A "review" of a monumental classic like Dante's Divine Comedy may be an exercise in hubris that lands me in a "bolgia" of the Inferno. After finishing all three volumes, Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise), I feel compelled to respond in writing to complete my enjoyment, but realize I have nothing profound to say. Here are some observations, humbly offered.
The Divine Comedy is epic because it offers a complete worldview, capturing the totality of heaven and earth from the Medieval perspective in a personal story. Dante integrates the Biblical and classical worlds by including Abraham and Aristotle, the Blessed Virgin and the gifted Virgil in their proper places. The virtuous pagans are consigned to limbo, yet their philosophy and mythology and proto-science reach up to heavenly realms. It is a fusion of two streams of civilization, the Greek and the Christian, with unambiguous priority given to the latter. Contemporary Christians do the same as we explain and integrate Freudian psychology, Marxist theory, secular science and rock music by a Biblical standard. We expend immense effort trying to preserve the good and reject the bad. History will judge if we fare better.
The Divine Comedy is moral because it provides Dante a vehicle to critique his society and contemplate a righteous life. The rebuke of popes and emperors is scathing. Those who suffer in the Inferno are punished by being given over to the evil they pursued in life. We should tremble at final justice. Dante subscribes to the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, but Protestants can understood it as a metaphor for sanctification in this life, a hopeful battle against sin by joyfully accepting its temporary consequences because, unlike the Inferno, God works it for our good. This optimistic moral vision extends beyond the personal, foreseeing revival in the Church and the rise of good government. Evil fails and good succeeds, both in our personal lives and in society.
The Divine Comedy is transcendent because it captures the human desire for complete happiness and full understanding. It ends with Dante seeing the turning of planets driven by the love of God, an ultimate satisfaction made possible in the presence of God, and a wondrous gaze into the Triune essence of God. We are created for such things and should not settle for the small and the selfish. If it awakens an inner whisper "What if this could be true?" then Dante has successfully reached across the ages. But if we dismiss this as Medieval superstition and religious ignorance, then we are left with our convenient but barren world, where our technology allows us to click on the latest Netflix Original but won't bring us the satisfaction and insight that Dante believes is possible.
