Reasons why Purgatorio was less fun than Hell

I wrote about my thoughts on Dante’s Inferno recently, as I work my way through The Divine Comedy for the 23 in 2023 challenge. Now, I’ve finished the second section of the book, Purgatorio, and I have some thoughts.

Plot summary

We pick up where we left off in the first section, with Virgil and Dante standing at the beginning of Purgatory, with Hell behind them. Turns out, Virgil will be Dante’s guide through Purgatory (I thought he was leaving him at the end of Hell, but no). They begin to climb the mountain of Purgatory. As in Hell, there are rings pr sections where different sins are cleansed from the souls making their way towards Heaven.

Along the way we meet more notable figures from Dante’s life, and end with Dante, Virgil and Statius (a soul on his way to Heaven) in the Garden of Eden. Here, Dante meets Beatrice, the women who asked for him to be granted this journey to Heaven. She was Dante’s love while on earth, and will guide him through Heaven. At this point, Virgil disappears, as he cannot continue into Heaven. Statius remains with Dante and Beatrice as they prepare to enter Heaven.

A lighter tone, but a harder struggle

I thought I was going to enjoy Purgatorio more than Inferno. The idea of a more hopeful and cheerful theme made me look forward to it. But to be honest, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did the journey through Hell. The first section gave more food for thought, whereas this second section lent itself less well to contemplation. Perhaps that says something about me?

Another factor was my struggle to find commentary for this part of the book.I was reading a bit ‘blind’. Towards the end I found one, but by that stage I was almost done and decided to power on without. It was an interesting comparison, reading with and without commentary to explain the poem. It definitely backs up my earlier suggestion that reading with a commentary was strongly recommended. I will certainly be sourcing a commentary to go with Paradisio before I start reading that.

Beauty and hope well rendered in Purgatorio

One element I did enjoy was the description of the hope and improvement of souls. There are beautiful scenes where souls are truly suffering, but they are still filled with hope and joy. They know that their suffering is bringing them closer to the final and perfect joy. They know that soon this time of pain will end and they will be assured of perpetual happiness. That’s a beautiful thing to read.

As I navigate my own sufferings, it is a comforting reminder that they, too, have meaning. Our sufferings here help us towards Heaven, if we are ready to turn them to good account. Whatever struggles we face, we can picture ourselves climbing the suffering mountain of Purgatory, where the further we go, the easier it will become. And that alone makes it worth reading Purgatorio.