One work typically comes to mind when Dante Alighieri is mentioned: The Divine Comedy. Of the three parts that make up this work, it is the first part, called Inferno, which has become the most famous—but the story told in Inferno does not end when its protagonist finally climbs out of Hell. Dante's Purgatorio is the next chapter in Dante's long journey towards God, one that paints a portrait of the medieval Christian understanding of the afterlife that is without parallel. The book's wide-ranging treatment of politics, religion, and human behavior is provocative and offers plenty of material for discussion to this day.
Key Aspects of Divine Comedy: Purgatorio
Tone
As one might expect,...
