Dante's Divine Comedy: a Moralistic View Through Its Allegory

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study: Moral truths are applied to human existence everywhere and at all times. This is what the researchers believe in. In relation to this, a passage from ‘On Literature and Ethics’ by Eskin, Michael, says: “The distinctive ethical force of literature inheres not in the fictional world portrayed but in the handling of language whereby that fictional world is brought into being. Literary works that resist the immediacy and transparency of language—as is the case in modernist writing—thus engage the reader ethically; and to do justice to such works as a reader is to respond fully to an event whereby otherness challenges habitual norms.” This is also supported by the statement: “it is wanting to read classical books in order to know and to avoid what is bad”. (Morality and Literature, 1906) The notion that can be formulated behind this is that man responds to what he believes is true. The researchers, on account of the Christian education they are enjoying, definitely, join the notion that there is a heaven or a hell after death. It’s a fact that many still do not believe in life after death. Most skeptics conclude that nobody really knows what happens to us after death (B.A. Robinson, 2007). Some would say that life ends at the moment of death. There are varied beliefs about this notion. And such statement below, gathered by the researchers, show people’s concept of what happens after life, if moral values are to be considered. “For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. " (2Corinthians 5:10) Both the researchers are one in saying that man has to do well in preparation for life after death. Both believe that this is the tenet of Morality. So, are there really Moralistic Views about life after death? Does Morality change with due respect to the continuous evolution of a new generation? Within the limits of the researchers, it is necessary to conduct this inquiry in accordance with their career line. The researchers have encountered a perfect literary piece serving as a spiritual & literature guide in figurative analysis and criticism. This literary piece is Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. The researchers chose this literary piece out of their curiosity of human’s adventure throughout his existence. To further discuss their thoughts, they decided to study “Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Moralistic View through its Allegory”. They decided, further, to use Allegory as the channel in critiquing the philosophical-theological literary piece. This is because it serves as a better way to analyze and understand the extended metaphors employed in the content of the piece. From there, the researchers expect to achieve their goals and to bring the common beliefs of man’s awareness of Morality as a prelude to life after death. Hence, this is an attempt on the content analysis through Allegorical Signs of Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” otherwise known as “La Divina Comedia”.

Statement of the Problem: The main objective of this study is to discover how the author used Allegory as a literary device in projecting the Moralistic View of the literary piece entitled “Divine Comedy”. In finding out the answer/s to the main problem, the researchers will have to venture on answering other minor problems to arrive at the answer/s to the main problem. These minor problems of the study include the following: 1. What is the plot of the epic poem the “Divine Comedy”? 2. What are the Allegorical Signs found in the plot of the poem? 3. How are these Allegorical Signs used to project Christian Morality? 4. How is Allegory related to Morality in the story? In other words, what is the relationship between Allegory and Morality in the story?
Significance of the Study: This study will be very significant to different groups of people who will gain insights after having read the paper. The researchers, who made this paper, will be able to prepare themselves for further discussions of Figurative Language in the furtherance of their career as English majors. This so called Figurative Language will usher them into the Master’s Level of analysis as they venture to tackle the subject in the Graduate School. This will also be used as a tool for more studies on Literature making it a potent avenue to integrate the values they have learned from this study into their human existence. Moreover, their mastery of Figurative Language can lead them to their expertise in Literary Criticism as this is a major step towards understanding the Five Approaches to Literature: the Archetypal (literature and mythology), Sociological (literature and social issues), Moralistic (literature and moral ideas), Psychological (literature and psychological ideals) and Formalistic (literature and aesthetic structure) style of content analysis. The Research class will also be a beneficiary to this study as it will increase the span of collections of research works for future reference. Having used the Critico-Analytical style, the researchers will be able to impart upon the other students, that content analysis in English Research is significantly having a style of its own which is inevitably independent of other disciplines. The Education Department of the College of the Holy Spirit of Manila will also have its own advantages over this study. This can be used as a very good springboard or motivating instrument for teachers-to-be in Literature. In fact, as students of a Catholic Institution, this study is a support to the value formation of the entire department and to reflection sessions for spirituality. For students of the school to gain interest in reading literary pieces concerned with the morals of human existence, this study would aid CHSians in opening themselves to the realities of life. As far as content is concerned, this study will enhance any reader’s view of Morality as a guiding factor in their spiritual preparation for life after death. In another angle, future researchers in the field of Literature will also be able to use this study as a footnote in their own studies especially if such studies would deal with literary pieces related to Moralistic Views presented in the form of Allegory. Similarly, if, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will have the opportunity to read this paper, it will pave a way for recognizing efforts of students in the field of Literature, thereby, promoting more opportunities for scholarship grants to students who wish to take up a Master’s Degree in English major in Literature. In so doing, the Commission will encourage more researchers to venture in the field for professional growth.
Scope and Limitation: The researchers have focused only on one author in the person of Dante Alighieri. The selected literary piece, the “Divine Comedy” is an epic poem written by him which is mainly about human existence and life after death. The researchers also focused their study on the literary device called Allegory evident in the poem. Having used the Critico-Analytical method as their research design, the researchers discussed, interpreted, analyzed and critiqued the content of the story through its Allegorical Signs in order to realize and appreciate the Moralistic View of the poem. Each character included in the selected literary piece, which is also considered as an Allegorical Sign, will be analyzed, for the researchers believe that the author used his imaginative characters as outlets for his own thoughts and emotions. According to John Aitken Carlyle, “Virgil, stands for Worldly Wisdom, and is Dante’s guide through Hell and Purgatory” (1950). Dante, in the story has used his characters as Allegorical Signs. This study also limited itself to the reading of books, journals, encyclopedias, Internet and other materials necessary as a methodology in gathering the data and information needed. Furthermore, this study has its own limitations in the sense that it is confined mainly to the Moralistic Views of the literary piece including the possible analysis of these views in the current times among Christians.
Definition of Terms: The following terms, which are very important in this study, are being defined according to how they are used:
Critico-Analytical- the research design used in the study to discuss, interpret, analyze and critique the “Divine Comedy” of Dante.

Literature- creative writing with artistic value recognized as an expression of life.

Literary device- a way of using an aspect of literature to pick out what is projected in a

story or novel. (Allegorical Signs)

Allegory- extended metaphors used by Dante Alighieri in equating the meanings that

lie outside the narrative of his epic poem.

Christian Allegory- an interpretive method used to uncover hidden or symbolic meanings of Biblical texts.
Morality- the rightness and the wrongness of an action. (the ethical teachings within

“Divine Comedy”)

Moralistic View- an opinion characterized by an expression of a concern with Morality.

Epic poem- an extended narrative poem, exalted in style and heroic in theme. The material used by the researchers, “Divine Comedy”, is an example of an epic poem.

Canto- major divisions of the epic poem “Divine Comedy”.

In-depth Interview- a direct or face-to-face gathering of qualitative information used to answer open-ended questions including those that are asked with the five W’s: who, what, when, where, why and one H: how.
Research Paradigm: “Moral criticism concentrates on the moral dimensions of literature and often judge literary works by their ethical teachings and by their effects on readers.”
(Cynthia Spangler, 2008) The previous statement is supported by Wilbur Scott’s idea that, "All literature affects our modern and religious existence." (1962) This theory explains that Literature which is ethically sound and which encourages virtue is praised; Literature which also misguides and corrupts is condemned. Some modern critical theories may make or resist the idea that literature has a purpose but one cannot deny that many of the greatest writers have considered themselves teachers as well as artists. It is to be illustrated by the conceptual framework shown below.
Theoretical Framework [pic]
Operational Framework To further venture upon this theory, as a basis of the operational framework, this study will be explained. The concept begins with the author as it is represented in the framework to be Dante Alighieri. To take track on his famous epic poem “Divine Comedy” as the literary piece, the ethical teachings can be extracted from the plot as lessons and would give several branches of effects to the readers.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter holds various literature and studies relative to the researchers’ study entitled, “Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Moralistic View through its Allegory”. Selected materials are to be discussed in this section from different categories: Life of Dante Alighieri and Creation of the Comedy, Modern Relevance of Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”, Morality, Divine Spirituality and Allegory.
Life of Dante Alighieri and Creation of the Comedy: The Italian author famous during the middle Ages, who ventured all his life upon literature was Dante Alighieri. He was said to be born in Florence from a wealthy family.
He studied across different countries which brought him to have met his inspiration: Beatrice Portinari (1266-1290), whom he met only twice during his childhood days leaving him depressed yet motivated to write magnificent literary pieces. Out of disappointment, he became strong and so he entered the army. During the colonization of Guelphs, he was maltreated and banished with a condition condemning him to death if he ever goes back to his homeland. In Ravenna, where he was exiled, death has taken him. “Divine Comedy” was then considered to be a summary of medieval thought. Dante began the poem at about 1308 as he relates his spiritual development and focus on the theme of afterlife. (World Book Encyclopedia, 2001) It gives rise to the idea that the plot of the “Divine Comedy” is purely a Christian Allegory. (Masterpieces of World Literature in digest form, 1952) In World Poets of 2000, Ron Padgett clears that in a very real sense, Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is his dream of a new vernacular that might rival the Latin and Greek literature. It promotes the church’s secular concern and spiritual calling. As R.W.B. Lewis puts in his book “Dante”, the poem is autobiographical: "the journey of a man to find himself and make himself after having been cruelly mistreated in his homeland. It is also a rhythmic exploration of the entire cultural world Dante had inherited." He also believed that Dante’s comprehensive outlook is something for which, in our fragmented and rootless modernity, many of us yearn. Yet we also identify Dante as a realist, who speaks to us with such unencumbered directness of love and loss, violence and greed, hope and injustice-and in language that is at once high and low.
Modern Relevance of Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”: According to Rustin Higbee, in this modern society, the rise of modern interpretations for old world religions is changing the way we understand the afterlife. The medievalists would be accused of heresy for doubting the existence of an afterlife while the modern man is praised for keeping an open mind and for questioning his beliefs. The material of the poem is, in general terms the express identity of the poet’s age- the interpretation of the events thereof with the ideas of Religion, Science and Poetry in the loftiest genius of that century. Our intention is not to consider it in its immediate reference to its age; but rather in its universal application, and as the archetype of all modern poetry. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807)
Morality:

In the book ‘Moral Rules’ (1973), Bernard Gert questioned which actions are subject to Moral judgment. The simplest answer is: those that are concerned by some moral rule or moral ideal. However, this answer, which is largely correct, is not yet of much use until we know what the moral rules and moral ideals are. But, of course we do know some moral rules: “Don’t kill”, “Don’t lie”, “Don’t steal”. And we do know some moral ideals: “Aid the suffering”, “Help the needy”. But in order to be completely clear about the scope of moral judgments, we must be clear about the moral rules and moral ideals. We now have an account of good and evil such that though neither is defined in terms of the other, they are logically related to each other in the appropriate way. Evil is what all rational men will avoid unless he has a reason. Thus nothing can be both good and evil.

