PURGATORIO CANTO 20 Summary and Analysis

Analysis of Canto XX of Dante’s Purgatorio. Terrace of Avarice, second encounter with a soul: Hugh Capet. French royal dynasty.

English translation of Purgatorio used for this video:

Thank you all for your support, comments and interest in Dante.

[scallydandlingaboutthebooks]

Hurrah for the Saturday and time for Dante and Tom, with a cup of tea sitting in the garden in the sunshine. Possibly too indulgent than is proper for Purgatorio.

[Ursulas_Odds_and_Sods]

Hugh Capet is my 34-greats-grandfather! Several distant but closely linked branches of my family tree are descended from various Medieval French kings. It's amazing what you can discover when you trace back far enough in your genealogy. What are the odds one of my own ancestors would appear in The Divine Comedy?

Have you heard about the 100 Days of Dante project, starting on 8 September? It's sponsored by Baylor College and run in conjunction with five other schools. The objective is to read one canto a day, and finishing on 17 April. Three video lectures will be sent out each week, and participants can read on their own or with a reading group or partner.

[hesterdunlop]

Woah. Dante gets into the detail . I really like this canto as Dante's biases regarding the politics of his time are a mixture of fact and fiction . Hardly surprising given the unstable and partisan times - every side would be in their own echo chamber ....for me it shows how great art isn't made in a vacuum, Dante's head was churning with contemporary issues, hurt and anger and his whole journey is made tougher for me as I understand what he was wrestling with inside his own head....

[jilianh]

In the Kirkpatrick version, there is repetition of "to put things right" in verses 64-70. This stood out to me- is the italian also emphasizing this concept/line? Or do you think the translation strayed?

[attention]

Dying of shame is definitely something I can understand haha. The higher they go up, the more prominent (at least, in regard to power) figures they meet--is this true, or am I forgetting someone? Granted, when it comes to something like avarice, those in power have more opportunity, but those of a lower class, could still have, in their heart, the same desires. I wonder how much of this was taken into account. Though, verse 28 may give a reason on why it is more severe with those who have power--as it then, in a way, inherited to further generations, having the greed live on in such a way. Or I am completely off, and Dante just likes to use prominent figures as an example haha.

[HeyYallListenUp]

Another interesting canto and discussion. Do Italians still dislike the French in modern times as much as Dante did in his? :)

[johannalamb]

It struck my how both the example of virtue by the BVM and the prayer in this canto deal with the birth of Jesus.
With the tercet beginning in line 10 and the long litany of sinners later in the canto Dante wants to underscore how much this sin is embedded in our earthly life.
Perhaps the 2 references to the birth of Jesus highlight the antidote to avarice as stated in Philippians 2:7.

I’ll be glad when all the political discussion is over. It’s really hard to follow. On the one hand it helps to see that corrupt politicians have always been part of government (our modern time is nothing unique) but when Dante gets into the weeds of political discussions it seems to make the poem less universal and more particular to that time.

[curioushmm]

ah so souls may only have to purge on a single terrace and go to heaven from there..they don't have to travel up all the mountain? and the gloria in excelsis dei reminds me of the bell that rings when an angel gets its wings in 'it's a wonderful life...

[TootightLautrec]

Sadly, the historic specificity in this canto really put a distance between this reader and any emotional or intellectual engagement I might have experienced in grappling with the sin of Avarice. Fewer, more universal, and more vivid examples of greed and its opposing virtue would have worked better for me. I suspect I’m in the minority, but this was far from my favorite canto.

[rv.]

This canto left a bad taste for me as well (as someone else here has said). Too much time was spent wringing out the meaning from Capet's blabber about ancient politics, instead of getting to ponder the loftier themes for which we read Dante at all. While those meanings are much clearer now, I'm definitely going to forget it all as I read on.
Hoping no future canto forsakes allegory for dante's petty politics as thoroughly as this one.