Free Will Within Dante

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At first glance it may not appear that Dante’s Purgatorio has a central theme of liberty. However, the majority of its premise all relates to that of liberty and free will. Free will is the dictionary form of liberty; thus, they can be interchangeable. As humans, God has given us all the choice to do as we wish whether it be good or bad, and this ability to choice is that of free will. Dante’s journey through the afterlife is ultimately a quest for freedom, and this essay will address how the theme of free will is presented. The first instance of liberty in Purgatorio can be seen in Canto I; Cato challenges Dante and Virgil by questioning if the divine law has been broken because Dante is still a man and yet he has traveled all the way through the Inferno (46-48). Additionally, Virgil says to Cato, in regards to Dante, “May it please you to welcome him –he goes / in search of freedom, and how dear this is, / the man who gives up life for it well knows” ( Purgatorio, Canto I, 70-72). That is to say, that Virgil is trying to plea to Cato to allow him and Dante to carry on with their journey, and he explains that Dante is a man in search of liberty. Moreover, according to Verschoyle, this appeal is that of Virgil trying to show Cato that Dante is currently engaged in the search of liberty (184), and any man in search of liberty should not be hindered. Dante’s trip through the Inferno would be meaningless if he cannot travel up Mount Purgatory to reach the Earthly Paradise; therefore, his search for liberty, through all of these trials and tribulations, ultimately appeals to Cato through that of love. In Canto XVII, Virgil gives great insight to the two types of love. As asserted by Morgan “Dante learns of the goodness of natural... ... middle of paper ... ...d, learn how to forgive himself, and he had to understand what is wrong with using love in the wrong ways. Thus, through his journey he has learned that he can, on his own, make the right choices of love through his own free will because God gave us a will to choose. Works Cited Morgan, Gerald. "Natural and Spiritual Movements of Love in the Soul: An Explanation of "Purgatorio," XVIII. 16-39." The Modern Language Review 80.2 (1985): 320. JSTOR. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. Puchner, Martin. "Purgatorio." The Norton anthology of world literature. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. 512-534. Print. Triggiano, Tonia Bernardi. "Dante’s Heavenly Lessons: Educative Economy in the Paradiso." Essays in Medieval Studies 26.1 (2010): 15-26. Project MUSE. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. Verschoyle, H. S. "Dante's Quest for Liberty." Hermathena 13.30 (1904): 184-212. JSTOR. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

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