Moreover, Wallace A. Bacon (1972), defined Morality play in his book “The Art of Interpretation 2nd Edition” as a Christian Allegory in play form employing the characters’ vices and virtues personified and contending for mastery over the soul of man. In line with this, Richard L. Overman M.S. stated in his study “Comparing Origin’s Belief and Moral Values” (1998) through his abstract that many creationists have advanced the idea that what one believes about creation and evolution affects his or her worldview. Empirical studies in this area are, however, lacking. By advancing a hypothesis that does not have empirical support, creationists are seen by some in the "mainstream" scientific community as extreme and unscientific. This paper reports on a study involving the development and implementation of a survey of science teachers to ascertain the relationship between their belief in creation or evolution and their moral views. The research hypothesis, that there is a relationship between one's origins belief and his or her moral view, is supported. The secondary hypothesis, that the more one believes in creation, the more positive his or her moral views, also is supported. On the specific questions of intimacy, there also appears to be a relationship at the later stages in the expected direction. That is, the more the subject believes in creation, the less he or she is willing to morally accept sexual intercourse between two unmarried consenting people.
Divine Spirituality:

Robert Royal (1999) explains that if you believe in and live for the next life with its rewards promised by God, you are unconquerable in this life. You realize it is passing and that at the end, after the Final Judgment, only God, heaven and hell remain: "to live is Christ; to die, a gain." In part, this is why the “Divine Comedy” and Royal's treatment of it are so important. If all our life is simply a preparation for the next, which is eternal, we desperately need guides to help us achieve our end. As Dante himself says in what may be the most famous opening in Christian literature "Midway upon the journey of life, I found myself within a dark forest, for the straightforward pathway had been lost." (Longfellow translation). He finds his guides in Virgil and, later Beatrice. We have many guides, principally, of course, Christ's Church.

In addition, Josep Gimenez said in his article “The Last Things: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory” that Hell is something not created by God. If Hell is not a creation of God, and if only God can create, then we must conclude that Hell can be characterized only by its negativity. Properly speaking, Hell is not. On the other hand, if there is anywhere where we feel particularly pained at the incapacity of human language to communicate what “eye has not seen nor ear heard” and “what God has prepared for those he loves", it is in trying to speak of Heaven. We are blinded by the excess of light. Possibly this is what Purgatory is all about: knowing that we are utterly saved and nevertheless still on the way to taking full possession of that salvation. In other words: Purgatory is Heaven, but seen “from this upward slope”. Hell, Purgatory, Heaven were but an immediate expansion and extension of the world. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807)
Allegory:
The symbolic expression by means of symbolic fictional and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence is what we call Allegory. It is an instance (as in a story or painting) of such expression and a symbolic representation. Best examples of Allegory would be read in the Bible. One of the rules of Allegory is that the stories must agree; i.e. the symbolical tale cannot contradict the plain text. As with all analogies, there will always be parameters which are not part of any comparison. One of the examples given is when Jesus called Himself the “Door”. Just because Jesus called Himself a “Door” doesn’t mean that he’s made of wood or swings on hinges. It means; Jesus is the only name, and way to the Father. (Scribd, 2009) This is supported by Rene Wellek and Austin Warren’s statement: “The good writer partly conforms to the genre as it exists, partly stretches it.” (Theory of Literature, 1956) These statements support the idea of Wallace A. Bacon (1972) who states that Allegory is a narrative in which the characters, settings and action are representative of general concepts or ideas. Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, a classic example of the type, presents the progress of a Christian’s trials seeking salvation in the Allegorical form of a search of the character named Christian for the Celestial city; en route, Christian meets such characters as Faithful and Despair, and visits such places as the Slough of Despond and the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Allegory may be written in Prose (Pilgrim’s Progress), Poetry (Spenser’s Faerie Queen), or Dramatic form (Everyman). To sum up the collected literature and study, the content of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” gave impact to all the contributors and critics in this chapter. Each contributes their concept of Dante himself, the book (“Divine Comedy”), and their different views of Morality. This chapter gave a great deal of light to the researchers’ literary device in their criticism.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the Research Method, Method of Gathering Data and the Method of Data Analysis used in this study entitled “Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Moralistic View through its Allegory”.
Research Method: The researchers made use of the Descriptive-Qualitative Research design to further explain the epic poem. Qualitative Research is descriptive in that the researcher is interested in process, meaning, and understanding gained through words or pictures (Ms. Gloria Nayal, professor in Research Techniques). Moreover, Qualitative Research uses detailed descriptions from the perspective of the research participants themselves as a means of examining specific issues and problems under study. (Ruth G. McRoy, 1988)

The author, Dante Alighieri made use of a literary device, Allegory, as an aid for the researchers’ interpretation and analysis. With the link formulated from these elements, the ethical teachings from the plot are extracted. And for the researchers to testify the effectiveness of their study, response from the readers is of importance.

Method of Gathering Data: The researchers through their related literature and their In-depth Interview, have gathered information about the author, his epic poem and the impact of his literary works on society. To support their study, the researchers have read other secondary sources such as books, reviews, journals and Internet in collecting data related to their topic. A list of these materials is substantiated in the references section. In order to collect various Moralistic Views of the piece, the researchers made use of the In-depth Interview with Literature and Morality professors of the College of the Holy Spirit of Manila. This way, the researchers were made aware of a deeper knowledge of the topic based on the questionnaire. A copy of the questionnaire on the In-depth Interview is found as an appendix in this study.
Method of Data Analysis: Gaining knowledge from their Literary Criticism class, this study was evaluated and interpreted by the researchers. After taking up the approaches to Literary Criticism, the researchers focused on Moralistic Approach which deals with literature and moral ideas in recognizing, interpreting and realizing that the piece can affect its readers and that the message of the work is given importance. To further explain the Critico-Analytical Research design, Allegorical Signs were used as a device to expound the said approach. The researchers made use of the formula below in calculating the percentage of the result of the In-depth Interview. Percentage = Frequency N

CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION of DATA GATHERED, PROFILE of the AUTHOR, SUMMARY of the “DIVINE COMEDY”, LIST of ALLEGORICAL SIGNS, LIST of CHARACTERS and the ROLE of EACH CHARACTER, RESULT of the
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW and other RELATED INFORMATION

