Dante's Purgatorio & The 9 Levels of Purgatory Explained

Timestamps:

Intro - 00:00

Pre Purg - 4:27

Lower Purgatory - 19:11

Upper Purgatory - 36:08

A series of unneeded emotions & symbolism - 57:57

Illustrations are once again courtesy of the late & great Gustave Dore

Thank you all so much for watching and please let me know what you think!

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[GippyHappy]

How fitting that, during the Inferno video, Wendigoon scoffed at Dante's writing; Now in the Purgatorio he apologizes for being too harsh and 'repents' of his former criticisms.

[TheAlmightyLoli]

I honestly love the fact that Inferno was all Dante gloating about how the people he didn't like were suffering in Hell because they took life for granted, and the ending of Purgatorio is Beatrice going "Dude, you're doing the exact same thing they were."

As much as people rag on Inferno for being "Biblical fanfiction, " the fact Dante wasn't afraid to cast himself off as a coward and a hypocrite says a lot about his integrity as an artist.

[deventazz]

Inferno was Dante telling us how good of a writer he was but Purgatorio was Dante proving it to us.

[fatguywhobreathesfire]

I would like to point out to everyone that there’s at least 1 entire level of Purgatory where Dante has “PP” inscribed on his forehead.

[NegativeCRP]

"The angel wipes the pee off his forehead."

Well that's nice of him.

[ralof]

This is such a cool story, I wish Italians were real

[AnnieAcrux]

Yes, Dante's writing does "improve" as he ascends to heaven. It is on purpose. Hell is characterized by unelegant, simple, unrefined expressions. Purgatory's language is more curated, more elaborated. Heaven's language is the closest it gets to pure poetry. It is more elevated and beautiful.

When studying this is high school, hell was reserved for 1st year, purgatory for 2nd year, heaven for 3rd year students. That's because it gets harder and harder to analyze and understand. Specially heaven, you really need to have some sort of translation next to it. We have multiple versions of the comedy, from less "adulterated" to almost completely translated. I remember our version had the original script on the left and a modern italian translation on the right.

So you're not imagining that Dante's writing gets better:D
Actually glad you noticed. Hopefully the english translation was accurate enough~

[zoskaa]

The idea that Dante takes a nap while Virgil and Stadius stand there like awkward NPCs is cracking me up

[cromtuiseagain]

"Virgil walked through the fire just so Dante wouldn't have to do it alone." That's some Samwise-tier bromanship there.

[mightymisery]

The thought of Virgil making that entire journey back by himself makes me deeply sad.

[orestis]

great vid, as always. As an italian in his 20s i will give you a bit of context about the relevance of the divine comedy in modern day italy. in every school in italy, in middle school you are introduced to Dante, then in every high school (no matter if scientific, classical, techincal, ecc) you will study every canto of the Inferno, and it takes years, and in some schools you even study the Purgatorio and the Paradiso. Also, Dante published the divine comedy in Florence in episodes, every canto was a different episode, and it got people in florence hooked, he was the original netflix! also think of it not in a litteral way, the Inferno was basically a diss track against his political enemies. Also, his version of italian (because at the time italian was not a universal language for the italian peninsula) became the foundation of modern standard italian. This stuff is the litteral backbone of italian litterature to this day. ah, also, my elementary school was called Dante Aligheri, i just remembered now while writing this, lol.

[madisonperdue]

“Virgil walked through the fire just so Dante wouldn’t have to do it alone.”

“And even though humanity left God still takes care of Eden in case we ever decide to come back home”

“Standing before the garden of Eden, and in front of an infinite Love that dragged him back there, none of his desires seemed that important anymore”


that’s it we don’t need any books or any other analysis videos by anyone else, nobody could explain these ideas as perfectly and powerfully as this guy. His reaction to Dante’s take on God’s Love perfectly shows what these concepts do to the human heart, I have so much respect for this guy for keeping that in the cut. As a jaded Christian, this was so important to me. Thank you.

[Entrominal]

The friendship between Virgil and Dante is heartwarming.
The line about how God tends to the garden every day Incase humanity ever decides to come back got me. Ik it's not completely biblically accurate but still got me.

[Infrared]

As someone who isn't really religious, I did almost get emotional at the notion of God maintaining the Garden of Eden, our original perfect home, in case we ever wanted to return. There is something very touching about that, like a father keeping his child's room ready in case they ever came to visit.

[StainsStainsStains]

This dude has ridiculous levels of charisma, probably among the highest ive ever seen in a youtuber. Its almost impossible to not like this guy.

[stenkamx]

I was raised catholic, I am not super religious now but something about god maintaining the garden every day in case humanity decides to come back home really gets to me.

[Cyboogie.the.Cyborg]

A couple of cool facts about the Divine Comedy:
- Dante wrote it in 15 years, that is why you see a style change
- The comedy is written so it rhymes in a way to recall sacred numbers multiple times, for example you have 3 sections (inferno, purgatorio and paradiso) and each of this section is described in 33 canti.
- The idea behind the shape of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven is that when Satan fell he created a "Heaven" in his image, doing that all the dirt he moved went to form the Mountain of Purgatory at the other side of the world.
- When Dante and Virgilio get from Hell to Purgatory they use a narrow passage (which is where all the dirt from Hell came to form Purgatory) and all that is meant to resemble the act of birth from the fetus perspective.

[facethefist]

That part where god maintains the garden everyday in case people decide to return legitimately got me to tear up a little ngl.

[Caeljharden]

Dude you’re the farthest thing from “a little wimp” for showing emotion. The fact you knew some of the ideas and things mentioned are extremely personal for you, yet still shared it with thousands of strangers is the least wimpy thing someone could do. And that’s why you’re my favorite YouTuber.

[jorgyt]

The fact that the "Pre Purg" levels are pretty much just God putting people on hold is absolutely hilarious.