Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Paradiso, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Earthly and Heavenly Justice
Creation and God’s Providence
God’s Character and Will
Vision, Knowledge, and the Pursuit of God
Language and the Ineffable
Summary
Analysis
Still in the sphere of the fixed stars, Dante contemplates the dim possibility that he might someday see Florence again. The soul of St. James, approaches, wishing to examine Dante in the virtue of hope. Beatrice speaks up on his behalf, affirming that there’s no Christian on earth more filled with hope than Dante. Dante replies that hope is the firm expectation of coming glory, and that it’s been instilled in him by the Psalms and by James’s own epistle. At James’s prompting, Dante further explains that he hopes for what Scripture promises—friendship with God. Soon after, another gleaming soul approaches, which Beatrice identifies as that of the apostle John. St. John’s brightness temporarily blinds Dante.
Dante’s fading hope of seeing Florence again contrasts with the far greater hope of going to Heaven—even his beloved hometown pales in significance. The apostle James questions Dante about hope, another of the three main Christian virtues. James’s letter in the New Testament doesn’t focus exclusively on hope, but Dante seems to interpret this virtue in terms of perseverance through suffering for the sake of God’s reward—a hallmark of his journey throughout the Divine Comedy—which the epistle’s opening touches on.
Themes