This chapter shows how the researchers have made an overview of the author’s life in relation to his literary work. Immediately after the author’s profile, the discussion of the plot of the story is done. This discussion of the plot, of course, includes a parallel presentation of the roles of the different characters involved in the story. This is followed by the presentation of the Allegory and Allegorical Signs related to the study. To support initial data gathered, the researchers are also presenting in this chapter the result of the In-depth Interview as answered by respondents represented by selected professors of CHSM.
Profile of the Author: Dante Alighieri is a notable Italian poet born from a noble Florentine family. With wealth of pride, he received a rich education all the while especially in classical and religious subjects. His mother, Bella degli Abati, died when he was seven years old and his father, Alighiero II, made his living by money lending and renting of property. Very little the world knows about Dante’s childhood. He experienced being in an arranged marriage at the age of 12 with Gemma Donati. However, Dante was madly in love with a beautiful girl named Beatrice Portinari, a nine-year-old girl, who served as the framework of all his literary works. The nature of his love founded from the medieval concept of "courtly love" and the admiration of women, made Beatrice his inspiration. Her death at a young age of 24 left him depressed. Sometime before 1294, Dante married Gemma Donati and had at least three children. Love was never his only word to begin with. He began venturing upon political and military life in Florence where he held several chief positions in the government. He got involved in a political argument of the White and Black Guelphs for colonizing Tuscany. Hostility was the only word this political group ever spoke of; where Dante was exiled and condemned to death if he stepped back. During his exile, he started to write his La Divina Comedia, a long story-epic-poem through the three worlds of the afterlife. Under the support of the Ghibelline leaders, the “Divine Comedy” was completed just before the poet's death in 1320. Dante made his final home in Ravenna, where he died on the night of September 13-14, 1321. In 1677, Dante's remains were moved, and in 1865, construction workers rediscovered them accidentally.
Summary of the “Divine Comedy”: The poem is a form of narration in Terza Rima containing 14,200 lines organized into 100 cantos approximately 142 lines each: Hell (34 cantos); Purgatorio (33cantos); Paradiso (33cantos). Terza Rima is a rhyme composed of 11-syllable lines organized into Tercets (units of three lines of verse). The subjectivity of the plot shows the soul’s pilgrimage from sin to salvation. It was merely an incomparable epic poem depicting an imaginary journey through the three worlds.
Hell
In the midway journey of his life, Dante is lost in the dark woods. Upon reaching a foot of a hill, three wild beasts entrap him: a lion, leopard and a she-wolf. By God’s grace, his rescue, Virgil comes in a flash of light. His mission is to aid Dante on his dangerous task as requested by his lover, Beatrice. Casting off all his fears, Dante along with his guide, Virgil, takes another route due to the inevitable hindrances on the road. Virgil then leads Dante to Hell where they first meet Charon, the pilot of a boat at the Acheron River. While Virgil is discussing about Charon and the river, a violent earthquake shakes the grounds leading them to the land on the farther side. Down to the first circle of Hell, called Limbo, lie the moaning spirits of those who are unbaptized. Entering the second circle of Hell, they meet King Minos, the judge of the condemned souls. When Virgil speaks to Minos on behalf of Dante’s mission, they encounter a large pit with hurricane containing the Carnal sinners. The third circle holds all the gluttonous spirits with Cerberus, a cruel and strange beast barking above them. Then, Dante and Virgil began to descend into the fourth hollow, where Charybdis breaks every soul it encounters. Continuing the journey, the poets enter through a passage leading to River Styx where they meet Phlegyas, an infernal employee, and his boat. Here in the fifth circle lie the wrathful and melancholic souls. Upon entering the City of Dis, they see the three Infernal Furies guarding: Megaera, Alecto and Tisiphone. This is the sixth circle where the heretic souls are paying for their debts- sins. Passing along a path between the wall of the city and the torments, they see dead bodies lying in the sepulchers. Virgil recalls Dante and tells him who the spirits are, King Frederick II and Cardinal Ottaviano. Then, the poets descend to the seventh circle, which is divided, into three sections: round 1, for the tyrants and marauders; round 2, for the suicides and spendthrifts; and round 3, for the blasphemers. The poets wander in the first round of the seventh circle where violent souls dwell. Here they see Nessus who leads them to the River of boiling blood where the tyrant sinners are. On the second round of the seventh circle are those violent to themselves and their goods. Here they meet the flying harpies, which feed to the bushes made up of dead souls. The poets now enter the third round where those who are violent to God dwell. They begin to walk across the burning plain while the wood of the suicides are behind them. Dante soon meets Brunetto Latini, the person who gave a great influence on his development in writing. They are now in the eighth circle where the souls violent against nature and art lie. Here, they meet Jacopo Rusticucci, Guido Guerra and Tegghiaio Aldobrandi. All of them are Florentines whose policies and personalities serve to be an admiration for Dante. The sinners ask for news about Florence, and Dante replies to them. The poets still in the eighth circle called Malebolge (The Evil Ditches), see those guilty of simple fraud being punished. The first Bolgia contains the panderers and seducers where Venedico, Caccianemico and Jason belong. Then, they pass on to the second Bolgia where flatterers lie. On the third pouch of the eighth circle, they see sinners with legs of a calf. One of which is Pope Nicholas III, who committed a practice of simony. Dante talks to him about his avaricious deed and he describes the church as a woman with seven heads: Seven Sacraments, having ten horns: Ten Commandments and a spouse: the Pope. Dante stands in the middle of the bridge over the fourth Bolgia and looks down at the souls of the fortunetellers and diviners. They are there because they seek to break into the future. Moving on to the fifth Bolgia, they see the grafters sink in boiling pitch guarded by demons. The poets are escorted with demons while seeing all the Grafters in the pitch. On the sixth pouch, the hypocrites in cloaks and hoods outwardly covered with gold reside. The two travelers see them going round in slow steps while weeping. Then, Dante departs from the burdened ones and follows Virgil. The poets are now in the seventh Bolgia where they see the thieves. They meet one of the sinners, Vanni Fucci who takes his revenge by telling Dante a dark prophecy against him in the Earth world. Dante also meets the five noble thieves of Florence suffering painful transformations. They are Acenello, Cianfa, Buoso, Francesco and Puccio Sciancato. The poets arrive to the edge of the ninth Bolgia and see the Sowers of Discord. Dante distinguishes the three classes of guilt with varying degrees. First come the Sowers of Religious Discord, next come the Sowers of Political Discord and last of all are the Sowers of Discord between Kinsmen. At the early hour in the afternoon, they see the first cousin of Dante's father, Geri Del Bello. Upon seeing him, Dante grieves and soon descends upon the last bank where falsifiers of all sorts register. On the tenth Bolgia, they meet the Evil Impersonators, Counterfeiters and False Witnesses. They see Master Adam, Potiphar's wife and Sinon the Greek. Through the darkness, the poets arrive at the central pit of Malebolge where they discerned the great shapes of the Giants and Titans who stand as guards inside the well-pit. Among the Giants are Nimrod, Ephialtes & Briareus, Tityos & Typhon & Antaeus. Dante finds himself on a huge frozen lake called Cocytus, the ninth circle. Fixed in the ice are sinners guilty of Treachery. The first round is Caina where the souls treacherous against their blood ties lie and the second round is Antenora where the souls treacherous to their country lie. On the second ring (Antenora) of the ninth circle, they overhear the story of Count Ugolino who sets his sons on a cross of war. The third ring is named after Ptolemy for his treacherous slaughtering of his father-in-law. Dante and Virgil walked through and through, reaching the last portion of hell. The last round for the ninth circle is for the treacherous to their masters named Judea because of Judas Iscariot. He fixes unto the ice at the center by which all the rivers of guilt flow. Having seen all, the poets began to climb the Mt. of Purgatory.
Purgatorio
The poets emerge from Hell just before dawn of Easter Sunday. They descend to the lowest point of Purgatory as instructed by Cato of Utica, Guardian of the Shores of Purgatory. The poets began to wash and remove all the stains of Hell before continuing the journey. As the dawn arrives, the poets meet new souls carried by an enormous light, The Angel Boatman. He gathers the souls of elect from their gathering place at The Mouth of the Tiber to the Purgatory’s shore. Here, Dante sees one of his friends, Casella. The poets reach the base of the cliff and see a band of souls coming. These late repentant souls are ex-communicants who surrender their souls to God at the point of their death. One of them is Manfred who begs Dante to bear a message for his daughter on Earth. The poets reach the opening of the cliff and began climbing. Dante is very tired, and so Virgil explains that he must pull himself higher to reach ‘The Ledge of the Indolent”. The indolent are those souls whose sin is their delay in pulling themselves up the same hard path. The poets, crowded by eager souls, never paused in their climb. Here they meet the spirit of Sordello who, like Virgil, is a Mantuan. Sordello, after knowing Virgil, offers himself to be their guide as far as Peter’s Gate. However, because of the sundown, the three of them have to spend the night in the nearby Flowering Valley where the souls of the Negligent Rulers wait for their Purification. Most of these rulers are those who relate to the Holy Roman Empire. The nightfall of the Easter Sunday comes and the poets are still with Sordello watching the souls gather and sing for protection in the night. Then, the poets continue to the valley where they saw “The Serpent”. Dawn comes and Dante dreams of a Golden Eagle that descends from the skies and brings him up to the Sphere of Fire. When he wakes up, he realizes that they are already beside an enormous wall with an opening in which they may approach the Gate of Purgatory. Virgil leads Dante to the Gate with his Guardian Angel who cuts the Seven P’s on his forehead. The poets enter the gate and ascend to the First Cornice which Dante describes as a “Needle’s Eye”. Dante sees the three series of marvelously wrought panels which serves as The Whip of Pride. Then the poets turn their attention to the approaching souls of The Proud who crawl agonizingly around the Cornice. The poets, after hearing the creeping souls recite a prayer; asked one of them the way to the ascent. The sinner then instructs them to follow the direction to where the souls are crawling. While on their way, the poets are on a conversation with some of the souls whose sins are Pride of Talent, Pride of Birth, Pride of Temporal Power, and Pride of Great Humility. Virgil shows Dante the Rein of Pride carved in thirteen scenes portraying the dreadful examples of the destruction that follows upon great pride. The poets find The Angel of Humility welcoming them. The angel strikes Dante on his forehead diminishing the first P, symbolizing his purification of the sin of Pride. Then they continue to ascend to the Second Cornice. The poets now reach the Second Cornice where they find no souls in sight but hear voices crying out examples of love. These voices are the souls of The Whip of Envy who are endlessly intoning the Litany of the Saints. Dante encounters Sapia of Sienna, one of the envious sinners. Dante enters into a conversation with two other envious sinners, Guido Del Duca and Rinieri Da Calboli. The two poets move on, struck with terror by two bodiless voices. The first is the Voice of Cain and the second is the Voice of Aglauros. Dante finds himself in the presence of the Angel of Caritas. As they ascend, they hear the angel sing the Fifth Beatitude. After entering the third Cornice, Dante introduces the Three Visions, which constitute the Whip of Wrath. The poets enter the enormous cloud of smoke in which The Wrathful suffer their purification. Dante hears the souls sing The Litany of the Lamb of God and meets Marco