In Purgatorio 30 Dante compares Beatrice to an Admiral that helps guide other people’s ships “Like an admiral who comes to stern and prow to see the people who serve on other ships, and heartens them to do well” (58-60). This line reminded me of Ulysses and his voyage to beyond the edge of the known world. We know that this journey failed and may be one of the reasons for Ulysses’ damnation. Ulysses is portrayed as a gifted individual with talents that can break past the established limits. This is quite similar to how Dante portrays himself as we have seen him place himself just one level below the greatest poets in the world. Dante seems to compare Ulysses’ voyage with his own journey as he makes references of ships throughout Purgatorio like the previous quote or the quote in the beginning of Purgatorio “To run through better waters the little ship of my wit now hoists its sails, leaving behind it a sea so cruel.”

We know that Ulysses’ journey failed and that Dante’s journey will succeed but why does this happen even though they are of similar character? That is because of Beatrice or more precisely faith as we see in Purgatorio 31 we learn that Beatrice is the one that guides Dante onto the true path, she is the reason why Dante made this journey in the first place as he was slowly straying from the true path and needed to be corrected. That is why Dante makes the comparison with the Admiral, Beatrice is able to help guide Dante because of his faith. Ulysses on the other hand wanted to rely on reason and logic, without faith he was destined to never succeed in his voyage. This draws back to the theme of faith vs reason as we have seen with Virgil in where he was unable to get through hell by only using reason and had to rely on faith to get past these obstacles.

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