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Dante Alighieri and Shakespeare- Purgatory

A classic book has three main factors that a reader notices the first time he or she reads a

text. Firstly, great literature such as a poem, play or novel is mainly a philosophical expression of

allegory or images, and in the case of classical texts, the philosophy often disappears into

images. In essence, a literature work cannot function without great ideas or subtexts telling the

readers all about it. This fusion of thoughts and experiences, of reflection of life meaning and life

itself, is what comprises of great literature work (Alighieri 5). Further literature is not always

about language but about life. This means that life is a journey, to be in change, in flux, in

metamorphosis and all the uncertainties that could accompany every journey phase. Even in the

most organized lives, there are moments when the created structures collapse and these

contingencies should be evaluated. Lastly, a good classic book should have aesthetic

considerations such that the play of style and language (Shakespeare (b) 45). This does not mean

political or moral elements need to be eliminated from the framed life-threatening decisions.

Based on these three factors of good literature, this essay evaluates the role of death in purgatory

texts drawing from the cases of Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri.

Dante and Shakespeare’s Texts

Both Shakespeare and Dante separate the modern world between them, in both their cases

there is no third. In his texts, Dante talks about divinity. Dante vividly described hell's torment,

the purgatory uncertainties, and the heaven glories (Alighieri 7). The image utilized leaves an

indelible mark on the readers and Western civilization. Dante's The Divine Comedy is narrated in

three parts: Inferno, purgatory, and paradise. Divine Comedy is perceived as a world of religious

poetry but the author does not shy away from revealing the deep understanding he has of

astronomy, contemporary science, and philosophy. For this reason, Divine Comedy is considered
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as a narration of various stages of afterlife. Dante describes purgatory as a place where those who

considered committing crimes but did not take action stay. Such people cannot be praised or

punished but are given a chance to repent and learn their thoughts as they provided labors that

allow them to surpass their earthy judgment. This is similar to how Shakespeare describes

purgatory in The Sonnets and The Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

Death in Classical Texts

Amid all the confusion that characterizes the world, one thing is always certain, death.

In one given time or another, after a long or short life, comes the end of the material stage of

people’s existence, which creates a new world, the afterlife. In essence, death and birth shift's the

man's activity from one universe to the other and this depends on their position whether they

designate the world people to live or call it through birth. In the case of reformations and

renaissance, purgatory was one of the three areas along with hell and heaven, where souls went

after death. In both Dante Alighieri and Shakespeare’s texts, purgatory is visualized similar to

hell but the person’s duration, in this case, is finite. This place raised a due to the need for

humans to have penitence and offered satisfaction to God for various sins (Alighieri 13).

Purgatory became important parts of texts in middle ages, especially the penitential and

intercessory systems since most people were not considered so bad to descent into hell and not

considered good to ascend into heaven after they died. In Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri's

texts, purgatory is seen as a place where people went to remove their different sins from the soul

and prepare for heaven.

In Shakespeare’s The Hamlet, the ghost of the king appeared to the prince. The king tells

the prince that he was murdered as someone poured poison in his ear while he was asleep. The

king’s ghost tell Hamlet that he is purgatory and is required to walk the Earth at night and this
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could only stop after he avenges his murder. He asks Hamlet to avenge on his behalf. However,

Hamlet second guesses his father’s ghost and wonders if it was a demon was tricking him to kill

another person. He also fears that he could be thrown it hell after he dies. This is different from

how Dante, Divine Comedy, describes death. According to Dante, the dead are not allowed to go

back to Earth. They can only be confined into purgatory as they await judgment.

Role of Purgatory

Both Dante and Shakespeare depicts purgatory as a place where souls suffer as a

consequence of their sins and they would need repentance inspired by revolving around excellent

works, which is mainly doing Christian charity. Some of the factors that contributed to the

purification of a soul included endowing prayers for those who are dead, providing good to the

poor, and contributing to the good work of the society or church. However, the duration of these

good deeds minimized an individual's duration in purgatory was uncertain. Dante texts have a

philosophical core of apocalyptic dialect that resists all forms of deconstruction. In the past

modern communities, people are forced to make a decision, which favors life. Consequently, the

critical task to sort the sheep from the goat is mainly left to the demonic rationalities of the

religious basis. This was seen in Dante, Divine Comedy, as he developed a monument to this

form of skepticism when he created Belacqua character to be seen in the ante-purgatory. On the

other hand, the former lute creator from Florence has a shelter behind a rock as he keeps out of

the heaven’s sight, with his head between the knees, keeping up with his habit of postponing the

truth moment (Alighieri 17). This is also encountered in Shakespeare work, where several of his

characters in from the poem, The Sonnets, and The Hamlet, Prince of Denmark are tormented in

purgatory.
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Although Dante Alighieri and Shakespeare concepts of purgatory are similar in several

ways such that they introduce the aspect of love and its purpose in purgatory, Shakespeare’s text,

The Hamlet, introduces ghosts. In this text, the spirit is considered an illusion that could be an

angel, a soul raised from purgatory, or a devil (Shakespeare (a) 873). The readers are made to

believe that through death, the soul goes to hell or heaven, and this eliminates the possibility that

the soul could ever return to Earth since heaven would show the soul direction. This concept

from Shakespeare's text shows a strong religious practice that displays the increase in speculation

of origins of ghosts that could be hell or heaven.

Conclusion

In both Dante Alighieri and Shakespeare’s texts, death is considered a certain part of

human life. Life after death is full of uncertainty, but based on religious teaching, people go to

either hell or heaven. Those who were not so bad and are not fit for hell or good for heaven go to

purgatory. Dante and Shakespeare describe purgatory as a place of suffering where people go

through the hardest labor to help them gain access to heaven. The main difference between

heaven and hell and purgatory is that purgatory is finite. However, the period spent by a soul here

is not always defined. Further, both authors are not sure of the factors that prolong or reduce the

time spent by souls in purgatory. In Divine Comedy, the souls that were in purgatory had not

been so bad on earth. As Dante ascends purgatory through the guide of a vigil, he sees describes

his characters such as the former lute creator in Florence and Belacqua. The lite creator is said to

be avoiding judgment similar to the way he lived on earth. Belacqua is said to be a perfect

woman, based on Dante’s description.

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Works Cited

Alighieri, Dante. The divine comedy of Dante Alighieri. Volume 1, Inferno. Oxford University

Press, 1996.
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Shakespeare, William (a). "Prince of Denmark/William Shakespeare." Shakespeare W. Complete

Works/Edited with a Glossary by WJ Craig, MA Trinity College, Dublin.–London. 1985,

pp. 870-907.

Shakespeare, William (b). Shakespeare's sonnets. Yale University Press, 2000.