Lombardo. Marco accompanies them on the edge of the smoke where the Angel of the Lord awaits them. Dante immediately sees the visions that make up The Rein of Wrath in the Fourth Cornice. Then The Angel of Meekness calls him and shows him the ascent. The poets take a rest while Virgil gives Dante a Discourse on Love. Virgil continues explaining to Dante the relation of Love and Free Will. As Virgil concludes, a long train of souls come running and shouting from around the mountain. These are the slothful who recognizes the good but not diligent in pursuit of it. Dante is confused, and so he dreams. Dante dreams of The Siren who lures the souls of men to incontinent worldliness. Virgil wakes him up to continue the journey with the Angel of Zeal showing them the passage. They soon arrive at the Fifth Cornice where the souls of The Hoarders and Wasters wait for their purification. Dante hears a soul crying out the Whip of Avarice. The soul identifies himself as Hugh Capet, and then he explains to them The Rein of Avarice. The poets feel the mountains shake as if there is an earthquake and they hear a Shout of Triumph. Dante and Virgil meet a new soul, Statius. He explains that the earthquake occurs because a soul arises from its final purification and is now ready to ascend to heaven. Statius is also a lover of Virgil’s works so he shows much respect to the poet. The poets passed the angel who guards the ascent and the second P on Dante’s head already vanishes. Statius and Virgil continue the conversation about the great poets accompanying Virgil in Limbo. Then, they arrive at the sixth Cornice seeing an enormous tree laden with fruits. From the tree, they hear a voice crying out the examples of abstinence, which constitute the Whip of Gluttony. Dante stares up into the tree to see who has spoken but instead, he sees a band of gluttons from behind. Then he recognizes his friend, Forese as one of the glutton sinners. Forese tells his story to Dante on how he got into the Purgatory. The poets come to see the Tree of Knowledge from which a voice cries the Reign of Gluttony. The voice warns them away so they went ahead and met the Angel of Abstinence who shows them the way to the ascent. The poets began to leave the Cornice of the Gluttonous and hurried to their ascent to the Seventh Cornice. Soon they reach the Seventh Cornice seeing the souls of the Lustful. These souls cry out in praise the Whip of Lust as a form of their purification. Dante’s shadow is seen by the souls of the lustful so they come to approach and question him. As Dante answers them, another band of souls called the Sodomites come their way. The two bands of souls then cry out the Rein of Lust as they move on. The poets then arrive to the further limit of the Seventh Cornice. The last P on Dante’s forehead is now vanishing. They are guided by the Angel Guardian of the Earthly Paradise in passing through the wall of fire. Reaching the end of the ascent, poets come in sight of the Earthly Paradise and Virgil speaks his last words to Dante. Dante now takes the lead into the sacred wood of the Earthly Paradise until he is blocked by the Waters of Lethe. Then a woman, symbolizing the active life of the soul appears to him and explains to him the Natural Phenomena of the Earthly Paradise. She further explains the special powers of the Waters of Lethe and of Eunice. Soon, Dante sees the approach of the Heavenly Pageant led by the Seven Golden Candelabra with the twenty-four Elders behind it. Behind the Elders are the four Beasts who guard a triumphal chariot with the Three Theological Virtues at the Right Wheel and the Four Cardinal Virtues at its Left Wheel. This group is followed, in order, by two Elders, by four Elders and finally by a single Elder. Then a thunderclap is heard. The profession halts with Beatrice on the left side of the chariot. Dante overflowing with emotions then turns to Virgil discovering that the poet is already gone. Dante bursts into tears. Dante wakes up and finds himself in Lethe. Matilda leads him to the Four Cardinal Virtues where he looks into the eyes of Beatrice to see the first and second Beatific Visions. The three theological Virtues approach and beg Dante to behold the smile of Beatrice. Beatrice unveils and for the first time in ten years, Dante looks upon her face. Then the Heavenly Pageant departs going to the Tree of Good and Evil. Dante then witnesses an Allegorical Masque of the Corruption of the Church through Wealth by an Eagle, a Fox, a Dragon, and a Monstrous Beast on a harlot and a Giant. Beatrice begins her discourse with a prophecy of the deliverance of church and then utters her final reproach to Dante. Then, the train halts before the Great Spring from which flow waters of both Lethe and Eunice. Dante drinks the waters of Eunice and forgets all his errors. As he completes his final purification, he says he is “perfect, pure and ready for the stars.”
Paradiso
Dante and Beatrice made their ascent from Purgatory to Heaven. Together they reach the Sphere of Fire, where wonderful music and extreme brightness surround the travelers. Dante asks Beatrice about the spots on the moon. Beatrice explains her answer with the use of mirrors. She asserts that the light travels and hits the heavenly bodies differently by quality not by quantity. The faces of seven spirits appear in motion as they speak with Dante, one of which was Piccarda Donati. She says that all the spirits in Heaven are satisfied regardless of their position relative to God. All souls who enter Heaven feel perfectly blessed. Beatrice then speaks to Dante, who is puzzled by what he hears, about the Empyrean (the highest level in Heaven). She says that those spirits living there have faces that are like those which can be seen from the previous sphere they went into. In addition, to those who are forced to break their vows, she says that the fault lies in the acceptance of an act rather than in the act itself. The beauty and brightness of Beatrice increases as they ascend in Heaven, it is because Beatrice finds joy in Dante’s spiritual enlightenment. They arrive in the Sphere of Mercury ruled by the sixth-century Roman Emperor, Justinian. Justinian explains that the spirits in this sphere belong to people who are virtuous in life but abandons God because of their desire for fame and honor. Beatrice, being able to read Dante, proposes that the Christ’s Crucifixion has human and divine explanation. That the Crucifixion is not a punishment for the sins of man, but by divine it is sacrilege. Beatrice assures Dante that all bodies and souls will resurrect on the Judgment Day. Then they come to the Sphere of Venus, where Dante meets Charles Martel regretting the downfall of his family in the hands of poor rulers. Next to Martel, Dante meets various spirits: Cunizza, Folco and Rahab. All of them are once sinful, turning into salvation earning a life of pain-free in Heaven. Dante then reflects from the stories he hears, and concludes that if the revolutions of the sun or of the stars lose path, then everything on Earth would die. Upon reaching the Sphere of the Sun, Dante’s love for God surpasses his love for Beatrice. There are twelve figures from the crown of lights, dancing around Dante and Beatrice in perfect harmony. The dancing lights stopped circling when St. Thomas addresses Dante. He declares that to ensure the union between the Church and Christ, God’s Providence appoints two pious leaders namely St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic. Still at the same sphere, Dante notices that a second ring overlaps the first. A voice from the second circle speaks to Dante about the detailed life of the two saints. He identifies himself as the Franciscan, Bonaventura. Dante notices the double crowns in opposite directions. They are singing about the glories of God and the dual nature of Christ. Troubled, St. Thomas Aquinas answers Dante that Solomon can never surpass the wisdom of Adam and Christ for he is only compared to human rulers. Beatrice asks the spirits if their radiance would remain even until Resurrection. Solomon’s voice responds that the radiance could remain for it is an expression of their inner joy. Beatrice and Dante reach the Sphere of Mars. In the Sphere of Mars, Dante meets his great-great-grandfather, Cacciaguida. He narrates his previous life and tells that he died in a battle as a martyr and urges Dante to voice out his questions. Dante then begs to Cacciaguida to tell his future. Cacciaguida explains that although God sees the future, He cannot interfere with man’s freewill. Moreover, as he goes through his journey, Cacciaguida reminds him to be fearless and to let his poetic mission be his guide in revealing everything he learns even if it hurts or angers people on Earth. Cacciaguida reveals the names of other spirits that dwell in the cross from which he comes: Joshua, Judas Maccabaeus, Charlemagne, Roland, William of Orange, Renouard, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Robert Guiscard. In the Sphere of Jupiter, there are spirits forming an eagle emblem speaking to Dante of divine justice in unison. However, the eagle also explains that some non-Christians will find themselves closer to God on the Judgment Day than Christians who commit horrible sins. The eagle concludes by reprimanding evil rulers. The eagle warns the mortals for making judgments while the souls of Trajan and Ripheus; such honored spirits though believed to be pagans, glow with pleasure. Dante sees a golden ladder but hear no singing from the sphere of spirits. St. Peter Damian approaches him and says that his mortal ears cannot hear the singing. He also requests Dante to tell the humans not to bother trying to resolve divine mysteries. The spirits along with Damian descend the ladder and begin a loud shout at Dante. Beatrice explains that the thunderous shout of the spirits expresses their dismay to the deterioration of the clergy. St. Benedict speaks to them of St. Maccarius and St. Romualdus’ devotion. Beatrice and Dante follow the saints up to the ladder and reach the House of Gemini, seeing the small appearance of Earth. They ascend to the Sphere of Fixed Stars where a great light surrounded by numerous smaller lights are seen from a distance. Dante sees the light of Christ rise above him, the Rose (Empyrean) that represents Mary, and the Lilies that represent the Apostles, a Spinning Light, representing Gabriel, circles the Rose and fills the air with sweet hymns devoted to Mary. St. Peter approaches asking Dante to define faith. Dante says it is the substance and evidence at the same time of man’s belief in his journey. St. Peter then circles Dante three times to express his satisfaction and delight knowing Dante is learning from the Holy Scriptures. This time, Dante is tested by St. James of his definition of hope. Dante elaborates the promises of hope as explained from the Bible. Suddenly, a third light comes dancing joyfully, then Dante was blinded. St. John, the third light, speaks and examines Dante about love and charity. Upon answering, Beatrice restores Dante’s sight. Adam, the fourth spirit, greets Dante and narrates to him how he comes to Heaven. Still at the Sphere of Fixed Stars, Dante stands captured by the beautiful singing of the blessed. All of the spirits of the apostles, saints, and prophets ascend into the higher levels of Heaven as Dante gazes upon the Earth below. As Dante turns to Beatrice, they reach the Primum Mobile. God's love overpowers this sphere, which in turn controls the movement of all of the lower spheres. There are nine concentric circles of light and at the middle is God. Beatrice identifies the order of angels starting with the sphere closest to God: Seraphim, Cherubim, the Thrones, the Dominations, the Virtues, the Powers, the Principalities, the Archangels, and the Angels. Beatrice responds to several questions in Dante’s mind about the angels. Beatrice explains that God created angels in his own reflection and that those who have not fallen remain circling the Heavens forever. Again, as Beatrice's beauty increases, she and Dante ascend to the next level of Heaven, the Empyrean. Here, Beatrice points to the few seats in the rose petals that are unfilled, one of which has been reserved for Emperor Henry VII. Overcome with joy, Dante quietly gazes upon the faces of the blessed. St. Bernard instructs Dante to turn his attention to the seat in the Rose where Beatrice now sits and he smiles sweetly. St. Bernard explains the arrangement of the layers of the Rose and points out notable women of the Old Testament: Eve, Rachel, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and Ruth. Opposite the line of women, sit the male saints: St. Francis, St. John the Baptist, St. Benedict, and St. Augustine. Dante's guide, St. Bernard, instructs him that he must earn Mary's grace before Christ reveals to him. St. Bernard prays to Mary on Dante's behalf. Dante follows Mary’s lead seeing the Eternal light before him with three circles of different colors reflecting from each other. A great flash of revelation brings his desires and will into alignment and it is all because of God’s love.

