Purgatorio

Virgil serves as Dante’s guide through Purgatory (as he does through Hell in The Divine Comedy’s Inferno). Historically, Virgil was an ancient Roman poet who lived from 70 BC to 19 AD. He is perhaps best known for The Aeneid, an epic poem that describes the mythic founding of Rome by Aeneas, a Trojan royal and son of the goddess Aphrodite. Virgil is also known for the bucolic poems Eclogues, significant for their interpretation by early Christians as prophesying the coming of Christ. In The Divine Comedy, Virgil resides in Limbo, the first circle of Hell, where the souls of people who were virtuous but unbaptized reside.

In Purgatorio, Dante portrays Virgil as wise and humble, an appropriate model of Christian virtue but not best-suited to speak on matters of Christian faith. For example, in Cantos 6 and 17, Virgil explains prayer and sin to Dante, respectively. According to Virgil, when prayer, which he seems to disavow in The Aeneid, becomes linked to God through Christ, it has power that it did not have during pagan times. Virgil also elaborates on the ways the seven deadly sins misunderstand and misapply natural love due to the influence of the rational mind. Virgil leaves his discussion of love open-ended, acknowledging that Dante will have to learn from Beatrice the role of faith in love. Virgil last appears in Canto 29 when the procession representing divine truth across history enters the Garden of Eden.

Virgil’s crucial role in Purgatorio demonstrates Dante’s respect for pagan literature and philosophy. He seems both to accept that and question whether pagans, no matter how virtuous, belong with the souls who have accepted Christ. Virgil’s inclusion in Limbo suggests Dante’s ambivalence on the issue, as does Virgil’s disappearance in Cantos 30 through 33 when Beatrice supplants him as Dante’s spiritual guide. 

Beatrice appears in Cantos 30 through 33. Her historical identity remains murky, but she’s believed to be Beatrice Portinari, born in the mid-1260s to Florentine nobles. She married a man called Simone de’ Bardi in 1287 and died in 1290. In Purgatorio, Dante tells of how he fell in love with her at first sight as a child and depicts her as the sponsor of his trip through the afterlife.

At the end of the procession in the Garden of Eden, Beatrice emerges from a cloud of feathers. She scolds Dante for having strayed from the path of virtue. She tells him that she attempted to redirect him through dreams, but since this failed, she arranged for him to travel through the afterlife. She asks him to confess why he strayed and charges him with writing down everything he has seen and experienced as a message for humans still on earth. Beatrice addresses the political turmoil in Italy, seemingly offering a prophesy that the corrupt will receive punishment.

Dante presents an idealized image of Beatrice as the helpmate of Christ, represented by the Gryphon, next to which she stands at the end of the procession. Handmaids representing the seven virtues attend her, and, notably, she takes Dante’s confession, an act typically reserved, in Church doctrine, for a priest. 

Sordello first appears in Canto 6, where souls who died violent or sudden deaths await their opportunity to enter Purgatory. Historically, he’s believed to be Sordello da Goito, a poet from Mantua who lived from approximately 1190 to 1269. He may have left Italy for France due to a romantic scandal, eventually settling in Provence, where he established a reputation as a poet and troubadour.

Sordello appears in Cantos 6-8. Dante depicts him as a patriotic Italian poet who leaps to embrace Virgil, acknowledging him as a fellow countryman and poet, and praising him as “the glory of the Latin race” (188). Sordello agrees to help guide Virgil and Dante to Purgatory’s entrance. He is present when Dante witnesses Ottakar comforting Rudolph, who were rivals in life. Sordello’s presence speaks to the companionship of poets, bringing to the foreground the importance of community and poetic mission in service of it.

Dante meets Matelda in Canto 28 after he has reached the Garden of Eden, and she remains in the narrative until the end of the poem. She has been associated with the historical Matelda, Countess of Canossa, who lived from 1046 until 1115 and provided influential support for the Church.

When he enters the garden, Dante sees a “donna” singing and picking flowers along a stream. She explains how the garden’s perfectly harmonious cycle stems from God, and informs Dante that the pagan poets who sang of an “Age of God” (293), where all are innocent, eternal spring reigns, and every fruit is available, may have been singing of Eden. Likewise, the “nectar” that bestowed immortality to the gods was here in the garden.  

Following his confession to Beatrice, Dante faints, and when he revives, it is Matelda who drags him through the river Lethe, washing away his memory of his sins. She then leads him in a dance with Beatrice’s handmaids, symbolizing the seven virtues. After, she brings him to Beatrice and asks her to lift her veil so that her most faithful servant, meaning Dante, can see her. As Beatrice takes on a priestly role by hearing Dante’s confession, Matelda can be seen as serving the priest’s role by joining Dante and Beatrice in a spiritual union.

Forese appears in Cantos 23 and 24. Historically, he was a childhood friend of Dante’s. His brother Corso led the Blacks Guelphs, the faction Dante opposed in Florence before his exile.

Dante meets Forese at the level where penitents atone for gluttony and barely recognizes his old friend in his emaciated state. Forese explains that his suffering also provides joy since he knows that, through it, he is becoming purified. Dante is surprised that Forese has made such rapid progress through Purgatory since he died only five years prior. Forese credits the prayers of his beloved wife for helping speed him through, one of many repeated reminders that the prayers of the living affect the dead.

Forese and Dante briefly touch on the political situation in Italy, with Forese lamenting the loss of virtue among its people. He asks Dante when he will see him again, seemingly a reference to Dante’s death. Forese later suggests that his brother is “[…] most to blame” (271) for Florence’s ills, and predicts that he will soon be dragged violently into Hell.