Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Purgatorio, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Purgatory and the Heavenward Journey
Love, Sin, and God
Free Will
Spiritual Power vs. Earthly Power
Time
Summary
Analysis
The prideful penitents pray the Our Father, or the Lord’s Prayer. As they conclude the prayer, the sinners observe that they pray not for themselves, for they don’t need it anymore; rather, they pray for those remaining on earth. They continue on their way, each bearing his or her assigned load. Dante observes that those on Earth ought to help these sinners through their own prayers.
Each group of penitents is assigned a specific prayer that is meant to shape the will to desire God—in this case, the prideful souls pray the Lord’s Prayer, which emphasizes submission to God rather than to one’s own will. The prideful especially benefit from praying for the sake of others, as during their earthly lives, they were mostly inclined to think about themselves. People on earth can also pray on behalf of the souls in Purgatory.
Themes
In response to Virgil’s questioning, the souls direct him and Dante along a less-difficult path. One soul introduces himself as Omberto Aldobrandesco, offspring of a noble Tuscan lineage, who is doing penance for his earthly pride. Dante recognizes another soul as the artist Oderisi, who explains that he’d once striven for excellence alone, failing to recognize how swiftly earthly fame passes from one man to another. Oderisi also points out a man named Provenzan who was a political leader. Though he remained unrepentantly prideful until death, Provenzan gained admittance to lower Purgatory through a last-minute act of sacrificial love for a friend.
Several different manifestations of pride are shown here. Aldobrandesco, who came from a well-known Ghibelline family, had excessive pride in his heritage. Oderisi, a skilled illustrator of medieval manuscripts, had excessive pride in his achievements. And Provenzan, a Ghibelline nobleman and despotic leader, had pride in his domination over others. Provenzan’s situation is unusual in that, although he failed to repent of his sin before death (typically a prerequisite for admittance to Purgatory), the love he showed to his friend satisfied for his sin in this case.
Themes
