Purgatorio

Throughout Dante’s journey in Purgatory, guides accompany him: first Virgil, then Virgil and Statius, then Matelda and Beatrice. At every level he travels through, he encounters and converses with countless penitents, many of whom are historical figures from 13th- and 14th-century Europe. In addition, figures from classical and biblical texts exist through the poem from the first canto to the last. Dante is never alone, just as the penitents he encounters are never alone. This speaks to a central theme in the poem, which is that purification from sin is not a solitary journey of the self, but a recovery of the communal self, achieved through collaboration and conversation. Through his poetic form (see “Symbols and Motifs”), Dante invites readers to engage in the communal meaning-making process as well.

In Canto 17, approximately mid-way through the poem, Virgil discusses the nature of love and sin. What he calls “natural love” (238) is neither positive nor negative but the God-given desire to continue existing and to pursue what brings joy. All living creatures possess these impulses. What differentiates humans from other living beings is what Virgil calls “mind-love” (238), the rational and intellectual consciousness God gave to humans alone. As with natural love, mind-love is value neutral in itself. Whether it leads to virtue or sin depends on how humans apply it. When misunderstood or misapplied, it can lead humans to self-destructive behavior that can have direct consequences on communal bonds. Virgil explains this in detail in Canto 17, through his summary of the seven forms of sin that penitents atone for: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, avarice, and lust. In all cases, sins don’t equate to transgressions against God but as transgressions against one’s fellow community members.

The first three sins—pride, envy, and wrath—occur when individuals misunderstand what constitutes excellence. Pride provokes humans to jealously hoard achievements, to the detriment of their communities. Roman Emperor Trajan, in Canto 10, demonstrates how humility is the better choice. As he was leaving the city for a military campaign, a woman with a murdered son beseeched him to delay his journey and seek justice for her son. Though he may have longed to achieve fame for himself through military conquest, he chose to stay behind and pursue justice, a more important outcome for the community over which he reigned. Envy and wrath similarly corrupt the individual and the community. In Canto 13, Sapia laments that her envy caused happiness when her fellow Sienese lost in battle. Pisistratus in Canto 15 gently chides his wife for her wrath against one of her husband’s subjects, whose enthusiasm for the family caused him to embrace their daughter. Pisistratus reminds his wife to respect the bonds of love that bind community members.

Errors in application characterize the final four sins: sloth, greed, avarice, and lust. Sloth results from insufficient vigor in applying love, while greed, avarice, and lust result from excessive vigor. The pope who Dante meets in Canto 19 laments that his avarice for earthly things tainted his role as a religious leader, while Hugo Capet regrets the royal line he sired, whose greed resulted in violence, lies, and plunder. With all seven of the sins, self-destructiveness does not harm only the individual but corrupts the relationships among—or directly harms—community members.

The process of atonement involves rebuilding community bonds. Thus, in Canto 7, Dante witnesses Ottakar comforting Rudolph, who was his rival in life. Similarly, in Canto 13, when Dante asks if any of the penitents at that level are Italian, one replies that they are “now all citizens of one true place” (218). Dante repeatedly sees penitents singing hymns together and lifting each other up in small ways, as when the two groups of penitents for lust briefly embrace. Repeatedly, penitents beseech Dante to pray for them or to relay messages to living family members to pray for them, demonstrating the sanctity of communal bonds both within and across realms.