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
Night is falling. A single soul rises from the group of penitents and reverently leads the rest in an evening hymn. The group gazes expectantly skyward. Soon, two sword-bearing angels descend; the points of their swords are broken, and they wear bright green garments. Sordello explains that these guardian angels descend nightly to protect the penitents from a snake that always passes through the valley.
The presence of a snake on the lower levels of Purgatory recalls the tempting serpent who led Adam and Eve to sin in the Garden of Eden, suggesting that humans in Purgatory—or at least this level of it—are likewise susceptible to sin and require divine intervention to protect them from it. However, the blunted sword-points suggest that the conflict is nearer to victory than it was in Eden.
Themes
As Virgil and Dante draw nearer to the group of penitents, an old acquaintance of Dante’s, Nino, recognizes him. Nino asks Dante to find his daughter, Giovanna, back on earth and to ask her to pray for him. Meanwhile, Virgil points out to Dante that the four stars they saw that morning have set, and three other stars have risen in their place. Suddenly, Sordello points out the serpent’s approach; the angels promptly scare it off.
Nino was a leader of the Guelphs whom Dante seems to have known in real life. The three stars signify the so-called theological virtues: faith, hope, and love. The rapid ejection of the serpent suggests that the threat of sin does not loom large in Purgatory as it does on earth; the point here is repentance from earthly sin, not fighting against present temptation.
Themes
