Dante’s Paradise: the history and characteristics of the most significant characters that the poet meets in the third canticle of the Divine Comedy.
Characters of Dante’s Paradise: Introduction
Paradiso is the third canticle of Dante Alighieri ‘s Divine Comedy , after Inferno and Purgatory .
In the preface the poet declares the ascent through the nine celestial spheres to the Empyrean and the vision of God. Then, he invokes the help of the Muses and above all the poetic inspiration of Apollo.Beatrice accompanies him on his ascent to heaven . Her role is similar to that of Virgil in the Inferno, that of Dante’s guide and teacher.
Dante refers to her using the term donna , while Beatrice often reproaches him for his ignorance in doctrinal matters. We clearly see the classic vision of the stilnovist current, already present in other Dantean works.
In the following list, however, we will try to remember the characters present in Dante’s Paradise, focusing, above all, on those most significant for the Florentine poet.
Emperor Justinian
In the sixth canto of Paradiso Dante meets a soul who presents himself as that of the emperor Justinian .
The emperor tells of the time when the imperial insignia came into his hands and especially of his opposition to Christian orthodoxy. He also recalls his main meritorious work, namely the drafting of the Roman Civil Code.
Through the soul of the Roman emperor we discover the entire history of power and the Roman Empire, starting from its Trojan origins up to Charlemagne .
Dante focuses on the deeds of Caesar and Augustus to then arrive at the central moment in the history of humanity and its redemption, the death of Christ under Tiberius.
In the Canto there is also a violent political and moral invective against the opposing parties of the Ghibellines and the Guelphs , the former guilty of distorting the meaning of imperial power, the latter of opposing it.
Justinian, finally, reveals to Dante that the souls of Mercury are those of those who acted well on earth to obtain glory and fame; for this reason they occupy a heaven so low compared to the Empyrean.
St. Thomas Aquinas
In Canto X , that of the wise spirits, Dante meets Saint Thomas Aquinas , who indicates to the poet one by one the souls of those who together with him make up the first crown of wise spirits.
Albertus Magnus, the canonist Francis Gratian, the learned Peter Lombard, King Solomon, Dionysius the Areopagite, the great Severinus Boethius, Isidore of Seville and many others are named.
Once the list is finished, the Saint falls silent and the whole crowd resumes dancing and singing with an indescribable harmony. Saint Thomas Aquinas is also present in other Cantos.
Saint Peter
In Canto XXIV Dante meets Saint Peter . Beatrice, using the liturgical image of the banquet of wisdom, intercedes for Dante so that the blessed may share their knowledge with him.
The souls arrange themselves around them and begin a joyful dance in circles, and their different speeds manifest the greater or lesser state of bliss.
From the crown of greatest value comes the light of St. Peter, who circles around Beatrice singing with a voice so sublime that it is indescribable for Dante.
The Saint begins to examine Dante on faith, asking him to say what it is. The poet answers that faith is the principle on which hope in the future life rests and the promise from which we must start to reason about what we do not see.
This answer is approved by St. Peter who asks Dante what is the source of his faith. The poet then declares that it derives from the Holy Scriptures.
Saint Bernard
In Canto XXXI Dante turns to ask Beatrice new questions but sees an old man with a venerable appearance at his side ; he immediately asks him where Beatrice has gone and points out that she has already returned to her seat among the other blessed, on the third step from the top.
Dante can clearly see her and addresses her with a final prayer of thanksgiving, praise and intercession, to which Beatrice responds with a final look and a final smile.
The blessed reveals himself as Saint Bernard , after Virgil and Beatrice, the poet’s last guide on his journey towards God.
In Canto XXXII the Saint indicates to Dante the divisions of souls in the celestial amphitheater. The first develops on the vertical plane: separated by a column of holy women arranged in correspondence with Mary’s seat and by a symmetrical column of saints and Fathers of the Church arranged on the opposite side of the amphitheater, there are on one side the blessed who lived before the coming of Christ and on the other those who lived after.
Virgin Mary
She is perhaps the most important character in the entire Canticle. Dante contemplates the Virgin in lines 88-114 of Canto XXXII .
She is indicated to him by St. Bernard and is described as the brightest angel among the rejoicing ones. Among the latter there is also the archangel Gabriel , who stands beside the Virgin in veneration singing the Ave Maria to her and all the blessed and the angels join in the chorus.
The poet believes that the image of the Madonna as she appears to him is what comes closest to the figure and intensity of God. Canto XXXIII opens with Saint Bernard raising an intense prayer of praise to the Madonna, considered the most charitable intermediary between man and God, of whom she was mother and daughter in the mystery of the incarnation.
