Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which Dante himself, travels through hell, purgatory, and heaven is possibly one of the most important works of literature ever created and one of the richest to read. It is an allegory that consists of three parts: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso, each of which can be read separately, but adds up to a single spiritual journey in which Dante discusses the politics of his day, the theological concerns of his time, and his own spiritual rebirth. It is a work that requires multiple readings, as all of its levels and subtextual layers can never be penetrated in a single read, or a second read, or a third read for that matter. The importance of The Divine Comedy is inestimable.

As literature it is an allegory rich in symbolism. Virgil, the Roman poet known for his epic The Aeneid and representing Human Reason, leads Dante in his journey through hell and purgatory, only to be replaced by Beatrice, the woman whose beauty consumed Dante with a passion and appeared in his earlier love poetry, now representing Divine Revelation. The symbolism here suggests that Human Reason can only take us so far in our journey; eventually it must be replaced by faith. Along the way through the different levels, Virgil attempts his best to answer any questions Dante has about the tortured souls of hell and the contrite souls of purgatory, fulfilling his role as Human Reason. When Beatrice appears, unlike Virgil, she is able to foresee all of Dante’s questions before he even asks them and answers his philosophical questions about the nature of heaven and the universe, fulfilling her symbolic role as Divine Revelation. With each sphere of heaven they ascend, Beatrice grows more and more beautiful, more and more radiant, playing on Dante’s earlier obsession with her beauty in his poetry to suggest that her physical beauty that he once valued so much was nothing in comparison to the beauty of her soul. The symbolism is always geared to show the spiritual world is superior to the material one.

Each torture in hell is symbolic for the crime committed. The imagery of Hell possesses a physicality that lingers in the memory forever. For example, the lustful are trapped in a never-ending whirlwind that buffets them about back and forth, symbolizing the lack of control of their desires and emotions that swing back and forth. They lacked moderation in life and allowed their physical desires to control them, therefore they valued the physical world over the spiritual one. Two characters we meet in this circle of hell is Paolo and Francesca. Francesca was married to Paolo’s brother and explains the two had an affair with each other after reading a work of medieval literature known as The Rhyme of Lancelot, detailing an affair between Lancelot and Guinevere. Her husband discovers them in bed and then murders them in a fit of rage. Francesca uses this work as a manual for stimulation rather than as literature with moral value. However, she completely misses the moral value of the story, perverting it for a different use. The story of Lancelot and Guinevere is not merely just a passionate episode, but one with real political implications. The famous literary affair leads to political turmoil and the downfall of Camelot. They miss this important moral point of the story. She blames the story for causing her to betray her husband and commit adultery, but never takes responsibility for her own actions. This refusal to take responsibility for their actions is continues throughout the different circles of hell. Dante suggests all the souls in hell are there because they refuse to repent, their values are skewed, they don’t even see what they did as wrong. These souls want nothing to do with God and his offer of grace.

It is very easy to forget that Dante is not just there to observe. The poem begins with him lost in the woods (symbolizing his own spiritual confusion). He approaches a hill where a bright light is shining (symbolizing God), but his way is blocked by three monstrous animals, a leopard (symbolizing Malice and Fraud), a lion (symbolizing violence and ambition), and a she-wolf (symbolizing incontinence). The three animals threaten him to despair, but then Virgil shows up sent by Beatrice to bring him on this journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. All of this is a personal and spiritual journey for Dante.  Dante must learn a lesson here as well. In response to Francesca’s story in the circle for the lustful, Dante ends up fainting. He also seems sympathetic towards in comparison to his reactions to the other occupants of hell. The reason he is so sympathetic is the love poetry of his earlier career is imbricated in these sins. Dante is not innocent; he is taking this journey as an extreme corrective measure to put him back on the right path. Later in the poem when Beatrice arrives, she castigates him for wasting his life and intellect on unholy activities and useless philosophies. He asks so many questions in hell, purgatory, and heaven because he is supposed to be learning from these experiences how to correct his own life.

The work is intensely political, while also transcending politics. The work revels in the political landscape of the Middle Ages, especially the political landscape of Italy, making footnotes essential to any good translation. In the various realms, we find famous literary characters like Achilles and Dido, we have famous historical figures like the Emperor Justinian in heaven, and we have many contemporaries of Dante’s parents (Italians who lived the generation before Dante). The church is intertwined in state affairs, much to Dante’s chagrin; throughout his journey, we see the negative consequences of church officials interfering with politics. Many corrupt church officials are in hell. Multiple characters go on long rants that money and political power has led to the corruption of the Catholic Church. One of Dante’s main targets was the current Pope, Pope Boniface VIII whose meddling is responsible for the inter-city civil wars ravaging Italy.  At the heart of these wars is the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, two political parties vying for control of the various city-states of Italy, as well as warring between each of the city-states. Dante is exiled from Florence by the White Guelphs for belonging to the wrong political party. It would have been easy for Dante to write a poem attacking his political enemies, but what we find as we travel along the three realms is that both Guelphs and Ghibellines end up in hell, purgatory, and heaven based on their merit (not their party affiliation). This makes for a work that has a number of layers (political, religious, literary) and can be appreciated in a number of different ways (historically or aesthetically).

I found The Inferno to be the strongest  and most interesting of three parts. It relies the most on visual spectacle. The Purgatorio is also very visual, relying on episodes in the Bible and history via the art forms of the time to serve as corrective measures for repentance and purification. The Paradiso is the hardest of the three to approach and stay interested. At times it was a struggle to keep reading and my eyes glazed over many passages. Unlike the earlier two parts, The Paradiso cantos generally consist of a description of its denizens appearing as a radiant light, then having an erudite discussion with Dante about some aspect of faith, in particular a resident often attempts to answer some stickier points of the philosophy of religion, such as the relationship between free will and fate (or omnipotence). Often then the Paradiso offers great insight into the philosophical religious questions of Scholasticism, the real meaty intellectual questions of his day, but can feel like overly complicated that require some foreknowledge of Scholasticism and the philosophical debates to fully appreciate and understand and to stay engaged. One problem is some of these questions in a less religious age like our own seem tedious and unimportant. Even people who have some religious belief will probably find these philosophical debates on the fine points of various faith issues boring and irritating.  On the other hand, the shifts from the physicality of hell and purgatory fits the allegorical mode perfectly. Hell is the most physical because the occupants have lost sight of the spiritual and focused their energies on the material world, while heaven is the least physical in its imagery and its narrative focus is dedicated to intellectual discussions of faith because there the physical world no longer matters and its priorities is the spiritual, the true self.

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