God’s Character and Will Theme Analysis

Throughout Paradiso, theology is always personal. Dante often wants to know, for instance, why a certain person, or group of people, has been given a particular fate. As Dante’s understanding develops, he comes to believe that such circumstances reflect God’s will, and in turn, God’s will must be expressive of God’s character. In other words, although events on earth and in Heaven are often difficult for humans to grasp, these events are ultimately reflective of God’s will, and so people must consequently trust that such events are reflective of God’s goodness. In the poem, Dante considers events that are confusing or inscrutable for humans but nevertheless convey God’s good character (the key example being the atoning death of Christ). Through these examples, Dante suggests that people must first understand God’s deep love for humanity in order to then discern and accept his will.

Through conversations with souls, Dante learns that peace consists of accepting God’s loving will, even when a person’s fate might look less than ideal from a limited earthly standpoint. A soul named Piccarda, who is assigned to one of the lower heavenly spheres, explains to Dante that she and her fellow souls “in will are brought to rest / by power of [love] that makes us will / no more than what we have, nor thirst for more. / Were our desire to be more highly placed, / all our desires would then be out of tune / with His.” Now that they’re in Heaven, the souls are in harmony with God’s will and can desire nothing other than what God gives them. It would make no sense for a soul like Piccarda to desire a higher spot in Heaven, because that would go against God’s will for her.

Later, Dante meets a soul named Folco, a poet who dwells in the sphere of Venus because in life he displayed excessive romantic ardor that dulled his love for God. Folco explains to Dante how God’s will comes to transform even this sinful tendency: “Yet here we don’t repent such things. […] / In wonder, we here prize the art to which / His power brings beauty, and discern the good / through which the world above turns all below.” Folco means that blessed souls don’t waste time regretting the sins that affected their heavenly placement. Rather, they focus on how God transformed their earthly sins in such a way that they now enjoy heavenly bliss in ways that individually suit and elevate their particular human natures.

Aspects of God’s will—especially regarding damnation—remain hidden to human understanding but must be considered against the backdrop of God’s fundamental justice, which is an aspect of his goodness. In Heaven, the souls of the just rulers form the sign of a huge eagle in the sky, which addresses Dante with a single voice. Dante struggles to understand how a soul in some distant region of the Earth, who has no opportunity to learn of Christianity, can rightfully be consigned to Hell for this lack. The voice of the just does not directly answer Dante’s question about those who die unbaptized or unconverted. It does, however, explain how there are some Christians who will not be admitted to Heaven because of their hypocrisy: “many cry out: ‘Christ!’ […] / Yet many will, come Judgement, be to Him / less [near] than are those who don’t know Christ. […] What will the [non-Christians] say about your kings” when they hear of their wickedness? God is the source and measure of all justice, which humans can’t fully penetrate with their limited understanding. In addition, the idea of the virtuous unbeliever is not more pressing than the problem of the professed Christian who doesn’t live according to their faith. Indeed, Dante suggests that the latter faces a harsher fate in Hell than mere unbelievers do. These questions must be subordinated, therefore, to trust in God’s just character.

The mystery of the atonement (Jesus sacrificing himself to make up for humankind’s sins) provides the greatest demonstration of God’s goodness, and how it’s essential for a person to understand God’s goodness to then interpret his will: “until it pleased [God’s Word] to descend / to where our nature, long abandoning / its maker, was made one, as person, with Him, / by action solely of eternal love.” In other words, the divine Word (Christ) united himself, out of love, to human nature, even though humanity had willfully rejected God’s love. When Dante asks Beatrice why God chose this means of redemption, she replies that this truth is mysterious, but what is clear is that “The generosity of God which scorns / all spite and meanness burns within itself, / yet, flaring out, unfolds eternal beauties.” In other words, the answer, though inscrutable, lies in the overflowing generosity and beauty of God’s own nature. Human beings can only discover the meaning of God’s will by increasingly coming to acknowledge and worship his goodness, beauty, and love.

At the very end of Paradiso, Dante’s vision is complete when his will is united to God’s: “All powers of high imagining here failed. / But now my will and my desire were turned, / […] by love that moves the sun and other stars.” In this way, Dante comes full circle to share Piccarda’s attitude as expressed early in the poem. His powers as poet fall silent before the immense mystery of God, and yet his will’s union with God’s, propelled by God’s love, satisfies his desires. He may not understand the mystery fully, yet he cannot will anything other than what God wills—trusting that it will ultimately be good.