Dante's PURGATARIO - In a nutshell.

    " The path to paradise begins in hell "

Dante's INFERNO

Purgatorio is the second part of The Divine Comedy a trio of poems by Dante Alighieri

To recap ,Dante along with his guide Virgil crosses the Inferno. Now arrives in Pargatorio. They have travelled through the entirety of hell and emerged from the other side of Earth ready to make  peregrination towards heaven ie. Paradiso.

Dante and Virgil now stands at the base of the mountain which was created when Lucifer crashed into Earth.

There are seven terraces  in Purgatario each one comprising of seven deadly and lethal sins.

Unlike Inferno, in Purgatario the souls are not punished and torchered .

Pride : The souls of the prideful are humbled and humiliated by having to carry colossal rocks on their backs and are forever hunched over.

Envy :   The envious ones  are punished for wanting what what is someone else's . Some are forever blinded by their eyes being swen shut .

Wrath : The wrathful and the fuming onesare punished by surrounding them with thick black smoke which makes them feel aloof .

Sloth :  Souls who showed lassitude and were lethargic are made to race and shout about people that evinced zeal in life . They would eventually make up for the sloth they demonstrated.

Greed :  In the fifth terrace Virgil and Dante encounters the insatiate , greedy and the reckless spenders.They are repented here by being bound facedown . Unable to move or gather anything. They needed to show a deep understanding of love and affection beyond physical goods and money , so they shout out examples of genorosity.

Before Dante and Virgil get to terrace six , then is an earthquake for them, a sign that another soul has repented and is now able to enter paradise.

Gluttony : The two of them now enter the gluttonous terrace , where those who were esurient and have feasted non - stop in life are forced to starve and thirst.

Lust : Almost to the peak they enter terrace seven where the lustful walk through flames where they must show disregard for their bodies completely shouting stories of chastity.

To leave the Terrace Dante must also walk through a wall of flame , which he does so only because the women he loves , Beatrice Portinari. , awaits him in the Paradise.

Dante then stands ready to accend into the 3rd part of the epic poem Paradiso .

Thanks for reading .

Anusree Nair.