The Divine Comedy Essay, Research Paper

During the Middle Ages, the church was a powerful institution. It had its own government, courts, system of taxation, and laws. To live a good Christian life guaranteed access to heaven in the afterlife, and a life of sin was to be sentenced to hell. Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet, who had an admirable depth of spiritual vision and was known for his intelligence (Encarta, 1). Between the years of 1308 and 1321, Dante wrote the epic poem, The Divine Comedy, which described a journey through the afterlife. It takes place during the three days of Good Friday, when Jesus died, and on Easter Sunday when he rose body and soul to heaven. It is a moral comedy, and was written to make readers evaluate their own morals. The journey was to show readers what could happen if they live a sinful life, or if they live a godlike life.

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to my senses in a dark forest, for I had lost the straight path. Ah! How hard a thing it is to tell what this wild and rough and difficult wood was, which in thought renews my fear! (Alighieri, 1) This passage tells us that Dante is lost in the middle of the woods, and he is in the middle of his life. The reason he gives for being lost is that he had become inattentive and was not paying attention to where he was going. This symbolizes how he has lost his quest for salvation. His laziness, a sin, caused him to stray from the road of salvation. He can t go back the way he came because that is the way of sin. He is lost. As he realizes this, he knows he needs to go experience the seven sacraments to cleanse himself of his sins. Only then will he join God in Paradise, rather then spend eternity in Inferno.

Most people imagine hell as an evil, dark, and scary place, burning with fire. This is also how Dante depicts it, full of violence, gore, and blood. This horrid description is meant to scare people from sin. The inscription on the gate to hell read Abandon every hope, you who enter here. (Alighieri, 5) This inscription does not apply to Dante in the poem because he is still alive, but it does imply horrific despair for some. The inscription implies that anyone who enters this Inferno must abandon all hope of ever escaping. Inferno is for those who consciously choose an evil way of life.

Most people believe that if you sin you go to hell, and if you do not sin, you go to heaven. Many people do not acknowledge the existence of Purgatory. Purgatory is a place of discipline, a place for people who either repented shortly before they died, or had not completed all seven sacraments. Purgatory is unlike Inferno because it is not eternal. If you work hard and cleanse yourself in purgatory, you will eventually enter paradise. It is not a place of punishment, and people are grateful to be there because they know they will eventually join God.

Paradise is a very Holy and beautiful place, the way it is depicted in Greek myths and in the Bible. It is a place for all who led lives free of sin, it is a reward for their goodness. A person must be completely pure and must have completed all seven sacraments to enter Paradise. The seven sacraments are baptism, confirmation, matrimony, extreme unction, Eucharist, ordination, and penance. Since a white rose often resembles divine love, purity, and perfection, Paradise is depicted as a rose with God in the center.

Dante finally reaches Paradise, being fully cleansed of his laziness. His hard work and love for God helped him find the path of salvation once more, and saved his soul from an eternity in hell. It showed people that they have the ability to control their fate, whether it is to live a good Christian life guaranteed access to heaven in the afterlife, and a life of sin was to be sentenced to hell. The name Divine Comedy means it has a happy ending, like all comedies do, and it is considered divine because it is a quest for God and salvation. With the church as such a powerful institution, this poem served as a guideline to help people live better lives.