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Canto 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Paradiso, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Earthly and Heavenly Justice
Creation and God’s Providence
God’s Character and Will
Vision, Knowledge, and the Pursuit of God
Language and the Ineffable
Summary
Analysis
As Dante and Beatrice ascend to the seventh sphere, that of Saturn, Beatrice explains that she’s not smiling because, at this level of Heaven, her beauty would have the effect of a lightning strike and could perhaps destroy Dante. When Dante turns his attentions to his surroundings, he sees a ladder stretching higher than his eyes can reach. Brilliant lights are descending the ladder.
Saturn is the sphere allotted to those who pursued a contemplative and ascetic life on Earth—meaning that they refrained from worldly things in order to focus on the spiritual. The golden ladder was a common medieval symbol of such a life—a means for souls to ascend to Heaven and also to descend, in order to minister compassionately to people below.
Themes
Dante speaks to a soul that has stopped near him and asks why there’s no music in this sphere. The soul explains that Dante’s mortal hearing couldn’t bear their song’s beauty, so they refrain from singing. When Dante asks the soul a question about predestination, the soul explains that this matter is so deeply hidden within the divine will that no creature can see it. When souls on earth speculate on this topic, they “give off mere smoke.”
The restraint of Beatrice’s normally radiant smile, and the souls’ restraint from singing, is connected to this sphere’s contemplative character. Dante, however, is not yet prepared for such pure, direct contemplation of God. Fittingly, the subject of predestination—which is so deeply hidden within God that even angels don’t inquire into it—is addressed in this sphere. Since not even a contemplative is fit to explore it, it’s no wonder that people on earth can only “give off mere smoke” when they talk about it.
Themes
Dante gives up his question about predestination and asks the soul to identify himself. He explains that he is Peter Damian, who once enjoyed a contemplative life as a monk, fasting and dressing simply. His successors today, however, are well-fed and opulent. At this, circling souls give a piercing cry of lament that Dante cannot understand.
Peter Damian was a humble 11th-century Benedictine monk who eventually became his monastery’s abbot. He was an avid reformer of monastic life, which explains his and his fellow contemplative souls’ grief over the extravagance and corruption of the Church today.
Themes
