Dante's Inferno: Penitents In Purgatorio

Throughout Purgatorio (Dante, 2004), many moments have sparked scholarly debates among commentators, one of which occurs in Canto IX. Near the end of Canto IX, Dante and Virgil reach the gate of Purgatory. When they reach the top of the gate, he begs him for mercy and to let Dante through the gates. In response, the angel traces the letter P on Dante’s forehead seven times. Lines 112-114 in Canto IV have sparked debate among commentators, regarding whether or not others penitents in Purgatory also have P’s carved onto their forehead, or if the P’s on Dante’s forehead is unique. Some commentators like Hollander argue that the P’s on Dante’s forehead is unique to him because Dante is the only person to visit Purgatory in the flesh. On the other

Dante was an Italian poet who depicted his fictional journey through heaven and hell. The first epic poem of the three, Inferno, depicted Dante’s experiences going through Hell. Purgatorio begins with Dante and Virgil, his guide, emerging from Hell at the foot of Mount Purgatory, where souls purge themselves of sin. The epic follows Dante and Virgil as they travel through the seven terraces of Purgatory and see souls cleanse themselves of their vices. The bottom of the mountain, Ante-Purgatorio, contains the excommunicates – those who delayed repentance and are now awaiting their time to begin purging their vices in Purgatory. Above Ante-purgatorio are the seven terraces: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice and Prodigality, Gluttony, and Lust. As Dante and Virgil explore each terrace, they all contain an example of each virtue that reflects the seven sins, a description of the penitents, and examples of each vice. As Dante and Virgil ascend Purgatory, the easier it is to

Torraca (1905) simply argues that there is never any indication that any of the penitents bear these signs, so they must not have the P’s on their foreheads. Additionally, Hollander argues that in Canto XXII, Dante describes a P being removed from his brow as “having erased another sword stroke from my brow,” (Dante, 2004, XXII, 3). Hollander points out that at this point, it is clear that Statius does not have his final P removed because he was not at the stage where his final P could be removed. If Dante wanted to indicate that Statius had gone through the same experience as Dante when their P’s are removed, Dante would’ve said “from our brows” instead of “from my brow.” Therefore, it seems like Statius did not have his brow adorned with the P’s like Dante did, which could indicate that the rest of the souls did not go through the same process as Dante. Additionally, in Canto XXI when Virgil and Dante encounter Statius, Statius asks them if Dante and Virgil came from Hell, and how they are so high up on the mountain of Purgatorio. Hollander points out that Virgil uses the remaining P’s on Dante’s forehead to explain to Statius how they are so high up on the mountain of Purgatorio. The way Statius used Dante’s forehead to explain how they are so high up indicated Dante’s unique feature among the souls in