The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy written between 1308-1321, tells of an imaginary journey that takes Dante through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. This journey is symbolic of the spiritual quest for salvation. It involves recognizing sin (the journey through hell, or the Inferno), rejecting sin and awaiting redemption (the time of purgatory), and finally achieving salvation through faith in divine revelation (seeing the light of God in Paradise.) During his journey, especially through Hell, Dante encounters historical figures from ancient Rome, characters from classical Greek mythology, and political enemies from his own era. Because of the range of people and experiences on which Dante reflects in the Divine Comedy, the work provides a portrait of almost every aspect of medieval human life.

Dante was born in Florence to an old and moderately distinguished family. Little is known about his early life, but one event from his youth impacted his entire life. Age nine attended a May Day party where he meet Beatrice and fell in love with her. Meet her again nine years later where they first spoke. Unfortunately a misunderstanding developed between them. And Beatrice died before it could be mended between them. He was heart broken but eventually married and had children. In 1285 he married Gemma Donati and had four children. Beatrice spirit dominated his emotional and religious life as well as his literary work for his entire life. He became deeply involved in the political life in Florence. Became an elected official in 1300. Dante was strongly opposed to the involvement of the pope and the church in political conflicts. He favored the renewal of roman empire to take care of worldly concerns so the church could focus solely on spirit matters. 1301 while Dante was out of Florence on a mission, the city was seized by his political enemies and was sentenced to die. He never returned to Florence for the rest of his life and lived in exhile. He died and was buried in Ravenna, where he completed the Divine Comedy.

Beatrice is Dante’s symbol of love and faith. She sends Virgil to guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory. It is she alone who can guide Dante toward salvation and Paradise. The entire journey, blessed throughout by the love of Beatrice, is expected to turn Dante forever from error. It is a journey toward truth and grace, made possible by the love of the woman who first gave Dante a glimpse of spiritual perfection.

Dante carefully constructed his epic poem in accord with a special scheme of numbers. The poem contains 100 cantos or chapters because the number 100 was regarded as the perfect number in the Middle Ages. The work begins with an introductory canto, and it is then divided equally into 3 sections of 33 cantos each. The whole poem is composed in tercets, three line stanzas and uses a rhyme scheme called terza rima. In this rhyme scheme the middle line of one tercet rhymes with the first and third lines if the next tercet giving the poem a strong sense of unity. The number three is also important because of its relation to the Christian Trinity which is the union of the three divine figures- father, son, and the holy spirit- in one God. The poem is divided into 3 parts. Dantes journey takes place over a 3 day trip, beginning on Good Friday and ending on Easter Sunday. Finally, the entire action of the poem takes place under the guidance of three ladies: the virgin mary, saint lucia, and Beatrice.

Virgil was a Roman poet who died nineteen years before the birth of Christ. Dante is guided by Virgil through the Inferno and Purgatory. Virgil explains and instructs, and the clarity of his mind is constantly contrasted with Dantes own confusion. Dante speaks highly of Virgil as if he was a divine figure, but his Christian beliefs require that Virgil, who had never been baptized, be consigned to the first circle of Hell, along with other virtuous pagans from the classical greek and roman era. Virgil of the perfect guide for the early part of the journey because he is the ultimate symbol of what human reason can be without faith. Reason uses logic and fact to arrive at the truth. However Dante saw reason as limited: it is only through faith that Dante can grasp the truth of Paradise.

Limbo

The concept of Limbo--a region on the edge of hell (limbus means "hem" or "border") for those who are not saved even though they did not sin--exists in Christian theology by Dante's time, but the poet's version of this region is more generous than most. Dante's Limbo--technically the first circle of hell--includes virtuous non-Christian adults in addition to unbaptized infants. We thus find here many of the great heroes, thinkers, and creative minds of ancient Greece and Rome as well as such medieval non-Christians as