Get Your Copy Purgatorio: A Fourteenth Century Fantasy Novel In Verse By Dante Alighieri Released Through Electronic Format

wrote down brilliant and original ideas about this classic but left it near candy by my bedside, When I woke up all of it was gone and the dog was wagging her tailand tale, and looking angelic, After struggling through Inferno and having everyone tell me that it just gets worse, my hopes for Purgatorio and Paradiso were basically nonexistent.
I was bracing myself for a lengthy and boring reading experience and lots of frustration, Turns out, everyone was wrong! This book fucking slaps! I'm not kidding, . . I really enjoyed myself!

I think the gamechanger for me was the fact that I read some summaries online and the commentary at the back of the book before each canto.
With Inferno, I did it the other way around because I didn't wanna "spoil" myself but it just hindered my understanding of the text.
The new technique was amazing because it enabled me to prepare for the canto and I could also specifically look for the passages in the text that spoke of certain events that were detailed in the summary or commentary.
This way, I had no

problem at all to understand what Dante was babbling about and was even able to form my own thoughts and join Dante's philosophical musings, at least in spirit.


Purgatorio picks right up where Inferno left off, at the base of Mount Purgatorio, which Dante and Virgil have to climb in order for Dante to ascend to Heaven.
The mountain is structured into nine sections, the first two base levels are called "AntePurgatory" on these levels the excommunicate and late repentants are punished and detained for a periodtimes as long as their period of contumacy on Earth, the next seven levels form the actual mountain and are structured around the capital vices more commonly known as the seven deadly sins, in the following order: Pride Envy Wrath Sloth Avarice Gluttony Lust.


Cantoare set in AntePurgatory where Dante, among other things, speculates with the penitent on the value of knowing why things were made in a certain way versus simply being satisfied with examining how they are.
Cantoare set on the terraces of Purgatory Proper with each terrace/vice taking up around three canti, Cantoare set in the Garden of Eden and concern themselves with Dante's and Beatrice's reunion and his final preparations before he is able to enter Heaven.


In Canto, Dante and Virgil reach the Portal to Purgatory Proper and are met with an Angel of God who sketches seven 'P's on Dante's brow and tells him that with the passage of each terrace and the corresponding purgation of his soul, one of the 'P's will be erased by the angel granting passage to the next terrace.


The first nine canti were a bit harder to navigate because they lacked a clear structure and Dante was kinda jumping all over the place, talking to the penitent souls.
One thing that I really didn't enjoy is the message of Cantowhere Dante basically "learns" that human beings shouldn't speculate WHY things were made by God in a certain way, they should simply be satisfied with examining things as they exist.
Dante learns that if humanity had been content with HOW not why things were, they wouldn't have fallen into sin, That's such bullshit. Knowledge is power, and we should always try to get to the bottom of things,

Virgil also explores his own fate aka him being forced to stay in Circleof Hell forever because he lived BEFORE Christ was even fucking born and therefore, his "lack of faith" forbids him to enter Heaven and it made me fucking mad.
Virgil slowly but surely became my favourite character in this epic and despite the fact that I'm not Christian at all, I think it's hella stupid that unbaptised people are automatically thrown into Hell.
It gets even worse when you think about the fact that Virgil, during his lifetime, didn't even have ANY CHANCE to get baptised because CHRISTIANITY WASN'T EVEN A FUCKING THING.
Make it make sense. Gosh, this makes me so mad, Virgil and all his pals in Limbo deserve so much better,

After Dante and Virgil step through the Portal, they explore the first terrace of Purgatory Proper the one were the vice of PRIDE is being purged.
What really helped my understanding all of the following canti was the fact that they are all ! structured in the same way:description of the terrace,exemplars of the virtue that counters the sin purged here,description of the penitent,some of the penitent speak about their sins,exemplars of the vice, andappearance of the angel who removes a 'P' on Dante's brow.


