The final piece for Dante’s salvation is Beatrice. In canto 30 Dante is awestruck at finally seeing Beatrice after all those years “I saw the lady who had first appeared/ to me beneath the veils of the angelic/ flowers look at me across the stream” (Alighieri 64-66). But, this does not mean that Dante is going to Paradise. Here, Beatrice is depicted with a stern and harsh stance towards Dante, “just as a mother seems / harsh to her child, so did she seem to me/ how bitter is the savor of stern pity!”(Alighieri 79-81). Dante is to undergo one last trial or reflection in order to ascend. It makes you wonder if the journey through Hell and Purgatory was enough to grant entry to Paradise, but it is not that simple; Dante passed and spectated throughout his journey, not participating. Dante merely took lessons from cautionary stories. In order to truly grant access to Paradise he must look into himself, and renounce all his sins by feeling anguish and sorrow: “my reply/ be understood by him who weeps beyond,/ so that his sorrow’s measure match his sins”(Alighieri 106-108). We have come to know since the beginning of Inferno that Dante has overwhelming love for Beatrice. With that in mind, there is no room for self deception for Dante. He cannot hide or lie about his sins to himself or even his love. Thus, he finally rids himself of sin by acknowledging them and feeling remorseful.
Tag Archives: canto 30
Dante and Beatrice on Earth and in the Earthly Paradise
Dante’s first known work, Vita Nova or New Life, heavily centers around the relationship, or lack thereof, between Dante and Beatrice. As I mentioned in a previous post, my first academic encounter with Dante was Vita Nova. I was, and still am, fascinated by the one-sided relationship Dante seems to have with Beatrice in Vita Nova which seems to expand into more of a reciprocal relationship in Purgatorio. I say this because in Vita Nova Dante and Beatrice only have a few interactions of little to no consequence other than in Dante’s mind. I remember wondering last year if Beatrice would have even known who Dante was or just vaguely recognized his face if they passed by each other on the street.
When Beatrice finally comes to Dante’s side for the first time in La Commedia, I immediately found my copy of Vita Nova* to see what comparisons I could find. I decided not to immediately read the Purgatorio footnotes for Canto 30 since I wanted to see what I could come up with organically, almost like a small test of my analyzing skills.
Both times Dante sees Beatrice for the “first” time (the true first time on Earth and the first time during his journey outside the earthly realm) he almost immediately describes her clothing. After three very long sentences in Vita Nova, amounting to about half a page, where Dante uses astrological terms to explain how old he and Beatrice are at the time of this first sighting, in the fourth he writes:
“She appeared, dressed in a very stately color, a subdued and dignified crimson, girdled and adorned in a manner that was fitting for her young age” (page 3).
In Purgatorio, Dante again immediately describes her clothing before he talks about her effect on him, writing:
“her white veil girt with olive, a lady appeared to me, clothed, beneath a green mantle, in the color of living flame” (lines 31-33).
Both times Dante sees Beatrice she is clothed in red. I have a note handwritten in my copy of Vita Nova that I am almost sure was information Professor Van Peteghem told us in class explaining that crimson was linked to grief after death during Dante’s time. If that is true, it juxtaposes the two shades of red perfectly. The first is linked to death and the other to the living flame.
The second time Dante sees Beatrice in Vita Nova he once again describes her clothing, writing that the “marvelous lady appeared to me dressed in pure white, between two gracious women, both of whom were older than she” (page 4). This white is again seen in the description of her veil in Purgatory. The two gracious women that Dante sees Beatrice accompanied by in this quote sparked my interest as well. In Canto 2 of Inferno, I had found it very odd that it took two intermediaries, St Mary and St Lucy, to intercede with Beatrice on Dante’s behalf so that she would ask Virgil to help him. It is a possibility in both cases that Dante has the total be three women due to the holiness of the number three, however, I am curious if there might be a link between the two women Dante sees Beatrice with in Vita Nova and the two women that are intermediaries to Beatrice in Inferno.
Unfortunately, I could not find any mention of the color green in Vita Nova which makes this comparison fall just a little short. I went as far as to find a digital copy and keyword search everything I could think of, including mentions of olives and leaves, which was to no avail. Never the less, I am still satisfied with the comparisons I did find between Vita Nova and Purgatorio.
*All quotations from Vita Nova are from the Andrew Frisardi edition published in 2012.
Paper Idea: I would like to examine the similarities and differences between any women represented by both Dante and Christine de Pizan if you think it is a good idea for a paper.
Virgil & Beatrice
Throughout the Inferno, Dante is scolded by his guide Virgil. Similarly, in Purgatorio, Dante is scolded like a mother to a child by his lover, Beatrice. Dante is scolded by two of the most important people to him. In canto 30 of the Inferno, Dante is watching Sinon and Master agrue and go back and forth. Virgil comes and hits Dante in the back of his head and tells him to stop watching this shameful argument. In lines 130-136:
I was all intent to listen to them, when my master
said to me: “Now keep looking, for I am not far from
quarreling with you!”
When I heard him speak to me angrily, I turned
toward him with such shamethat it dizzies me in
memory.
Dante hangs his head in shame and Virgil after seeing this takes him under his arm and forgives him. Just as a mother scolds her child and the child is ashamed; the mother feels bad and shows affection to her child. In canto 30 of the Purgatorio, the moment everyone has been waiting for: the appearance of Dante’s beloved Beatrice. When she first appears, Dante is taken back by her beauty and like a scared child turns to Virgil for answers. Virgil was gone. Dante starts panicking wondering where Virgil could’ve gone and as he is about to cry Beatrice scolds him. Beatrice foreshadows that Dante will encounter another terrible wound so he should save his tears. Without mercy, she scolds him for crying in the earthly paradise; the place where men are supposed to be happy. Dante hangs his head in shame and then sees his shameful reflection in the stream. Beatrice is compared to scolding Dante as her child. As shown in lines 73-81:
“Look at us well! Truly I am, truly am
Beatrice. How have you designed to approach thee
mountain? Did you not know that here mankind is
happy?”
My eyes fell down to the clear spring, but,
seeing myself there, I turned them to the grass,
such shameweighed down my brow:
so as a mother seems severe to her son as she
seemed to me, for bitter is the flavor of
compassion still unripe.
