Purgatory, Canto 30SummaryAcclaimed by the voices and the strewn flowers of the Angels, Beatrice appears on the car. Dante, overcome by the power of his lifelong love, turns to Virgil for reassurance; but Virgil is no longer with him. Beatrice reproaches Dante.
The Prepatory LectureQuestions for Reflection
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Purgatory, Canto 30 © Jan Hearn
The ImagesThe Figure of Beatrice: If, throughout the whole course of the poem, our minds had not been insistently prepared for the coming of Beatrice, the whole symbolism of the Masque, and particularly the chanting of the Benedictus, would lead us to expect the appearance upon the car of the Holy Host Itself. And both expectations are quite right. What appears is indeed Beatrice, as we had been led to suppose: the unmistakable Beatrice whom Dante had loved in Florence. But she is also, in the allegory of the Masque, me Image of the Host In this august and moving moment, Dante brings together all the “significations” of Beatrice, showing her as the particular type and figure of that whole sacramental principle of which the Host Itself is the greater Image. Bearing in mind the four levels (see Inf. Introduction, p-15) at which Dante meant his poem to be interpreted, we see that she is here:
Having said thus much, we may admire the poetic tact with which Dante leaves the whole weight of this allegorical structure to be carried on the framework of the Masque, so that he is free to conduct the interview between Dante and Beatrice throughout in those human and personal terms which make the story dramatically effective. Mark Vernon's Lecture |