Theme's of The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy, written by Dante Alighieri, analyzes life after death in aspects that many beings do not consciously admire. Dante takes the reader along on an adventure through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Though Dante is the author, he is also the main character of this journey through the afterlife. Dante uses both first person point of view and impeccable imagery in his developing of the themes of The Divine Comedy.
There are three main themes throughout the poem: the perfection of God and his justice, the perception of evil as a contradiction to God’s will, and the possibility that storytelling is a way to achieve immortality. Using first person point of view, Dante gives the reader insight into his sensations and inspirations. Throughout the work, Dante is referred to in two ways: Dante the author, and Dante the character. Dante uses imagery to allow the reader to follow along on the journey.
The idea that God is perfect is developed very early in the poems. In Inferno, it is emphasized that God’s decisions as to where these people should be is final and should not be argued. “May you weep and wail to all eternity, for I know you, hell-dog, filthy as you are (The Inferno, Canto VIII).” The people in the Inferno are there for a reason, and Dante should not feel bad for them. Dante sees God in Canto XXXIII of The Paradiso, and describes him in a very unusual way: “What then I saw was more than tongue can say. Our human speech is dark before then vision. The ravished memory swoons and falls away. As one who sees in dreams and wakes to find the emotional impression of his vision still powerful while its parts fade from his mind – just such am I, have lost nearly all the vision itself, while in my heart I feel the sweetness of it yet distill and fall.” This description of God is very unique in its way of making the reader think and interpret before they can sense the emotion present. The next theme stems from the first: the thought and perception that evil is a contradiction to the will of God. Dante believes that God has his plan set, and an evil act would be going against his plan. Dante sees these as actions against God and deliberate choices, which is the cause of his belief that certain people belong in Hell. Those who do not commit to God are also sinners in Dante’s mind. This quote describes them in the Anti-Inferno: “These are the nearly soulless whose lives concluded neither blame nor praise (The Inferno, Canto III).”
The last theme is subtler throughout the course of the poem: the idea that storytelling will help achieve immortality. Several times, Dante was confronted with sinners who told him their story, and wanted him to later recount their stories. These people believed that it would aid in their ascent into Heaven. Their theory was simple: the more people heard their story, the quicker it would be before they were sent to heaven. While in Purgatory, Dante and Virgil met a group of people awaiting purification. One man was asking them to pass on his story, “I am Manfred, grandson of the blessed Empress Constance, and I beg you, when you return there over the horizon, go to my sweet daughter, noble mother, of the honor of Sicily and of Aragon and speak the truth, if men speak any other (The Purgatorio, Canto III).” Dante uses unique forms of imagery and first person point of view to develop three specific themes in The Divine Comedy. On his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, Dante forms themes that are God as perfection, evil as the contradiction of God, and stories aiding in immortality.