Once you figure that out, Purgatorio is super easy to follow and understand because you basically just have to search for the right passage in the text and read up on all the references you don't get.
When it comes to the "exemplars of virtue", Dante always ! uses one example from the life of the Virgin Mary because she's like virtue incarnate lmao, and at least one from classical history.


I will not go through all of the terraces in detail, but to illustrate this structure, let's talk about Terrace: Pride.
On this terrace, proud souls purge their sin by carrying a stone on their back, its heaviness matching the weight of their sin.
Similarly to Inferno, the "punishment" in this case: "repentance" counters the original sin, and is therefore seen as most effective in teaching these souls a lesson.


The countering virtue to PRIDE is HUMILITY, The shown exemplars of humility are the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, where she responds to the angel Gabriel with the words "Behold the handmaid of the Lord" such humility, wow.
The example of humility from classical history is the Emperor Trajan, who, according to a medieval legend, once stopped his journey to render justice to a poor widow.


The shown exemplars of pride the vice are, of fucking course, Satan proud Lucifer, Nimrod the builder of the Tower of Babel, Arachne who challenged Athene to a sewing competition and won.
. . I mean, you go gurl, it's so stupid that Athene turned her into a spider as a punishment, I mean it's not Arachne's fault that she's better than her.
. . smh and Niobe who bragged about her seven children,

I found it fascinating to learn so much about history and even about some of the Biblical stories even though the life of the Virgin Mary got boring real fast.
However, oftentimes, I simply couldn't agree with Dante on the premise of his exemplars for these vices and virtues, just to give you an example: as an exemplar of CHASTITY, Dante cites the Virgin Goddess Diana.
So far, so good. I don't particular care for virgin goddesses but I can see where he is coming from, HOWEVER !, the example he cites out of Diana's life to showcase her most perfect moment of chastity is when Diana exiled Helice from her lands after Helice was raped by Jupiter and was no longer seen as "pure" "chaste".
UMM How is that VIRTUOUS behaviour I'm so confused, And I hate it here,

Don't get me wrong, I didn't think that my values would align with the values of a white man who lived overyears ago I mean, how sad would that be but I still wanted to mention that some of the examples that Dante gives are just fucking BONKERS and make no sense.


Personally, even though I don't agree with the notion of countering vices with virtues I think we all have both inside of us and that's good!, I really loved to see all the different punishments that Dante came up with: envious souls are punished by having their eyes sewn shut with iron wire ouch! countering virtue: GENEROSITY wrathful souls have to walk around in blinding acid smoke which symbolises the blinding effect of wrath countering virtue: MEEKNESS slothful souls are forced to engage in ceaseless activity by constantly running around countering virtue: ZEAL greedy souls have to lie facedown on the ground whilst being bound at their hands and feet countering virtue: "WILLING POVERTY" gluttonous souls are starved in the presence of trees whose fruit will forever be out of their reach countering virtue: RESTRAINT lustful souls must pass through an immense wall of flame the fire symbolises the purifying of love and prepares the soul for God's love in Heaven countering virtue: CHASTITY.


A lot of these punishments show how important human senses are and what a huge impact it has when you aren't allowed to use them, e.
g. if you're bound and unable to move your body, I think from a modern perspective it's definitely interesting to analyse how ableist Dante's underlying beliefs are, e, g. the notion that being blind is a punishment, Again, I don't even agree with the premise of being punished in the first place and most punishments are fucking brutal, however, I still found it fascinating to learn about and disagree with this essential part of Dante's world building.


