Giant, Harlot Chariot Engraving by Gustave Dore Black & White

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Canto 32 is an episode that is utterly and heavily symbolic. After reading this canto for the first time it was very hard for me to understand and comprehend it. Because of that I turned to the comment of Teodolinda Barolini who organized and explained the events in detail. The title of her elaboration is “Apocalypse Now”

Dante follows the parade that begun in Canto 29 and Beatrice is now at the center of it, in the chariot. The procession arrives at the Tree of Knowledge, which has no leaves and is completely bare. As T. Barollini wrote: “This is the tree from which Adam and Eve ate. The sin of gluttony thus reaches its full metaphorical potential, given that the eating that is castigated here is not literal but supremely metaphorical: Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” After the gryphon attaches the chariot the chariot to the tree it comes back to life.

Dante loses his consciousness and when he comes back to his senses he sees his beloved one sitting at the foot of the tree. She is guarding the chariot with the help of the seven virtues (the three theological and four cardinal virtues).

Beatrice addresses the pilgrim and tells him of his faith but also and his duty to describe what happens in front of his eyes. Right after that a swift sequence of images occurs for Dante to see, remember and describe. Namely, an eagle rips off the tree’s leaves and flowers and almost breaks the chariot, which symbolizes the persecution of the church (chariot) by the early emperors – Rome (eagle). A starving, female fox (heresy) jumps into the chariot and is driven away by Beatrice (the early heresies, overcome by the Church). The eagle that ripped off the tree comes back and hails the chariot with the feathers (the Church’s acquisition of temporal possessions through the Donation of Constantine – Barolini). Right after that the earth opens up and exposes to view a dragon (Islam that was believed to create a split between Christians), which in its power breaks the chariot and quickly crawls away. The chariot being covered with feathers “grows” seven heads with horns (personification of the capital sins, helped – “feathered” by the affluence and riches of Rome). Finally two new characters come into sight: a giant and a prostitute who represent the Avignon Papacy (the change of location of the papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1309).

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