Table1. This portion of the study is a compilation of the Allegorical Signs used in the literary piece “Divine Comedy”. To remember, Allegorical Signs are defined in Literature as extended metaphors. These will serve as tool for validating some related information. The researchers have gathered these Allegorical Signs to strengthen their possible answers to their main problem and secondary problems. In order to give the researchers a smoother way to present the Allegorical Signs, they decided to present such in a table composed of two columns. Column 1 shows the number of each Allegorical Sign. Column 2 shows the given Allegorical Signs.
Table 1
List of Allegorical Signs

|Number of the Allegorical |Allegorical Sign |
|Sign | |
|1 |Midway upon the journey of our life |
|2 |Dark wood |
|3 |Hill |
|4 |Leopard |
|5 |Lion |
|6 |She-wolf |
|7 |Gate of St. Peter |
|8 |Beatrice |
|9 |Virgil |
|10 |Greyhound |
|11 |Chosen vessel |
|12 |A gentle lady |
|13 |Lucia |
|14 |Rachel |
|15 |Aeneas |
|16 |Virgin Mary |
|17 |Power |
|18 |Wisdom |
|19 |Love |
|20 |Fire which overcame a hemisphere of darkness |
|21 |Castle |
|22 |Seven high walls |
|23 |Dioscorides |
|24 |Hippocrates and Galen |
|25 |Orpheus and Linus |
|26 |Tullius, Cicero and Seneca |
|27 |Avicenna and Averroes |
|28 |Cleopatra |
|29 |Helen |
|30 |Tristan |
|31 |All eternity |
|32 |Plutus |
|33 |General minister and guide |
|3 |Primal creatures |
|35 |Spirits rained from the heavens |
|36 |Erichtho |
|37 |Queen of the eternal lamentation |
|38 |Theseus |
|39 |Gorgon |
|40 |Farinata Degli Uberti |
|41 |Guido Cavalcanti |
|42 |Barrators |
|43 |Three dispositions |
|44 |Opizzo II of Este |
|45 |Chiron |
|46 |Dionysus |
|47 |Attila |
|48 |Pyrrhus |
|49 |Sextus |
|50 |Rinier of Corneto and Rinier of Pazzo |
|51 |Lano and Jacomo |
|52 |First Patron |
|53 |Keys |
|54 |Harlot |
|55 |The world once was chaste |
|56 |Great old man |
|57 |Gold |
|58 |Silver |
|59 |Iron |
|60 |Brass |
|61 |Brunetto Latini |
|62 |Priscian |
|63 |Franceso |
|64 |Cord |
|65 |Jacopo Rusticucci |
|66 |Guglielmo Borsiere |
|67 |Beaver |
|68 |Phaeton |
|69 |Beautiful lady |
|70 |Great mantle |
|71 |She that was born with seven heads |
|72 |Seven heads |
|73 |Ten horns |
|74 |Spouse |
|75 |Aruns |
|76 |Manto |
|77 |Michael Scot |
|78 |Guido Bonatti |
|79 |Cain |
|80 |Holy Face |
|81 |King Thibault |
|82 |Friar Gomita |
|83 |Don Michael Zanche of Logodoro |
|84 |Jovial Friars |
|85 |That transfixed one |
|86 |Catalano de’ Catalani |
|87 |Loderingo degli Andolo |
|88 |When the sun tempers his lock beneath Aquarius, and the nights already wane |
| |towards half the day |
|89 |Phoenix |
|90 |Vanni Fucci |
|91 |Raised hands with both the figs |
|92 |Sabellus |
|93 |Nasidius |
|94 |Cacus |
|95 |Deidamia |
|96 |Eteocles |
|97 |Guido da Polenta |
|98 |Spoils |
|99 |Ali |
|100 |Fra Dolcino |
|101 |Guido del Cassero and Angiolello da Cagnano |
|102 |Bertran de Born |
|103 |The moon is beneath our feet |
|104 |Geri del Bello |
|105 |Griffolin of Arezzo |
|106 |Athamas |
|107 |Semele |
|108 |Hecuba |
|109 |Gianni Schicchi |
|110 |Mirror of Narcissus |
|111 |Elephants and Whales |
|112 |Ephialtes and Otus |
|113 |Briareus |
|114 |Dames |
|115 |Lake of ice’s four concentric rings |
|116 |Counts Napoleone and Alessandro degli Alberti |
|117 |Sassol Mascheroni |
|118 |Gualandi, Sismonsi and Lanfranchi |
|119 |Alberigo de’ Manfredi of Faenza |
|120 |Ser Branca d’ Oria |
|121 |Atropos |
|122 |Three faces |
|123 |Stars |
|124 |Mid sky |
|125 |Four stars |
|126 |Seven Realms |
|127 |Calliope |
|128 |Cato of Utica |
|129 |Last hour |
|130 |Marcia |
|131 |Casella |
|132 |Manfred |
|133 |Pastor of Cosenza |
|134 |Full fifty degrees had the sun ascended |
|135 |Belacqua |
|136 |Castor and Pollux |
|137 |Mirror |
|138 |Clouds of August at set of sun |
|139 |Buonconte |
|140 |Pia |
|141 |Ghin di Tacco |
|142 |Federigo Novello |
|143 |Count Orso |
|144 |Pierre de la Brosse |
|145 |Sordello |
|146 |Albert of Hapsburg |
|147 |Ottocar |
|148 |William, Marquis of Montferrat and Canavese |
|149 |Noble Judge Nino |
|150 |Guilty Head |
|151 |First great stair |
|152 |Eagle |
|153 |Polycletus |
|154 |Povenzan Salvani |
|155 |Omberto, Count of Santafiora |
|156 |Pap |
|157 |Lightning from heaven |
|158 |Niobe |
|159 |Sapia |
|160 |Orestes |
|161 |Aglauros |
|162 |A light |
|163 |Lavinia |
|164 |Primal goods |
|165 |The first cognitions |
|166 |Dream |
|167 |Alagia |
|168 |Fabricius |
|169 |St. Nicholas |
|170 |Hugh Capet |
|171 |Conradin |
|172 |Charles II |
|173 |Polydorus |
|174 |Marcus Licinius Crassus |
|175 |Erisichthon |
|176 |Forese |
|177 |Piccarda |
|178 |Bonaguinta Urbiciani |
|179 |Boniface |
|180 |Guittone d’ Arezzo |
|181 |For the Sun had left the meridian circle to the Bull and the night to the |
| |Scorpion |
|182 |Helice or Callisto |
|183 |Guido Guinicelli |
|184 |Pasiphae |
|185 |That sweet fruit |
|186 |First beamed upon the mountain |
|187 |Aeolus |
|188 |A lady |
|189 |Xerxes |
|190 |Urania |
|191 |Delia |
|192 |Delia’s girdle |
|193 |Griffon |
|194 |Chariot |
|195 |Three ladies |
|196 |Ten paces |
|197 |24 elders |
|198 |Crowns of flower-de-luce |
|199 |Four creatures |
|200 |Green leaves |
|201 |Beast’s six wings |
|202 |Two wheels |
|203 |White |
|204 |Green |
|205 |Red |
|206 |Three eyes in her head |
|207 |Four clad in purple |
|208 |Creatures |
|209 |Flower-de-luce |
|210 |Rose |
|211 |White veil |
|212 |Emeralds |
|213 |She fox |
|214 |Apollo |
|215 |Lamp of the world |
|216 |Four great circles |
|217 |Glaucus |
|218 |Virtue of the place |
|219 |External wheels |
|220 |Exalted creatures |
|221 |Diverse essences |
|222 |Hammer |
|223 |Blessed motors |
|224 |Kindled love between the man and the fountain |
|225 |Constance |
|226 |White and of the yellow key |
|227 |Thrones of eternal triumph |
|228 |Raymond Berenger IV of Provence |
|229 |Standard-bearer |
|230 |Word of God |
|231 |Creator |
|232 |Horn of Ausonia |
|233 |Solon |
|234 |Iole |
|235 |Memory of the Pope |
|236 |Thomas Aquinas |
|237 |Gratian |
|238 |Peter Lombard |
|239 |Isidore of Seville |
|240 |Albert of Cologne |
|241 |Fifth light |
|242 |The one was all seraphic in ardor |
|243 |Ubaldo |
|244 |He ran into strife with his father for sake of a lady |
|245 |Deprived of her first husband |
|246 |Egidius and Sylvester |
|247 |Seraphs |
|248 |From Christ the last seal |
|249 |Cherubs |
|250 |Dominic |
|251 |Metropolitan Chrysostom |
|252 |Anselm |
|253 |Donatus |
|254 |Rabanus Maurus |
|255 |Joachim |
|256 |Bonaventura |
|257 |St. Victor |
|258 |Peter |
|259 |Splendor |
|260 |Our sire brings to birth |
|261 |Parmenides, Melissus, Bryson |
|262 |Sabellius |
|263 |Arius |
|264 |From horn to horn |
|265 |Gaze on the mirror |
|266 |Nerli and Vecchio |
|267 |Cianghella |
|268 |Mary, called on with loud cries |
|269 |Iniquity of that law |
|270 |Sheepfold of St. John |
|271 |Strong star |
|272 |The white glow of the temperate sixth star |
|273 |William and Renouard |
|274 |Duke Godfrey |
|275 |Robert Guiscard |
|276 |Marked with an ‘I’, while an ‘M’ shall mark the contrary |
|277 |Poison |
|278 |Bull |
|279 |The name of the fair flower |
|280 |The royal mantle |
|281 |Keys of such glory |
|282 |Exile of Babylon |
|283 |He who lay upon the breast of the Pelican |
|284 |Two robes in the blessed cloister; two lights which ascended |
|285 |Sixtus and Pius and Calixtus and Urban |
|286 |Sixth hour |
|287 |Veronica |
|288 |Knot or complex |

