Dante’s journey through Purgatory is envisioned as an arduous climb up a mountain, which symbolizes the soul’s ascent to God. With this image, Dante doesn’t intend to map the literal geography of Purgatory but to instead suggest that transforming from a sinful human being, to a soul being purged of that sin, to a spotless soul worthy of Heaven and being in God’s presence is a long and difficult process. However, Dante emphasizes that this journey isn’t primarily a harsh, disciplinary one. While climbing a mountain can be arduous and painful, that pain is purposeful—a climber undertakes a grueling climb with the purpose of getting to the top of the mountain, which will be sweet and rewarding and make the climber’s struggle worth it. Likewise, one’s journey through Purgatory is pain with a purpose, intended not to gratuitously torture the soul but to cleanse and renew them so that they can have the sweet reward of ascending to Heaven, the metaphorical mountain peak. In order to reach God, the soul must be cleansed of the sins they committed on Earth; as the soul is purged of this sin, it becomes perceptibly lighter, and the climb accordingly becomes easier. When a soul is fully cleansed of sin, its will is completely free of the sinful desires that used to keep it from God, and it chooses release from Purgatory. In other words, like a difficult climb, one’s journey through Purgatory is painful but also purposeful and rewarding.
Journeys and Climbing Quotes in Purgatorio
This final prayer is made, O dearest Lord,
not for ourselves (we now have no such need).
We speak for those behind us, who’ve remained.’
Then praying, for themselves and us, ‘God speed’,
these shadows made their way beneath such loads
as sometimes in our nightmares can be seen. […]
We surely ought to help them cleanse the marks
that they bore hence – till, light in weight and pure,
they’ve power to rise towards the wheeling stars.
We were, by now, ascending that great stair.
And I, it seemed, was lighter now by far
than I had seemed while still on level ground.
So, ‘Tell me, sir,’ I said, ‘what weight has now
been lifted from me, so I almost feel
no strain at all in walking on my way?’
He answered: ‘When the “P”s that mark your brow,
remaining still, though growing now more faint,
have all (as is the first) been sheared away,
your steps will then be conquered by good will
and, being thus impelled towards the heights,
will feel no strain but only sheer delight.’
Tremors strike here when any soul feels pure
and rises, newly cleansed, to start its climb.
And that cry follows as the soul ascends.
The will alone gives proof of purity
when, wholly free to change its sacred place,
it aids and sweeps the soul up, willing well.
However, since these pages now are full,
prepared by rights to take the second song,
the reins of art won’t let me pass beyond.
I came back from that holiest of waves
remade, refreshed as any new tree is,
renewed, refreshed with foliage anew,
pure and prepared to rise towards the stars.
Journeys and Climbing Symbol Timeline in Purgatorio
