Book Review
Title: The Divine Comedy (Part Three; Paradiso)
Author: Dante Alighieri
Genre: Classic
Rating: *
Review: Much like my review of Part One of the Divine Comedy; Inferno and Part Two; Purgatorio I will review Paradiso in its various cantos. We know from both Inferno and Purgatorio that in this section of the novel Dante is going through Heaven or Paradise and that exactly where we find him with Beatrice at his side. On the journey to Heaven, Dante sees some amazing things but he muses they would be immediately forgotten by any mortal once they returned to Earth and he knows it is an impossible task to record all the amazing things he is going to see on his journey through Heaven.
Dante sees Beatrice turn towards the sun and stare directly at it which she is able to do because she isn’t mortal anymore and Dante copies her and unlike the previous times he isn’t blinded because they are so close to Heaven. When Dante cannot stand the brightness anymore, he turns his gaze towards Beatrice. As he watches her, he gets spiritually invigorated. As he flies upward, he hears the music around him. Caught up in all this light and music, Dante becomes curious about where they originate. He’s about to ask Beatrice when she opens her mouth to tell him. Beatrice tells him that he’s still obtuse. He’s actually not on earth like he thinks, but flying up towards Heaven.
I am going to come out and say it but I don’t like Beatrice, she is cold and unfeeling to the man who loves her dearly and as a guide, she isn’t interesting at all, I would have much preferred Virgil to continue the journey but as he is unable I would have preferred to stop reading at the end of Purgatorio. After getting around 8 cantos in I was unable to read anymore. Honestly, Beatrice was the main issue for me, the way Dante describes her in Inferno and Purgatorio and how highly Virgil thinks of her I was expecting something completely different from what we got. While I loved Inferno and really enjoyed Purgatorio I just couldn’t stand Paradiso and called it a day after I think 8 or 9 cantos.
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