Table 2. This table presents the characters and their respective roles as mentioned in the poem “Divine Comedy”. This table is composed of three columns. Column 1 shows the number of each character. Columns 2 and 3 show the roles of each character.
Table 2
List of Characters and the Roles of Each Character

|Number of the Character |Name of the Character |Role of the Character |
|1 |Beatrice |heavenly wisdom |
|2 |Virgil |worldly wisdom |
|3 |Lucia |illuminating grace |
|4 |Rachel |the contemplative life |
|5 |Aeneas |(unbaptized) the ancestor of the founder of Rome, which became |
| | |the seat of the empire |
|6 |Virgin Mary |divine grace |
|7 |Dioscorides |(unbaptized) a physician in Cilicia of the first century, author |
| | |of a medical work; “Treating of the Qualities of Plants” |
|8 |Hippocrates and Galen |(unbaptized) Greek physicians |
|9 |Orpheus and Linus |(unbaptized) mythical Greek singers and poets |
|10 |Tullius, Cicero and Seneca |(unbaptized) writers whose ethical works were much read in the |
| | |middle ages |
|11 |Avicenna and Averroes |(unbaptized) Arabian physician and philosophers, both of whom |
| | |wrote commentaries on Aristotle |
|12 |Cleopatra |(carnal sinner) queen of Egypt, mistress of Caesar and Anthony |
|13 |Helen |(carnal sinner) the wife of Menelaus, was carried off by Paris of|
| | |Troy and was thus, the cause of the Trojan War |
|14 |Tristan |(carnal sinner) Tristan of Lyonesse, one of King Arthur’s knights|
|15 |Plutus |(glutton) God of Riches |
|16 |Erichtho |(heretic) a sorceress of Thessaly |
|17 |Theseus |(heretic) failing to rescue Proserpine, was kept in the lower |
| | |world till delivered by Hercules in defiance of the power of |
| | |Hades |
|18 |Farinata Degli Uberti |(heretic) was the head of the Ghibelline party in Tuscany for |
| | |many years about the middle of thirteenth century |
|19 |Guido Cavalcanti |(heretic) Dante’s first friend, was charged with the same sin of |
| | |unbelief as his father |
|20 |Opizzo II of Este |(tyrant and marauder) an ardent Guelf |
|21 |Chiron |(tyrant and marauder) teacher of Achilles, Hercules and other |
| | |renowned Greeks |
|22 |Dionysus |(tyrant and marauder) Dionysus the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse |
|23 |Attila |(tyrant and marauder) king of the Huns, known as the Flagellum |
| | |Dei |
|24 |Pyrrhus |(tyrant and marauder) son of Achilles, took part in the Trojan |
| | |War and killed Priam |
|25 |Sextus |(tyrant and marauder) Sextus Pompeius, the son of Pompei the |
| | |Great, was defeated by Caesar at Munda |
|26 |Rinier of Corneto and Rinier of Pazzo |(tyrant and marauder) notorious highwaymen, contemporaries of |
| | |Dante |
|27 |Lano and Jacomo |(spendthrifts) notorious spendthrifts |
|28 |Brunetto Latini |(blasphemer) one of the most learned and able Florentine of the |
| | |thirteenth century |
|29 |Priscian |(blasphemer) the famous grammarian of the sixteenth century |
|30 |Francesco |(blasphemer) a jurist of much repute in his time, who taught |
| | |Oxford and at Bologna |
|31 |Jacopo Rusticucci |(blasphemer) a Florentine of lowly origin |
|32 |Guglielmo Borsiere |(blasphemer) a purse-maker, who exchanged his trade for a life of|
| | |social pleasure |
|33 |Phaeton |(blasphemer) son of Phoebus Apollo |
|34 |Aruns |(diviner) an Etruscan soothsayer |
|35 |Manto |(diviner) the daughter of Tiresias, and herself a prophetess |
|36 |Michael Scot |(diviner) a famous Scotch wizard |
|37 |Guido Bonatti |(diviner) a famous astrologer of Forli in the thirteenth century |
|38 |Cain |(diviner) the man in the moon |
|39 |King Thibault |(barterer) king of Navarre and brother-in-law of St. Louis |
|40 |Friar Gomita |(barterer) was hanged for his frauds |
|41 |Don Michael Zanche of Logodoro |(barterer) another of the judicatures of Surdinia, was murdered |
| | |by his son-in-law Branca d’ Oria |
|42 |Catalano de’ Catalani |(hypocrite) a Gulf of Bologna |
|43 |Loderingo degli Andolo |(hypocrite) a Ghibelline of Bologna |
|44 |Vanni Fucci |(thief) a black of Pistoia, robbed the treasure of San Jacopo in |
| | |the church of San Zeno, together with 2 accomplishes |
|45 |Sabellus |(thief) bitten by a little serpent in the Libyan Desert |
|46 |Nasidius |(thief) stung by a snake of another kind, dwells until he bursts |
| | |his armor |
|47 |Cacus |(thief) a monster inhabiting a cave in Mt. Aventine and was noted|
| | |for his thefts |
|48 |Deidamia |(evil counselor) mother of a son by Achilles |
|49 |Eteocles |(evil counselor) son of Edipous, king if Thebes, quarreled with |
| | |his brother over the succession to the throne |
|50 |Guido da Polenta |(evil counselor) had been Lord of Ravenna, his shield bore an |
| | |eagle |
|51 |Ali |(schismatic) head of the schism |
|52 |Fra Dolcino |(schismatic) a heretic and reformer |
|53 |Guido del Cassero and Angiolello da Cagnano |(schismatic) treacherously drowned by order of the one-eyed |
| | |Malatestino |
|54 |Bertran de Born |(schismatic) the famous troubadour who invited young prince Henry|
| | |to rebel against his father, Henry II of England |
|55 |Geri del Bello |(schismatic) a first cousin of Dante’s father, was a harmful and |
| | |quarrelsome person, who, having sown discord among the Sacchetti,|
| | |was slain by one of them |
|56 |Griffolin of Arezzo |(schismatic) obtained money from Albero of Siena by pretending |
| | |that he could teach him the art of flying |
|57 |Athamas |(falsifier) king of Orchomenos, near Thebes, had two children by |
| | |the sister of Semele, Ino |
|58 |Semele |(falsifier) the daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes; was beloved |
| | |by Jupiter, whom she bore a son, Bacchus |
|59 |Hecuba |(falsifier) wife of king Priam |
|60 |Gianni Schicchi |(falsifier) a Florentine of the Cavalcanti family, well known for|
| | |his mimicry |
|61 |Ephialtes and Otus |sons of Neptune, warred against the Olympian Gods |
|62 |Briareus |another of the Giants who defied the Gods of Olympus; with 100 |
| | |arms and 50 heads |
|63 |Dames |the muses |
|64 |Counts Napoleone and Alessandro degli Alberti |(treacherous to kindred) a Ghibelline and Guelf respectively, |
| | |quarreled over inheritance and each seeking treacherously to |
| | |kill the other, they were both slain |
|65 |Sassol Mascheroni |(treacherous to kindred) murdered his nephew for an Inheritance |
|66 |Gualandi, Sismonsi and Lanfranchi |(treacherous to country) three of the chief Ghibelline families |
| | |of Pisa |
|67 |Alberigo de’ Manfredi of Faenza |(treacherous to country) one of the Jovial friars |
|68 |Ser Branca d’ Oria |(treacherous to country) a member of the famous Genoese house of |
| | |Doria; murdered his father- in-law, Michel Zanche |
|69 |Calliope |(tardy penitent) the Muse of Epic Poetry |
|70 |Cato of Utica |(tardy penitent) one of the chief opponents of Caesar’s Measures |
|71 |Marcia |(tardy penitent) was the second wife of Cato |
|72 |Casella |(tardy penitent) a musician of Florence or of Pistria |
|73 |Manfred |(tardy penitent) the natural son of the emperor Frederick II, and|
| | |King of Sicily |
|74 |Pastor of Cosenza |(tardy penitent) the Archbishop of Corenza, took Manfred’s body |
| | |from its grave and threw it unburied on the bank of the Verde |
|75 |Belacqua |(tardy penitent) was a Florentine, a marker of citherns and other|
| | |musical instruments |
|76 |Castor and Pollux |(tardy penitent) the twins which sign is further north of the |
| | |equator than Aries |
|77 |Buonconte |(tardy penitent) son of Count Guido da Montefeltro, he was the |
| | |captain of the Aretines at the battle of Campaldino, where he was|
| | |slain |
|78 |Pia |(tardy penitent) is reported to have been put to death in her |
| | |husband’s stronghold in the Tuscan Maremma |
|79 |Federigo Novello |(tardy penitent) son of the Count Guido Novello, of whom nothing |
| | |is known but that he was slain in 1291 near Bibbiena |
|80 |Ghin di Tacco |(tardy penitent) most famous highway man, whose headquarters lay |
| | |between Siena and Rome |
|81 |Count Orso |(tardy penitent) the son of Count Napoleone degli Alberti, was |
| | |murdered by his cousin, the son of Count Alessandro |
|82 |Pierre de la Brosse |(tardy penitent) was chamberlain and confidant of Philip the Bold|
| | |of France, he lost the King’s favor and was hanged |
|83 |Sordello |(tardy penitent) lived in the thirteenth century, left his native|
| | |land and gave up his native tongue to live and write as a |
| | |troubadour in Provence |
|84 |Albert of Hapsburg |(tardy penitent) son of the Emperor Rudolph, was elected king of |
| | |the Romans in 1298, but, like his father, never went to Italy |
| | |to be crowned; he was murdered by his nephew, John the Parricide,|
| | |in 1308, at Konigsfelden |
|85 |Ottocar |(tardy penitent) king of Bohemia and Duke of Austria, has slain |
| | |in battle against Rudolph 1278 |
|86 |William, Marquis of Montferrat and Canavese |(tardy penitent) in a war with the Guelfs, had risen in revolt in|
| | |1290, he was taken captive at Alessandra, and for two years, till|
| | |his death, was kept in an iron cage |
|87 |Noble Judge Nino |(tardy penitent) Nino de’ Visconti of Pisa was the grandson of |
| | |Count Ugolino |
|88 |Polycletus |(proud) the Greek sculptor, lauded by a number of classical |
| | |writers known in the middle ages, and his art is extolled by |
| | |Italian poets prior to Dante |
|89 |Povenzan Salvani |(proud) a chief supporter of the Ghibelline cause in Tuscany, |
| | |defeated and taken prisoner at the Battle of Colle in 1269, he |
| | |was beheaded |
|90 |Omberto, Count of Santafiora |(proud) was a member of the Aldobrandeschi Family |
|91 |Niobe |(envious) wife of Amphion, king of Thebes, was so proud of her |
| | |fourteen children that she offended Latona, who had only two- |
| | |Apollo and Diana |
|92 |Sapia |(envious) a lady said to have been of the Bigozzi family, who |
| | |held a stronghold about four miles from Colle, in the territory |
| | |of Sienna |
|93 |Orestes |(envious) the son of Agamemnon, renowned for his friendship with |
| | |Pylades |
|94 |Aglauros |(envious) daughter of Gerops, changed to stone because of envy of|
| | |her sister |
|95 |Lavinia |(angry) betrothed to Turnus; she hanged herself in a frenzy |
| | |despair |
|96 |Alagia |(avaricious) wife of Marquis Moroello Malaspina |
|97 |Fabricius |(avaricious) Roman consul who rejected the bribes of Samnites. |
|98 |St. Nicholas |(avaricious) bishop of Myra who experienced poverty. |
|99 |Hugh Capet |(avaricious) descendants were ruling France, Spain and Naples |
|100 |Conradin |(avaricious) grandson of Frederick II who was defeated and taken |
| | |by prison. |
|101 |Charles II |(avaricious) sold his young daughter in marriage. |
|102 |Polydorus |(avaricious) youngest son of Priam who was killed thinking he |
| | |might take possession of the treasure. |
|103 |Marcus Licinius Crassus |(avaricious) Triumvir, richest and most avaricious of men |
|104 |Erisichthon |(gluttonous) punished for sacrilege by Ceres |
|105 |Forese |(gluttonous) brother of Corso Donati; related to Dante’s wife: |
| | |Gemma del Donati |
|106 |Piccarda |(gluttonous) Forese’s sister |
|107 |Bonaguinta Urbiciani |(gluttonous) poet of Lucca in the last half of 13th century |
|108 |Holy Church in his arms |(gluttonous) Pope Martin IV who died from a surfeit of Orvieto. |
|109 |Boniface |(gluttonous) Bonifacio de ‘Fieschi, Archbishop of Ravenna. |
|110 |Guittone d’ Arezzo |(gluttonous) one of the order of Frati Gaudenti |
|111 |Helice or Callisto |(lascivious) a nymph attendant on Diana whose son changed into a |
| | |bear by Juno; Jove transferred them into heavens calling them |
| | |‘the Great & Little Bear.’ |
|112 |Guido Guinicelli |(lascivious) most illustrious of the Italian poets before Dante |
|113 |Pasiphae |(lascivious) attained her end by entering an artificial cow |
|114 |Aeolus |king of the winds |
|115 |Xerxes |king of Persia |
|116 |Delia |the moon |
|117 |Urania |muse of astronomy and heavenly things |

