Resumo de The Divine Comedy

Not much needs to be said about Dante and his Comedy. Dante was an amazing poet and this journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is a reflection of so much about him and he times he lived in. While some people believe that this was purely a work of religious fervor I know that it was only patially based in that. The book was also political. Just take a look at the people he put in hell! People he had issues with. But the personal note in way detracts from Dante's knowledge of Catholic dogma and his Grecco-Roman myth heritage. He draws from many sources (including the writings of Aquinas) religious and secular to form his vision of hell, purgatory and heaven.
Long narrative poem originally titled Commedia (about 1555 printed as La divina commedia), it was written about 1310-14 by Dante. The work is divided into three major sections--Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso--which trace the journey of a man from darkness and error to the revelation of the divine light, culminating in the beatific vision of God. It is usually held to be one of the world's greatest works of literature. The plot of The Divine Comedy is simple: a man is miraculously enabled to visit the souls in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. He has two guides: Virgil, who leads him through the Inferno and Purgatorio, and Beatrice, who introduces him to Paradiso. Through these fictional encounters taking place from Good Friday evening in 1300 through Easter Sunday and slightly beyond, Dante the character learns of the exile that is awaiting him (an actual exile that had already occurred at the time of writing). This device allowed Dante not only to create a story out of his exile but also to explain how he came to cope with personal calamity and to offer suggestions for the resolution of Italy's . For the most part the cantos range from 136 to 151 lines.
The poem's rhyme scheme is the terza rima (aba, bcb, cdc, etc.) In one of the best books on Dante, The Undivine Comedy, Teodolina Barolini concurs with Eliot's belief in the importance of the rhyming scheme because, she says, the terza rima "mimics the voyage of life by providing both unceasing forward motion and recurrent backward glances" thereby "imitating the genealogical flow of human history, in which the creation of each new identity requires
Thus, the divine number three is present in every part of the work. Dante adopts the classical convention of a visit to the land of the dead, but he adapts it to a Christian worldview by beginning his journey there. The Inferno represents a false start during which Dante, the character, must be disabused of harmful values that somehow prevent him from rising above his fallen world. Despite the regressive nature of the Inferno, Dante's meetings with the damned are among the most memorable moments of the poem: the Neutrals, the virtuous pagans, Francesca da Rimini, Filipo Argenti, Farinata degli Uberti, Piero delle Vigne, Brunetto Latini, the simoniacal popes, Ulysses, and Ugolino impose themselves upon the reader's imagination with tremendous force. Nonetheless, the journey through the Inferno primarily signifies a process of separation and thus is only the initial step in a fuller development.
In the Purgatorio the protagonist's spiritual rehabilitation commences. There Dante subdues his own personality so that he will be able to ascend. He comes to accept the essential Christian image of life as a pilgrimage, and he joins the other penitents on the road of life. At the summit of Purgatory, where repentant sinners are purged of their sins, Virgil departs, having led Dante as far as human knowledge is able--to the threshold of Paradise. Beatrice, who embodies the knowledge of divine mysteries bestowed by Grace, continues Dante's tour.
In the Paradiso true heroic fulfillment is achieved. Dante's poem gives expression to those figures from the past who seem to defy death and who inspire in their followers a feeling of exaltation and a desire for identification. Tso is consequently a poem of fulfillment and of completion. Dante's exploration of the ethereal -- and his corresponding self-exploration -- is profoundly intellectual in nature, and yet, it captures very effectively the full range of emotions a pilgrim would feel if he undertook the extraordinary journey that Dante purports to have taken -- emotions which include shock, horror, terror, pity, sadness culminating in joy that has no limit.

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