following Inferno, Purgatorio is the pitstop
before Dante reaches Paradiso. this book is a voyage through the catharsis of a
sinner’s soul, hence the title Purgatorio. if in Inferno souls suffer to pay
for their sins, here, the spirits have to undergo torment in order to get the
purification they need to be accepted in Paradiso.
Purgatorio is basically a mountain that
has ledges which represent each sin. in
each ledge, Dante, still with his guide Virgil,
witnesses two things that are part of the whole cleansing process. he sees the
WHIP of sin and the REIN of sin afterwards. on the
one hand, whip illustrates examples of beings who did the opposite of the sin
showing images of good character. on the other hand, rein demonstrates acts of
souls who committed the said sin. here, he also meets and talks to souls who
submit themselves to purging.
what i like about this book is the idea
of how even the little details are so connected and consistent to the bigger
picture. i think it’s ingenious. HAHA. for instance, Purgatorio is found
between hell and heaven. hell only has darkness(night). in paradise, the sun is
up every day. thus, Purgatorio has both night
and day. also, Dante can only keep ascending to the mountain when it’s day. there
are other things that are also like this. HAHA.
just like Inferno, it wasn’t that easy to
understand the content of each stanza in this book. as a poem, the story wasn’t
told in a direct manner. it’d always be about digging deeper to what Dante
actually wants to convey. and since it’s been written a long, long time ago,
it’s in the context of that era. meaning, it is based on what people believe
and think during those times. and some people see some things differently from
then and now. HAHA.
i hate it when there are mentions of
stars, zodiacs or constellations because i don’t comprehend any of them. even
when there are explanations already, my understanding never gets any better. i
tried but i just don’t seem to have a thing with astrology.
HAHA.
Dante has shown more curiosity in
Purgatorio than in Inferno. his questions here are mostly about the possibility
of some occurrences, particularly regarding the soul’s state and the nature’s
conditions. and i am amused by his hunger to know and understand.
 |
| CURIOSITY. |
after reading, one of the things i
realized is how reason cannot at all times be used, and that some things should
be left unsaid, without questions of how or why. sometimes,
reason is not enough to enlighten our minds with everything that bothers us. this
is shown when the character of Virgil, the epitome of human reason, reached his
limit as Dante’s adviser.
last comes Paradiso, a tale so surely full of love and happiness. i am halfway through. can’t wait to finish The Divine
Comedy.
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