Time Theme Analysis

In one sense, the souls in Purgatory (the place where souls are cleansed of their sin) have all the time in the world. Having made it to Purgatory, these souls are guaranteed to attain Heaven sooner or later—it’s just a matter of how quickly they progress through the various levels of purification on Mount Purgatory. Yet the poem is suffused with a sense of urgency: even as time in Purgatory seems to correspond in some way to earthly time, it must be used in a more spiritually focused and efficient manner than time is used during one’s bodily life. This doesn’t just apply to souls in Purgatory, however; it’s also meant to remind Dante’s earthly audience that they should spur themselves to a more spiritually effective use of their lives, so that they will not need to languish in Purgatory (or at least not for very long). By sprinkling in frequent reminders of the pressing nature of time and providing examples of a sinful squandering of time, Dante urges readers to fight against their sins before the afterlife, while they have earthly time at their disposal, so that they might shorten their time spent in Purgatory.

Dante finds that Purgatory is a place where time is a constantly pressing concern. He is constantly aware of the passage of time throughout the poem—many cantos begin with Dante observing what time it is by observing the sky. For instance, near the beginning of Canto 15, Dante observes, “As much time […] / remained, it seemed—till evening—for the sun / to travel and complete its onward way. / There it was vespers (midnight in our clime).” In this case, as elsewhere in the poem, Dante pays particular attention to time not just in Purgatory (where his character currently is in the poem), but in Italy, the site of the author’s home and his contemporary audience. Not only that, he’s also conscious of Catholic Church time—“vespers” refers to the Church’s daily cycle of prayer. In addition, Dante keeps track of the Church’s annual cycle of feasts—he arrives on the shores of Purgatory just before dawn on Easter Sunday and ascends to Heaven on the following Wednesday. This shows that he’s aware that time in the afterlife encroaches on earthly time and vice versa—the two are deeply connected.

Because souls in Purgatory are frequently urged to spend their time wisely (so they can reach Heaven more quickly), Dante implies that people on Earth should similarly stir up their desire to reach Heaven and beware of spending their limited earthly time too idly. Purgatory isn’t a place to pass the time in passive contemplation, much less empty voyeurism. Dante relates that when he pauses to take in the scenery of Purgatory, Virgil rebukes him: “‘Dear son,’ he said, / ‘do come along. The time appointed us / should be more usefully divided out.’” Time in Purgatory is meant to be used toward a specific purpose—that is, making up for one’s earthly sins. Therefore, any time idly spent is detracting from time that could be spent in Heaven.

Because their specific sin is being too lazy in their striving for God, the slothful souls in Purgatory exemplify the need for a holy use of time. There is an entire level of Purgatory devoted to the sin of sloth (laziness or irresponsibility). “For they moved at speed,” Dante describes, “racing towards us, that great multitude”—making up for time spent dawdling on Earth. Part of the penance of the slothful also consists in recalling occasions when pious haste was warranted, such as when “Maria hastened up to Juda’s hill” (referring to the Virgin Mary’s eager visit to her cousin, Elizabeth, after she learned of her pregnancy with Jesus). As they run, the penitents spur one another on with reminders of the importance of haste: “Quick! Quick! Let’s lose no time through lack of love! […] You people, whose keen fervour now repays / some negligence or else delay of yours, / through tepidness in acting for the good [.]” The words “through lack of love” highlight the fact that the worst kind of sloth is when a soul is lukewarm in their devotion to God, as this results in wasting the time allotted to pursue God during life. The purging of the sin therefore consists of cultivating the haste, greater love, and corresponding good works that one failed to do during life. Had the soul made good use of time earlier, they might already have been enjoying the peace of eternity rather than undergoing this cleansing in Purgatory.

By making frequent references to both earthly and eternal timeframes, Dante repeatedly draws his audience’s attention back to their own use of time. An eternal afterlife may seem distant and inaccessible, but Dante’s allegory portrays eternity as a state in which human beings participate (in some sense) even as they live on Earth—and thus, they’re accountable for using the present time in the best way possible.