The Divine Comedy

Written in the early stages of the 14th century by the Italian Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy is an imaginative and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife. With mathematical and passioned precision, the artist describes the three states of life after death: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.

Though not a greco-roman story, the many relations this epic poem has with classical mythology (characters, places, stories ... ) make it an entertaining must-read for all of us.

The Plot

- Inferno / Hell
Guided by the great Virgil (author of 'The Aeneid'), Dante begins his journey to the underworld. They both descend the nine concentric circles of Hell, each of them representing a gradual increase in the wickedness of sins, and culminating at the center of the Earth, place where Satan is held. Along the endeavor they come across with a variety of "evil" characters, each one assigned to a special place in Hell according to their earthly sins. All pagans (those born in time of pre-christian religions) and sinners who didn't seek for God while alive belong to Hell.

- Purgatory
Book 2 starts with these pilgrims ascending Mount Purgatory, and meeting Saint Peter. Once again, along their ascent they'll meet different people who are now in the state of purging their souls. They are busy working on their spiritual enlightenment from the stain of sin and getting in condition to be allowed to Paradise. At the top of the mountain, we can find the Garden of Eden.

- Paradise
Dante is no longer accompanied by Virgil, who leaves him to reside once more in Limbo, a place in Hell meant for those who did no god nor wrong, and for the virtuous (like him) who were born before the time of God's revelation and have thus fallen short for their lack of faith. His beloved Beatrice, now guides him through the spheres / planets of Heaven in his continuous search for God.

While the structures of the Inferno and Purgatorio were based around different classifications of sin, the structure of the Paradiso is based on the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues.

What I liked less of the book

- The book of Paradise. The more the story advances, the more christian-specific and less allegorical-epic it becomes.
- The tremendous need to delve into the political and social context surrounding Dante and his medieval time in order to get a full comprehension of the book.
- From time to time, Dante seems to overuse The Divine Comedy as a way to place his friends in Paradise and his enemies in Hell. All of them are found somewhere in the book, leaving the allegorical richness of the book sometimes behind.

What I liked best

- Dante's notion and treatment of free will: we must abandon any idea that we are slaves of chance; we can consciously exercise choice, and this choice is decisive to all eternity. We have to make the choice between accepting or rejecting God, and discover what we've chosen after life. (I suggest you read this posting)
- The entire book of the Inferno, far the most entertaining and "mythical" of the three.