Table 3. This table presents the Allegorical Signs as seen from Table 1, the source where the Allegorical Signs were seen and the number of times it appeared in the poem. This table is composed of six columns. Column 1 shows the number of each Allegorical Sign. Column 2 shows the given Allegorical Signs. Columns 3 and 4 show the Book and Canto Source of the Allegorical Signs while columns 5 and 6 show the page number where the signs will be seen and the frequency of its appearance in the poem, respectively.
Table 3
List of Allegorical Signs, their Sources and the Frequency of their
Appearance in the Poem

|Number of the | | | | |Frequency of |
|Allegorical Sign |Allegorical Sign |Book Source |Canto Source |Page Number |Appearance |
|1 |Midway upon the journey of |HELL |1 |1 |1 |
| |our life | | | | |
|2 |Dark wood |HELL |1 |1 |8 |
|3 |Hill |HELL |1 |1, 56, 58, 71, |7 |
| | | | |152, 118 | |
|4 |Leopard |HELL |1 |1, 23, |2 |
|5 |Lion |HELL |1 |1, 24, 40, 44, |9 |
| | | | |47, 61, 114, 124,| |
| | | | |130 | |
|6 |She-wolf |HELL |1 |1, 83 |2 |
|7 |Gate of St. Pet |HELL |1 |2 |1 |
|8 |Beatrice |HELL |1 |2, 61, 64, 76, |61 |
| | | | |80, 89, 95, | |
| | | | |100-106, 108, | |
| | | | |110, 112, 113, | |
| | | | |115, 118, 120, | |
| | | | |122, 127, 129, | |
| | | | |130, 132-134, | |
| | | | |138, 140-147, | |
| | | | |150, 152-154, | |
| | | | |156, | |
|9 |Virgil |HELL |1 |2, 27, 34, 43, |33 |
| | | | |47, 55, 56, 61, | |
| | | | |62, 65, 67, 72, | |
| | | | |81, 85, 86, 89, | |
| | | | |91, 94, 95, | |
| | | | |98-100, 132, 147 | |
|10 |Greyhound |HELL |1 |2, 19 |2 |
|11 |Chosen vessel |HELL |2 |2 |1 |
|12 |A gentle lady |HELL |2 |2 |1 |
|13 |Lucia |HELL |2 |2, 6, 66, 156 |4 |
|14 |Rachel |HELL |2 |2, 95 |3 |
|15 |Aeneas |HELL |2 |2, 6, 39 |3 |
|16 |Virgin Mary |HELL |2 |56, 60, 64, 67, |20 |
| | | | |72, 80, 83, 88, | |
| | | | |104, 111, 122, | |
| | | | |126, 127, 142, | |
| | | | |154-156 | |
|17 |Power |HELL |3 |2, 4, 7, 9, 17, |62 |
| | | | |21, 26, 33, 34, | |
| | | | |38, 46, 47, 56, | |
| | | | |59,60, 68, 74, | |
| | | | |79-84, 86, 88, | |
| | | | |94, 95, 97, 98, | |
| | | | |106, 107, | |
| | | | |110-112, 138, | |
| | | | |140-142, 147, | |
| | | | |148, 152 | |
|18 |Wisdom |HELL |3 |2, 4, 6, 122, |6 |
| | | | |126, 141 | |
|19 |Love |HELL |3 |2, 4, 7, 8, 15, |151 |
| | | | |16, 19, 44, | |
| | | | |53-55, 57, 61, | |
| | | | |62, 64, 65, 67, | |
| | | | |68, 72, 75-77, | |
| | | | |79-82, 86, 90-96,| |
| | | | |99, 101, 102, | |
| | | | |107, 109, 110, | |
| | | | |112, 113, | |
| | | | |115-117, 120-130,| |
| | | | |132-134, 136, | |
| | | | |138, 139, | |
| | | | |142-154, 156, 157| |
|20 |Fire which overcame a |HELL |4 |6 |1 |
| |hemisphere of darkness | | | | |
|21 |Castle |HELL |4 |6, 25 |2 |
|22 |Seven high wa |HELL |4 |6 |1 |
|23 |Dioscorides |HELL |4 |6 |1 |
|24 |Hippocrates and Galen |HELL |4 |6 |1 |
|25 |Orpheus and Linus |HELL |4 |6 |1 |
|26 |Tullius, Cicero and Seneca |HELL |4 |6 |1 |
|27 |Avicenna and Averroes |HELL |4 |6 |1 |
|28 |Cleopatra |HELL |5 |7, 114 |2 |
|29 |Helen |HELL |5 |7 |1 |
|30 |Tristan |HELL |5 |7 |1 |
|31 |All eternity |HELL |6 |45 |1 |
|32 |Plutus |HELL |6 |9 |2 |
|33 |General minister and guide |HELL |7 |10 |1 |
|3 |Primal creatures |HELL |7 |10 |1 |
|35 |Spirits rained from the |HELL |8 |10 |1 |
| |heavens | | | | |
|36 |Erichtho |HELL |9 |12 |1 |
|37 |Queen of the eternal |HELL |9 |12 |1 |
| |lamentation | | | | |
|38 |Theseus |HELL |9 |12, 91 |2 |
|39 |Gorgon |HELL |9 |12 |1 |
|40 |Farinata Degli Uberti |HELL |10 |14 |1 |
|41 |Guido Cavalcanti |HELL |10 |14 |1 |
|42 |Barrators |HELL |11 |15, 32 |2 |
|43 |Three dispositions |HELL |11 |16 |1 |
|44 |Opizzo II of Este |HELL |12 |17 |1 |
|45 |Chiron |HELL |12 |16, 17, 66 |5 |
|46 |Dionysus |HELL |12 |17, 150 |2 |
|47 |Attila |HELL |12 |17, 19 |2 |
|48 |Pyrrhus |HELL |12 |17, 114 |2 |
|49 |Sextus |HELL |12 |17 |1 |
|50 |Rinier of Corneto and Rinier|HELL |12 |17 |1 |
| |of Pazzo | | | | |
|51 |Lano and Jacomo |HELL |13 |19 |1 |
|52 |First Patron |HELL |13 |19 |1 |
|53 |Keys |HELL |13 |18, 27, 28, 40, |11 |
| | | | |67, 71, 108, 143,| |
| | | | |147 | |
|54 |Harlot |HELL |13 |18, 26, 104 |3 |
|55 |The world once was chaste |HELL |14 |20 |1 |
|56 |Great old man |HELL |14 |20 |1 |
|57 |Gold |HELL |14 |10, 20, 26-28, |19 |
| | | | |63, 66-68, 140, | |
| | | | |131, 133, 134, | |
| | | | |138, 142, 147, | |
| | | | |152 | |
|58 |Silver |HELL |14 |20, 26, 27 |7 |
|59 |Iron |HELL |14 |11, 13, 20, 25, |5 |
| | | | |149 | |
|60 |Brass |HELL |14 |20 |1 |
|61 |Brunetto Latin |HELL |15 |21, 22 |3 |
|62 |Priscian |HELL |15 |22 |1 |
|63 |Franceso |HELL |15 |22 |1 |
|64 |Cord |HELL |16 |23, 40, 46, 123, |5 |
| | | | |146 | |
|65 |Jacopo Rusticucci |HELL |16 |9, 22 |2 |
|66 |Guglielmo Borsiere |HELL |16 |22 |1 |
|67 |Beaver |HELL |17 |24 |1 |
|68 |Phaeton |HELL |17 |25, 58, 154 |3 |
|69 |Beautiful lady |HELL |19 |27, 97, 101, 102,|7 |
| | | | |105, 121 | |
|70 |Great mantle |HELL |19 |27, 82, 99 |3 |
|71 |She that was born with seven|HELL |19 |28 |1 |
| |heads | | | | |
|72 |Seven heads |HELL |19 |28 |1 |
|73 |Ten horns |HELL |19 |28 |1 |
|74 |Spouse |HELL |19 |28 |1 |
|75 |Aruns |HELL |20 |29 |1 |
|76 |Manto |HELL |20 |29 |1 |
|77 |Michael Scot |HELL |20 |29 |1 |
