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Canto 14
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
Dante and Virgil continue their climb and are greeted by a joyful angel who encourages them to climb a stair—less steep than the previous ones—up to the third level of Purgatory. The song “Blessed are the merciful” rings out. As they journey, Dante asks Virgil about some of del Duca’s remarks. Virgil explains that human beings see sharing as a reduction of what each individual gets. But this isn’t the way that a loving soul should think. Rather, such a soul sees mutual possession as increasing each one’s good. Though Dante remains puzzled, Virgil promises that Dante will understand better once they’ve met Beatrice above. They press onward.
Blessed by the Angel of Generosity, Dante and Virgil progress from the level where envy is purged to the level where wrath is purged. This section contains Virgil’s first discourse on love. He touches on the ideas of sharing and reciprocity, which are things that Dante is not yet sufficiently cleansed of his own sin to understand. Dante’s will (and the human will, more generally) must be shaped so as to understand higher spiritual truths, which is why Virgil says Dante will understand better once they ascend to where Beatrice is.
Themes
Arriving on the next level, Dante sees a vision of Mary discovering Jesus in the temple, the near-execution of Pisistratus, and the stoning of Stephen. These visions leave Dante reeling, and he tells Virgil about what he’s seen. As they journey onward, they see a thick cloud of smoke in the distance.
This level’s examples are of meekness, the virtue corresponding to wrath (or anger). The example of Mary is from the story of Jesus, as a young boy, seeking God in the temple and Mary’s meek acceptance of this. Dante also has a vision Pisistratus, an ancient Greek tyrant, who stoped the execution of a young man for embracing his daughter. And Dante’s third vision encompasses early Christian Stephen’s meekness in the face of death by persecutors. Each of these examples shows someone refusing to act in sudden anger.
Themes
