The Role Of Wood Of Suicides In Dante's Divine Comedy

One of the most heart-wrenching episodes in Dante’s Divine Comedy occurs in the Seventh Circle of hell: the Wood of Suicides. This forest is full of dark, deformed trees, and the sounds of cries cut through the air. To his horror, Dante discovers that these knotted trees are the souls of those who had committed suicide. Through his interactions with the souls of this section of hell, Dante gains wisdom about the perverted nature of sin and its power over human life. Dante’s strong emotional response in the Wood of Suicides paints a vivid picture not only of the nature of wisdom itself, but also the human responses in gaining such wisdom. The deep pity and horror that Dante feels in Canto XIII of The Divine Comedy show that the journey to

Dante is clearly horrified by what he sees in these dark woods. After hearing the tree cry out in pain and realizing that this plant was actually a human soul, Dante “stood like one who is afraid” (XIII. 45). When Virgil urged him to speak to the soul to gain understanding from him, Dante replies, “Do you continue; ask of him whatever you believe I should request; I cannot, so much pity takes my heart” (XIII. 84). Throughout the other layers of hell and purgatory, Dante was very eager to speak with the souls and learn their stories, even begging Virgil to let him stay and speak with them. Here, however, he is so overcome with emotion that he cannot even speak with the souls. Dante’s deep pity for these souls has given him a sharp realization of the destructive power of sin in the human life. Dante is afraid of what he sees, and he comes to accept the truth about sin with anguish in his heart. Through this passage, Dante communicates the message that it is difficult for a sinful human being to realize that the sin which seems so pleasurable is really a major destructive force in their life that will ultimately lead them to

As they enter the woods together, Virgil exclaims that Dante will “see such things as would deprive my speech of all belief” (XIII.20). Dante had to snap one of the little twigs so that he could hear the soul cry out in pain and see the blood that dripped from the tip of the branch. He could not understand merely by being told that the tree was a soul; he had to see the ugliness of the truth in front of his eyes. In the same way, humans cannot simply be told that sin is an ugly force in the human life. They have to be willing to look inward and see for themselves the deformity that sin had caused in their own soul. Like the gnarly tree, this is not a pretty picture to look upon. Self-reflection on one’s own faults is an uncomfortable task that is stinging to a person’s sense of pride. It is often easier to simply avoid seeing this ugly reality and to continue living in sin. However, acknowledging that they are indeed a sinner is a necessary step toward the goal of changing the person’s will toward the good things of