Dante Alighieri’s ‘Divine Comedy’ is about the path of life and salvation. It teaches us how choices become actions and how actions affect our lives and those of others. The message indicates the importance of morals and the vitality of decisions to a person’s life – making us realize how our own temporal actions (our earthly desires, earthly sins, and everything else we have made and done in our lifetime) is what brings us to our own permanent destination (with regards to the afterlife). The poem has made me question myself: Will my decision/action leave a stain? Or will it leave a mark?
The narrative poem is written in the first-person perspective, with the assumption that the focal point is that of the author, Dante himself. Recounted are the experiences Dante brought upon himself through the guidance of Virgil and Beatrice. The poem introduced the hopelessness of the speaker, using allegories representing his state of sinfulness, representing salvation and hindrances (1. leopard – violence and ambition 2. she-wolf – selfishness).
He is not only physically lost but spiritually as well. Throughout the poem, he finds answers and hopes through the guides and where the former led him to see and confront the Inferno and Purgatory, the latter brought him to Paradise. Such expedition made him realize where actions lead to. He awakens on Earth, implying the expedition was nothing but either a dream or a spiritual voyage, but, the purpose was obvious – it was a wake-up call for him to renew the current version of himself.
Throughout the poem, we relate to the vulnerability and sensibility of the speaker as a human and we learn through his journey. In his words, I realized the nature of humanity - flawed and imperfect, however, despite such imperfections, this nature shouldn’t be used as an excuse to lose our moral values nor should it be used as an excuse to lose ourselves to the illness of sin.
It also teaches us how blessings can take different forms – in the form of Virgil and Beatrice, and that it is not only up to them but up to us. Our lives are fleeting by the second and every single mistake is a step closer to our destination. At the end of the day, a step can only be taken by one’s own feet, therefore, wherever our feet lead us, there is no one else to blame and to thank but ourselves. We can be ourselves’ greatest blessing and we can be ourselves’ worse affliction.
