Dante’s main theme of “Purgatorio” has the cleansing of the individual’s inner soul as its main preoccupation. It is not a location but rather a process described here. It symbolizes the perpetual transition of evil to good and everything that working spirits confront in the act of combat and the prophecy that is certain of their triumph. According to Dante’s poetry, goodness is not even a dowry but a kingdom that may be achieved. There is a lot of agony and exhaustion involved in beginning a new journey, whereby the more one climbs, the less it aches. It’s a metaphor for the Christian life that follows an inferno. Therefore, Dante tells a narrative about his ascent to Mount Purgatory in his poetry.
According to Dante, sinners cannot comprehend the depth of their transgressions. Dante’s confessions claim that all sinners are friendly to one other, and they provide their cleansing of sin by doing the opposite of what they need to do. When a person repents his intransigence, they are constantly protected by the green-robed angels in purgatory, which is full of hope because of this. Dante devotes more time to the sin of envy, yet he argues that it lacks the ferocity of other sins. “There is a certain greatness in pride; envy is a kind of meanness” (Canto 179). The narrator adds that envy is a twisted hatred that causes individuals to believe that everyone and everything outside of themselves is detrimental. Even more than any other kind of evil, envy harms not just the person who feels it, but everyone around them who has been blessed by that person’s actions.
As Dante continues his discussion on jealousy, he explains that the sinners need to be subdued before they may ascend the mountain. This demonstrates that there is a wild quality to envy, that one has to be able to conquer in order to be happy. According to the information provided by the narrator, the sinners of envy have had their eyelids sewed very near to the iron threads, which has caused them to seem as if they are blind beggars (Canto 173). They begin to stroll and warn the passing passengers of the dangers of envy. As a result, their voices begin to harass Dante, warning him to always remain on the right path. As the little church is in danger due to envy, Dante feels superior to them and begins to pray for their vision, which is no less important than their physical protection. Envy will always be with us, but Dante advises against remaining on this evil order that has no redeeming value.
The narrator claims that in the purgatory of the sin of envy, all of your desires are focused on one spot, and each corporation diminishes each man’s portion, causing the jealousy to explode. At this point, Dante claims he has realized his worries about the pride (the cousin to envy) that he possessed (Canto 102). He can now feel the weight on the pebbles used to flatten the terrace of envy. Seeing that Sapia was one of the souls who had been cleansed of envy and was attempting to escape its presence by raising her chin toward Dante’s voice, she eagerly sought a conversation with him.
Work Cited
Canto. The Second Terrace; examples of kindness; the purgation of envy; Sapia. Oxford University Press, 1961.
