Reflection in Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy” of a new humanistic view of man and his values


The peak of Dante’s creativity is the “Divine Comedy”. The poem is written as a poet’s wanderings in the afterlife. Dante’s guide on this journey is the poet, the author of the Aeneid, Virgil. In the work it is a symbol of the mind directing people to earthly happiness. Virgil explains everything that the author sees. Dante descends with him to Hell, then ascends to the mountain of Purgatory, cleansed of his sins and ascends to Paradise.

“Divine Comedy” consists of three parts – “Hell”, “Purgatory” and “Paradise”. It is built as an adventure novel, the action of which takes place in unknown countries. The author describes with accuracy all the details and details of the path. The descents, rocks, stairs, paths and passages are very real, so that the reader does not have doubts about the reality of what is happening.

… And here at the bottom of a steep slope,
Agile and winding

lynx,
All in bright spots of a motley pattern.

Together with the author of the poem, we pass through a close and foul Hell. Here hatred, sorrow, indignation, perseverance in sin reign: “sighs, wailing and frenzied cry.”

A strong impression on the author is made by the words inscribed above the entrance to Hell: “… Inbox, leave the hopes.”

Once in Hell, Dante asks a question about whether someone passed from Hell to Paradise. Virgil answers that after the death and Resurrection of Christ from Ada to Paradise, Abel, Noah, Moses, David, Abraham, Jacob, his children were taken away:

… There were no other saved before them,
And these were the first blessed ones.

Virgil holds the author through nine circles of Hell. Then Dante gets to Purgatory, “where souls acquire purification and to the eternal ascend to being.” Purgatory depicts the image in the form of a mountain.

The author shows that love is the cause of all human affairs, both good and evil, depending on whether it is good love or not. In the circles of Purgatory,

the souls of people are cleansed from sins: in the first – from pride, in the second – from envy, in the third – from despondency, in the fourth – from anger. Virgil expounds the doctrine of love as the source of all good and evil and explains the gradation of the circles of Purgatory.

Having cleansed of his sins, Dante ascends to Paradise, accompanied by his beloved woman Beatrice, who symbolizes the divine mind.

Miraculous and mysterious is the layout of Paradise. In the same way as there are nine “diabolical” circles in Hell, there are nine “angelic” circles in Paradise. Joy, rapture, love – all this was felt by the author in Paradise. Here he heard laudatory tunes to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Only in Paradise did the author understand that the papal throne does not follow the teachings of Christ. He calls the Vatican a cemetery of true Christians who died at the hands of the papal prelates. Dante realized the love of Christ, how valuable to God the soul of man, at the same time he realized that in the light of Christ the spirit of man becomes such that he only aspires to Him, not returning to earthly deeds.

Love – only it “moves the sun and the stars” – this is the result of the “Divine Comedy”.

“Divine comedy” Dante is connected with reality, reflects his time, recreates the image of contemporaries. The great poet turns the trial over the dark forces of the Middle Ages, denounces and punishes vices, exalts love, glorifies activity, deeds. Dante seeks to indicate the path of political and moral renewal, anticipating much of the new worldview that was affirmed during the Renaissance.


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Reflection in Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy” of a new humanistic view of man and his values