"Divine Comedy"

Analytical Essay # 45400

English > Analysis
Literature > Italian
Literature > Poetry

"Divine Comedy"

An analysis of the theology behind Dante's "Divine Comedy".

1,360 words () | 2 sources | MLA | 2003 Germany

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews Dante's poem "Divine Comedy". It looks at how the incidents of the poem would remain ambiguous if not for the philosophical and theological distinctions within the structure of the narrative. It demonstrates how by using one common principle, Dante brings the separate allegories of the "Inferno", "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso" together into one great allegory, making the transformation of the principle into an ordered set of variations on the theme of love and its representation in human beings as the image of God.

From the Paper:

"In the Purgatorio the protagonist's spiritual rehabilitation continues. Dante subdues his own personality so that he will be able to ascend. He comes to accept the essential Christian image of life as a pilgrimage, and he joins the other penitents on the road of life. At the summit of Purgatory, where repentant sinners are purged of their sins, Virgil departs, having led Dante as far as human knowledge is able--to the threshold of Paradise. Beatrice, who embodies the knowledge of divine mysteries bestowed by Grace, continues Dante's tour. In the Paradiso true heroic fulfillment is achieved. Dante's poem gives expression to those figures from the past who seem to defy death and who inspire in their followers a feeling of exaltation and a desire for identification."