Talking of the world building, there were quite a few things that I enjoyed this time around, e, g. the fact that souls aren't able to climb up the mountain after sunset because in Dante's world, the sun represents God and therefore, progress for these penitent Christian souls can only be made through Divine Grace so, when the sun is out.
At one point, we also learn what happens when a soul's repentance is finished: Mount Purgatory is shaken up by an earthquake which symbolises the tremor of a soul that knows that it is ready to ascend to Heaven.
I find these little tidbits of information very interesting and they made Purgatory come to life,

At the summit of Mount Purgatory is the Earthly Paradise the Garden of Eden, It represents the state of INNOCENCE that existed before Adam and Eve fell from grace, Personally, I really didn't enjoy any of the canti being set in the Garden of Eden, probably because I wasn't ready to let Virgil go his farewell was so bittersweet I mean, in his most vulnerable moment, Dante wanted to turn to his mentor when he sensed the power of what love was, only to realise that Virgil was no longer with him I AM IN TEARSSS!!! and also because Beatrice so far isn't doing it for me.
In case you don't know, Beatrice is the girl that Dante was obsessed with and saw as the ultimate exemplar of innocence and virtue.
In the text, she is the one who pleaded with God, so that Dante could make this journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, in order to be set on the right path again.
However, in these canti, she is a sternful bitch who was having none of it and constantly shamed Dante for crying and showing emotion.
Yeah I want Virgil back but wait, he has to rot in Hell!! Gargh, Can you tell how mad I still am

What I found most interesting about the Garden of Eden in regards to the world building were the two rivers Lethe and Eunoë.
Those are the two streams that every soul needs to cross in order to enter Heaven, Lethe is the river of oblivion and basically takes away all your memories of sin Eunoë recovers the memory of all the good deeds that one has done in their lifetime.
Again, I don't agree with the notion that you're only allowed to face God when you're pictureperfect and prim, but I found it interesting nonetheless.


The procession that was going on in the Garden of Eden and that revealed Beatrice's presence to Dante wasn't doing anything for me though.
I found that shit so hard to understand, and I think Dante should leave the literary device of the masque to Shakespeare, The only canto set in the Garden of Eden that I found somewhat engaging was Canto, where Dante goes through the seven phases/ stages that brought upon the downfall and corruption of the Church, from the persecutions that the Church suffered from under Nero inAD to Dante's own time.
Overall, I think it is wellknown that Dante was hella critical of the Church as an institution and the state of politics in most European countries, most notably Italy and France.


At one point, Dante like myself wonders how these souls can even show bodily reactions, like becoming thin starved when they don't even require food in the first place Similarly, at different points in the story, Dante tries to touch or hug some of the souls but is unable to grasp them.
I was also wondering what the value of memory is for these souls because all of these soul introduce themselves by citing what their name on Earth WAS but it doesn't seem like they fully connect with that part of themselves anymore.
Basically, Virgil explains that souls are forever linked with the person and aren't separate from the body, which explains Dante's ability to recognise certain individuals he was familiar with on Earth.
However, the bodies in Purgatory are spiritual and no longer earthbound, so that Dante who is still an alive earthbound person isn't able to touch them.


Each of the three nights that Dante spends in Purgatory, he has a dream, The first dream symbolises God's grace in carrying a person toward himself, Dante's second dream is a powerful visualisation of false goods and desires a concept that Virgil had explained earlier but Dante struggled to understand: Dante dreams of a siren who lures him into thinking that she is beautiful and desirable, even though, in reality she's not.
This teaches Dante how free will can be wrongly directed and/ or perverted, During his third night on the mountain, Dante dreams of Leah who symbolises the active Christian life and her sister Rachel who symbolises the contemplative Christian life, and realises that both are necessary if you want to be a good Christian.
Each of the dreams bring him closer to Beatrice and his understanding of Christianity,

So, overall, Purgatorio is hella rich and provides a lot of food for thought, I'm very happy/ proud of myself that I "forced" myself to read at least three canti every single day some days, I even managed nine, whoop whoop!, so that I could power through this epic poem within six days.
Reading it in such a short timespan really helped me with immersing myself in the story and connecting the dots, Ya'll know that my memory is a sieve, Meanwhile, when I read Inferno, it took me over two months to finish it and it was literally hell pun intended.
On to Paradiso at last!,