Analysis Of Dante Alihieri s Purgatorio By Dante Is...

In Dante Alihieri’s Purgatorio, Dante is climbing up the Mount of Purgatory. Dante encounters many trials that he must face with the help of Virgil (human reason). The closer Dante gets the to the top of Purgatory the more and more Virgil fades away and when he finally does disappear Beatrice is there to be Dante’s guide.. Throughout Purgatorio, Alihieri uses Beatrice not only as a symbol to portray the medieval church but also a light. This is why Dante is blinded by the sight of Beatrice when she drops the veil. Most commentators agree with idea of Beatrice being a symbol of both the church and light while Bernard Stambler agrees with this but he expands upon that symbol. While most commentators believe that Beatrice is an accurate example of the Church, others tend to believe that the chariot that Alihieri talks about in Canto 32 is a more accurate representation of the church. John Carroll was one of the ones to believe this. In Stambler’s book, Dante’s Other World; the Purgatorio as Guide to the Divine Comedy, he talks about how Beatrice is more than just one symbol in Canto 32 and 33 in Purgatorio. He says that â€Å"first, the essential function of the Church throughout the purgatorial process and through the further preparation of the soul for its entrance to heaven; second, the material decay into which the Church as an institution had fallen through her usurpation of temporal functions† (Stambler 271). He is saying that Beatrice is a symbol for Church but he expands