A fascination with an afterlife has
been entertained by theologians, philosophers, and artists since the beginning
of humankind. Italian author Dante Alighieri, writing in the early 14th
century, produced one of the greatest works of literature—the allegorical,
almost epic, poem called the Divine
Comedy in which he lays out three options after life: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
“On the surface, the poem describes Dante's travels
through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a deeper level, it represents
allegorically the soul's journey towards God.
At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and
philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and the Summa Theologica of
Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called ‘the Summa
in verse.’” Summa Theologica,
containing three major parts, explains Christian principles and presents
arguments for the existence of God, again as Aquinas sought to reconcile faith
and reason.
The Divine Comedy is divided into three canticas
or major parts—Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso
(Paradise)—each consisting of 33 cantos. An initial canto serves as an
introduction to the poem and is generally considered to be part of the first
cantica, bringing the total number of cantos to 100. The number three is
prominent throughout the poem and is represented, in part, by the length of
each canto, which is formed in tercets or three-line stanzas.
His story encompasses the travels of three people through
unknown territory. Dante writes in the first person about his journey through
the three realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the
Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet Virgil guides him
through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman, guides him through
Heaven. Beatrice, a Florentine woman whom he had met in childhood and later
admired from afar, served as his muse.
The structure of the three realms—Hell, Purgatory and Paradise—follows a
numerical pattern of nine plus one for a total of 10. For instance, Dante and
Virgil visit the nine circles of the Inferno, with Lucifer at the bottom. Nine
rings of Mount Purgatory are topped with the Garden of Eden. Nine celestial
bodies of Paradise are followed by the Empyrean (the firmament or highest
heaven) that contains the very essence of God. The seven deadly sins in
Purgatory “correspond to a threefold scheme of improper love: excessive love or
love of the things that are secondary to divinity (Lust, Gluttony, Greed);
deficient love or the lacking in a desire to achieve divinity (Sloth), and
malicious love or love of malignant things that should grieve man and are
contrary to divinity (Wrath, Envy, Pride). Leaving Purgatory and arriving in
Paradise, Dante sees the Triune God.
“The structure of the poem, likewise, is quite complex, with mathematical
and numerological patterns arching throughout the work, particularly threes and
nines, which are related to the Trinity. The poem is often lauded for its
particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he
encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of
Florentine and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination. Dante's
use of real characters, according to Dorothy Sayers in her introduction to her
translation of the Inferno, allows Dante the freedom of not having to
involve the reader in description, and allows him to ‘[make] room in his poem
for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus
widening its range and increasing its variety.’”
From Threes,
Chapter Eleven, “Threes Forever”
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