Kopischke 1

Shane Kopischke

Dr. Bekus

Honors 300A

April 15th, 2019

Reading Inside of the Box

Something rarely mentioned in any environment, be it an English classroom or

otherwise, is the risk of over-analyzation. Growing up in school especially, it could often

feel like educators were reading too far between the lines and not focusing on the actual

story in front of them. When the Shakespeare teacher spends a whole class on one line

it can start to feel futile.

While I do not mean to imply that I believe Mandelbaum is over-analyzing the

Purgatorio in this introduction, I do think he approaches the work in a different way than

I have. This is not surprising, considering I did not read the work looking for the same

things Mandelbaum was, but it does create a conflict of opinion in what I feel is

important to examine in the Purgatorio versus what Mandelbaum would think.

Much of what Mandelbaum really delves into involves the way the Purgatorio was

written. Breaking down the way Dante stitched every word together completely

intentionally is most definitely important, for it shows just how skillful Dante was at

weaving language fluidly as a storytelling device. However, I feel as though the

language is important in a very different way, as well. Most readers do not have the
 Kopischke 2

prior knowledge of the English language or the way Italian fiction was written in the

1300s as Mandelbaum does, but Dante’s language touches those readers as well. The

reason for this is Dante’s care in the way he uses language and how he uses it to

convey emotion. Even reading the Italian and not knowing a single word, a reader can

almost feel the emotion through it.

Though Dante uses language beautifully in all three parts of the Divine Comedy,

nowhere is it more important than in the Purgatorio. Shedding the dark language and

grim descriptions in the Inferno, but not yet to the airy elegance of the Paradiso, Dante

must use language to establish the tone of the Purgatorio to the reader. In a perfect

example of this, Virgil says this to Dante in the fourth Canto of the Purgatorio:

This mountain’s of such sort

that climbing it is hardest at the start;

but as we rise, the slope grows less unkind.

Therefore, when this slope seems to you so gentle

that climbing farther up will be as restful

as traveling downstream by boat, you will

be where this pathway ends, and there you can

expect to put your weariness to rest.

This illustrates the beauty of the Purgatorio perfectly to Dante, as well as to the reader.

Purgatory is the middle - not the worst, not the best, but certainly necessary for the

completion of the full journey.

Mandelbaum also speaks at volume about and tries to show the clear importance

of the political aspects of the Purgatorio. While this is a part of the story that I see the

literary value in and appreciate knowing more context on, it is what I understand the

least in the story. Dante does an excellent job of showing how he feels using real

people that affected his life and it is a method of writing that is definitely effective, but it

makes it more difficult for an average reader to approach the Divine Comedy, especially

the Purgatorio which I feel has the most political conversation.

Now, deep literary analysis of a work is absolutely necessary. But I feel like there

are parts of a story that can only be seen by looking at the big picture rather than all the

moving parts. I think Mandelbaum has a great grasp on the fine details of this story, but

I wish he touched on more of the overarching themes in this introduction, though I

suppose one could make the argument that he wanted to let the text speak for itself

there.

The Purgatorio is all about context. I mentioned it in the last paper I wrote, but

without the Purgatorio, the Inferno is all pain and the Paradiso is not nearly as

rewarding. The Purgatorio could be overlooked as a transitional piece, but rather than

see it as that, I see it as the glue that holds the Divine Comedy together. Purgatory is

the mountain Dante must climb, but he is only able to climb the mountain because he

saw a horrible darkness in the Inferno, and once he climbs that mountain he can finally

ascend to Paradiso. We see Dante go through every step of the process, and that is the

reason the story feels satisfying. The Purgatorio ties everything together.
 Kopischke 4

My favorite part of the Purgatorio is something that was missing in the Inferno

and that is hope. Throughout Dante’s journey through Purgatory, there is an underlying

feeling of hope. It is hope because these souls that Dante is seeing suffer are souls that

can one day break free and ascend to Paradiso, just as Dante is doing on his journey.

The path Dante follows is the path that all in Purgatory eventually follow, and that is why

when Dante finally reaches the Earthly Paradise and can make his way to Paradiso, it is

such a liberating feeling. It is a feeling of hope for the other poor, lost souls that Dante

saw for 33 cantos. As Dante says in the tenth canto, “Don’t dwell upon the form of

punishment: consider what comes after that”. Once Dante gets to Paradiso, he can

finish his journey. Without the Purgatorio, however, that destination would mean much

less to the reader.