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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Purgatorio, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Purgatory and the Heavenward Journey
Love, Sin, and God
Free Will
Spiritual Power vs. Earthly Power
Time
Summary
Analysis
Dante emerges into a bright, fragrant forest, eager to take it all in. The wood is filled with gentle breezes and joyous birdsong. He comes to a brook and sees a lady on its opposite bank, picking flowers and singing. Dante asks the lady to draw nearer so he can hear the words of her song. The lady steps closer and raises her eyes to Dante; her gaze is full of light, and her laughter fills him with wonder.
This forest is the Earthly Paradise in which humanity originally lived in innocence according to the Book of Genesis. It contrasts with the dark wood from which Dante set out for his journey through Hell in Inferno. The lady (later revealed as Matilda) recalls the figure of Leah in the previous Canto, and she anticipates Beatrice to come.
Themes
Dante asks the lady to explain this place, and she explains that it’s the Earthly Paradise—a place given to human beings (themselves created good) as “pledge of endless peace.” But humanity didn’t stay here long, through their own fault. The lady explains that the flowers and fruits here spring forth of their own accord, and the water, too, because of God’s will. The water of this brook, called Lethe, takes away all memory of sin. The lady adds that the poets who’ve spoken of the Golden Age were dreaming of this very Paradise.
According to Christian teaching, human beings were meant to dwell in the Earthly Paradise in peace. But being corrupted by sin, humans had to set out from a darker, corrupted forest (like Dante’s) and embark on a perilous pilgrimage back to God. But even if they had remained in Paradise, they were meant—as Dante will soon do—to set out for a still more perfect Paradise. The lady explains that the recurrent poetic theme of a Golden Age of perfection is a dim memory of the Earthly Paradise.
Themes
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