it definitely comes through in his writing.

Art in the Divine Comedy There are probably complete works written on the Dantes imagery alone, but I will try to cover a couple of highlights that stuck out in particularly to me. In canto two of Purgatory, on page 296 alone, the mention of light, and whiteness is there ten times. The radiant picture that Dante paints is only further complimented by the use of flight imagery, which is mentioned another ten times, on the same page. The contrast this gives to Inferno is remarkable, especially because there was not a stitch of natural light in all of Hell. Dantes extended simile of the giant angel, as that bird of heaven (Purg. 2.37), paints a euphoric image, foreshadows the paradise to which Dante and the other souls are aiming their climbs. Then in Canto nine, Dante and Virgil come to the gates into Purgatory. There are three steps up to the gate, each immaculately described. The first a gleaming, pristine white marble, the second a dark blue, black color, that was rough and fire flaked with a giant crack in it, and the third a red as flaming as blood that spruts out of an artery (Purg. 9.102-103). These three steps each represent the three cardinal

virtues, which are faith, hope and love. Later in the canto, the angel who guards the gate talks of the Golden Key and Silver Key given to him by Peter. The gold key symbolized the authority to absolve one from ones sins, the silver representing the act of absolution. These images consistently give one the idea of light, and absolution, which is polar opposite the visual imagery in Inferno.

Justice in the Divine Comedy In Inferno in particular, you see a lot of Divine Justice, as though suffering and torture and pain, become replacements for faith and forgiveness and paradise. For example in Canto XXVI of Inferno, Ulysses and Diomede are doomed to spend eternity swathing themselves in the flames, in their own torment, as punishment for their sins in life, which, in this case, was evil counseling (Inf. 26.47-48). Later we come across Count Ugolino, eating Archbishop Ruggieris brains as torture for the rest of his souls existence, both blaming the other for why theyre damned. When Dante meets Friar Alberigo, he learns that he unable to cry, for his tears instantly freeze in his eyes causing great pain. He is unable to have the comfort of weeping and therefore must suffer through eternity without comfort, and in severe pain. Some souls are frozen up to their heads, and others are constantly split in half, only to be severed again. Last but not least at all, in the ninth and very last, and southernmost, circle of Hell, Dante finds himself face to face with the three heads of Lucifer himself, He wept from his six eyes, and down three chins the tears ran mixed with bloody froth and pus. In every mouth he worked a broken sinner between his rake-like teeth. Thus he kept three in eternal pain at his eternal dinner (Inf. 34.53-56). These three worst sinners of all time, Judas, Brutus and Cassius, along with every other soul in hell, save those in Limbo, are sentenced to an eternal divine justice of pain and suffering.