Everyone Sins In Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri, the author of The Divine Comedy, explores the development of themes by using first person point of view and imagery. He shows this through the descriptions and vivid detail that he provides. In The Divine Comedy, Dante finds himself traveling through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Within these three stories, there are major themes developed through Alighieri’s first person point of view and imagery.
One of the major themes that Alighieri explores is that “Everyone Sins.” Alighieri employs both first person writing and imagery to convey this theme to his readers. He states, “Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.” This shows how not only Dante but also everyone strays from that straight pathway in life and engages in sin. The straight road represents God’s almighty path whereas the dark wood represents the sin that you have engaged in and the pain you may suffer through. Another way he illustrates this theme is by writing,
“Here sighs in cries and wails coiled and recoiled on the starless air, spilling my soul to tears. A confusion of tongues and monstrous accents toiled in pain and anger.” Alighieri portrays the result of inevitable human sin by employing emotionally charged imagery. The benefits of using first person allows us to relate to Dante more through his journey instead of trying to follow him from the outside in. Alighieri makes his personal struggles more relatable in the sense that we understand most of everything that is happening.
Another important theme that has been woven throughout The Divine Comedy is that “Worldly desires are nothing compared to God.” The author writes “My eyes went back through the seven spheres below and I saw this globe, so small, so lost in space, I had to smile at such a sorry show.” Alighieri uses both first person and imagery to present a contrast of where he stands at the highest point of paradise compared the earths’ “sorry show.” Because the highest point of paradise represents God’s kingdom, the earth, being so pathetic and small, shows just how little it is. From here, Dante describes, “I saw the dusty little threshing ground that makes us ravenous for our mad sins, saw it from mountain crest to lowest shore.” Using more imagery, he describes where his point of high being compared to dusty little earth. Looking from the outside, he truly sees what earth does to us and how our earthly desires are sinful.
Lastly, one strong theme that runs throughout the entire story is how “God’s love is the best.” The author uses the imagery of fire and light to describe how God’s love has powerfully impacted him.
“Great flames are kindled where the small sparks fly… The lamp of the world rises to mortal view from various stations…” Alighieri uses imagery to convey to us the theme of just how powerful God’s love is. The small sparks entered into him are kindled into extraordinary flames all from God’s love. Showing how God’s love is used directly from first person, the author states “Horrible were my sins, but infinite is the abiding Goodness which holds out it’s open arms to all who turn to it.” This represents how the sinner’s sins were horrible however God’s love allowed him to be redeemed and be entered into Purgatory. Giving the open arm image, it provides an emotional attraction from the reader portraying how loving God is and how powerful his love can
be.
In conclusion, Dante Alighieri, the author of The Divine Comedy, uses imagery and first person to establish a few of the major themes throughout his work. The author draws upon rich imagery which allows us as a reader to visualize and appeal to the emotional connections in the stories. Seeing what the sinners are going through in each story, it creates the emotion of fear and makes them not want to sin because they don’t want to go there. Using first person, it allures us into the work because we can understand the experiences and step into the shoes of Dante as he goes on this journey of experiencing the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.