Dante's Purgatorio XV - a close review

Canto XV steps forward through the final seven levels of Purgatorio as Dante proceeds through the seven capital sins. Dante and Virgil have just left the second Terrace of the Envious and have reached the third Terrace which represents the sins of Wrath. Throughout this Canto the theme of the importance, power, and necessity of God’s Divine Love is illuminated through the splendor of light and its reflection. The emphasis on the reflecting power of this Divine Light is Dante-the-Poet’s way of expressing the importance of spreading God’s Love in order to overcome and purge ourselves of the darkness of our sins. Thus, the reflection of Divine Light exposes our darkness, and that same “intensity of light” will ultimately purify our souls, allowing us to enter into the splendor of God’s eternal paradise. Virgil explains this to Dante in his second response to Dante’s hunger for answers, saying, “the greater the proportion of our love, the more eternal goodness we receive” (Purg. XV, 71-72). However, this experience is clearly meant to be a process, not an instant gratification to appease one’s own appetite for eternal bliss

The final question now comes from Dante’s strong appetite “I hunger for more satisfaction now” as he is concerned with depleting this “one good” if he indulges in it. Dante learns here that he is thinking “thoughts of worldly things alone” and therefore there is still darkness that must be purged his mind because “from the true light you reap only the dark” (Purg. XV, 65-66). Again, the contrast with his question is derived from Virgil’s lesson to Dante. It is the over-arching theme of God’s Love as an ever-reflecting light that paradoxically grows as more people participate in it.

The main key in canto XV is in understanding – for both Dante and the reader who is engaged through his experiences – the un-worldly power of God’s Love, as reflected through the Divine Light. The tercet that best captures this theme is in lines 73-75, “the more souls there above who are in love, the more there are worth loving; love grows more, each soul a mirror mutually mirroring” (Purg. XV). Mirrors reflect light; they do not absorb it, so no light is lost, even reflected among many mirrors. No amount of participants can spread it thin because this light is a Divine Light, and expression of the Divine Love. In contrast with Dante’s feeble question of this “one good”, God’s Divine Love is actually augmented by the participation of the souls that are fully purged of sin. And with out the reflection of the Divine Light, one will not be able to be disposed from one’s sins, as Dante exemplifies for the reader through his constant, purging journey to Paradise.

Both the sins of the Envious and the sins of the Wrathful are contrasted throughout canto XV. Indeed, one can see how Envy itself could lead to Wrath. And as Dante and Virgil pass by the angel and further away form the Terrace of the Envious, they hear “Beati misericordes from behind,” which is meant to be the opposite of the Envious – the Merciful. In another connection, the singing of Blessed are the Merciful can also be connected to the visions that promote the virtue of Meekness. The virtues of Mercy and Meekness are similar and closely related in the actions that demonstrate them. In the first vision Dante sees Mary asking Jesus why he disappeared from them: “why hast Thou dealt with us this way?” (Purg. XV, 90) – a simple and classic example of not getting angry or wrathful, and exhibiting Meekness. In the second vision Dante-the-Poet exposes the darkness of Wrath with words that are its antonym. He describes Pisistratus’s face carefully, so as to give a clear example of feeling of Meekness: “his face serene, his words gentle and calm” (Purg. XV, 103). And in the third and final vision the darkness of the sin of Wrath is blatantly exposed through words the stoning of St. Stephen, such as, “raging with hate”, “screaming”, “kill!”, and “agony” (Purg. XV, 106-112). And again, as if to reiterate the power of Wrath’s opposite, the virtue of Meekness, St. Stephen “prayed to the Lord for the forgiveness of his murderers, his face showing compassion for them all” (Purg. XV, 112-114). All these images contain the opposite value, the antithesis, and the counter-actions to Wrath. The intensity with which the three visions contrast with the intensity of the sin of Wrath parallels to the “intensity of light” that cleanses

Some topics in this essay:
Purg XV, XV Notes, Canto XV, Divine Love, Divine Light, Envy Wrath, God’s Love, Terrace Envious, Trinitarian Canto, Paradise Furthermore, purg xv, divine light, canto xv, divine love, xv notes, god’s love, purg xv notes, “intensity light”, sin wrath, god’s divine love, dante’s experiences, dante virgil, xv notes 1-6, dante’s own journey, divine love contrast,