|78 |Guido Bonatti |HELL |20 |29 |1 |
|79 |Cain |HELL |20 |8, 29, 108 |3 |
|80 |Holy Face |HELL |21 |30 |1 |
|81 |King Thibault |HELL |22 |32 |1 |
|82 |Friar Gomita |HELL |22 |32 |1 |
|83 |Don Michael Zanche of |HELL |22 |32, 51 |2 |
| |Logodoro | | | | |
|84 |Jovial Friars |HELL |23 |34 |1 |
|85 |That transfixed one |HELL |23 |34, 37 |2 |
|86 |Catalano de’ Catalani |HELL |23 |34 |2 |
|87 |Loderingo degli Andolo |HELL |23 |34 |1 |
|88 |When the sun tempers his |HELL |24 |34 |1 |
| |lock beneath | | | | |
|89 |Phoenix |HELL |24 |35 |1 |
|90 |Vanni Fucci |HELL |24 |35 |1 |
|91 |Raised hands with both the |HELL |25 |36 |1 |
| |figs | | | | |
|92 |Sabellus |HELL |25 |37 |1 |
|93 |Nasidius |HELL |25 |37 |1 |
|94 |Cacus |HELL |25 |36 |1 |
|95 |Deidamia |HELL |26 |38, 87 |2 |
|96 |Eteocles |HELL |26 |38 |1 |
|97 |Guido da Polenta |HELL |27 |40 |1 |
|98 |Spoils |HELL |27 |18, 41, 84 |3 |
|99 |Ali |HELL |28 |41 |1 |
|100 |Fra Dolcino |HELL |28 |41 |1 |
|101 |Guido del Cassero and |HELL |28 |42 |1 |
| |Angiolello da Cagnano | | | | |
|102 |Bertran de Bor |HELL |28 |42 |1 |
|103 |The moon is beneath our feet|HELL |29 |43 |1 |
|104 |Geri del Bello |HELL |29 |43 |1 |
|105 |Griffolin of Arezzo |HELL |29 |44 |1 |
|106 |Athamas |HELL |30 |44 |1 |
|107 |Semele |HELL |30 |44 |2 |
|108 |Hecuba |HELL |30 |44 |1 |
|109 |Gianni Schicchi |HELL |30 |44 |1 |
|110 |Mirror of Narcissus |HELL |30 |45 |1 |
|111 |Elephants and Whales |HELL |31 |46 |1 |
|112 |Ephialtes and Otus |HELL |31 |47 |2 |
|113 |Briareus |HELL |31 |47, 70 |2 |
|114 |Dames |HELL |32 |47, 89, 129 |3 |
|115 |Lake of ice’s four |HELL |32 |47 |1 |
| |concentric rings | | | | |
|116 |Counts Napoleone and |HELL |32 |45, 48 |2 |
| |Alessandro degli Alberti | | | | |
|117 |Sassol Mascheroni |HELL |32 |48 |1 |
|118 |Gualandi, Sismonsi and |HELL |33 |49 |1 |
| |Lanfranchi | | | | |
|119 |Alberigo de’ Manfredi of |HELL |33 |50 |1 |
| |Faenza | | | | |
|120 |Ser Branca d’ Oria |HELL |33 |51 |1 |
|121 |Atropos |HELL |33 |50 |2 |
|122 |Three faces |HELL |34 |51 |1 |
|123 |Stars |HELL |34 |1, 23, 31, 38, |38 |
| | | | |39, 52, 53, 61, | |
| | | | |71, 79, 80, 95, | |
| | | | |100, 101, 103, | |
| | | | |104, 106, | |
| | | | |108-114, 116, | |
| | | | |118, 125, 127, | |
| | | | |128, 134, 142, | |
| | | | |144, 145, 149, | |
| | | | |151, 153, 157 | |
|124 |Mid sky |PURGATORIO |1 |53 |1 |
|125 |Four stars |PURGATORIO |1 |53 |2 |
|126 |Seven Realms |PURGATORIO |1 |54 |1 |
|127 |Calliope |PURGATORIO |1 |53 |1 |
|128 |Cato of Utica |PURGATORIO |1 |19 |1 |
|129 |Last hour |PURGATORIO |1 |59, 93 |2 |
|130 |Marcia |PURGATORIO |1 |54 |2 |
|131 |Casella |PURGATORIO |2 |55 |1 |
|132 |Manfred |PURGATORIO |3 |57 |1 |
|133 |Pastor of Cosenza |PURGATORIO |3 |57 |1 |
|134 |Full fifty degrees had the |PURGATORIO |4 |57 |1 |
| |sun ascended | | | | |
|135 |Belacqua |PURGATORIO |4 |58 |1 |
|136 |Castor and Pollux |PURGATORIO |4 |58 |1 |
|137 |Mirror |PURGATORIO |4 |58, 75, 76, 95, |16 |
| | | | |98, 102, 108, | |
| | | | |109, 119, 129, | |
| | | | |133, 135, 138, | |
| | | | |146 | |
|138 |Clouds of August at set of |PURGATORIO |5 |59 |1 |
| |sun | | | | |
|139 |Buonconte |PURGATORIO |5 |60 |1 |
|140 |Pia |PURGATORIO |5 |60 |1 |
|141 |Ghin di Tacco |PURGATORIO |6 |60 |1 |
|142 |Federigo Novello |PURGATORIO |6 |61 |1 |
|143 |Count Orso |PURGATORIO |6 |61 |1 |
|144 |Pierre de la Brosse |PURGATORIO |6 |61 |1 |
|145 |Sordello |PURGATORIO |6 |61, 63-66 |7 |
|146 |Albert of Hapsburg |PURGATORIO |6 |61 |1 |
|147 |Ottocar |PURGATORIO |7 |63 |1 |
|148 |William, Marquis of |PURGATORIO |8 |64 |1 |
| |Montferrat and Canavese | | | | |
|149 |Noble Judge Nino |PURGATORIO |8 |64 |1 |
|150 |Guilty Head |PURGATORIO |9 |65 |1 |
|151 |First great stair |PURGATORIO |9 |66 |1 |
|152 |Eagle |PURGATORIO |9 |6, 40, 66, 103, |10 |
| | | | |104, 106, 113, | |
| | | | |134, 138, 146 | |
|153 |Polycletus |PURGATORIO |10 |67 |1 |
|154 |Povenzan Salvani |PURGATORIO |11 |70 |1 |
|155 |Omberto, Count of Santafiora|PURGATORIO |11 |69 |1 |
|156 |Pap |PURGATORIO |11 |89 |1 |
|157 |Lightning from heaven |PURGATORIO |12 |70 |1 |
|158 |Niobe |PURGATORIO |12 |70 |1 |
|159 |Sapia |PURGATORIO |13 |73 |1 |
|160 |Orestes |PURGATORIO |13 |72 |1 |
|161 |Aglauros |PURGATORIO |14 |75 |1 |
|162 |A light |PURGATORIO |17 |78-80, 87, 90, |9 |
| | | | |91, 95, 96, 108 | |
|163 |Lavinia |PURGATORIO |17 |78 |1 |
|164 |Primal goods |PURGATORIO |17 |79 |1 |
|165 |The first cognitions |PURGATORIO |18 |80 |1 |
|166 |Dream |PURGATORIO |19 |46, 81, 95, 100, |7 |
| | | | |104, 124 | |
|167 |Alagia |PURGATORIO |20 |83 |1 |
|168 |Fabricius |PURGATORIO |20 |83 |1 |
|169 |St. Nicholas |PURGATORIO |20 |83 |1 |
|170 |Hugh Capet |PURGATORIO |20 |83 |1 |
|171 |Conradin |PURGATORIO |20 |83 |1 |
|172 |Charles II |PURGATORIO |20 |83, 114, 117, 118|4 |
|173 |Polydorus |PURGATORIO |20 |84 |1 |
|174 |Marcus Licinius Crassus |PURGATORIO |20 |84 |1 |
|175 |Erisichthon |PURGATORIO |23 |88 |1 |
|176 |Forese |PURGATORIO |23 |88 |3 |
|177 |Piccarda |PURGATORIO |24 |89 |1 |
|178 |Bonaguinta Urbiciani |PURGATORIO |24 |89 |1 |
|179 |Boniface |PURGATORIO |24 |89 |1 |
|180 |Guittone d’ Arezzo |PURGATORIO |24 |90, 94 |2 |
|181 |For the Sun had left the |PURGATORIO |25 |91 |1 |
| |meridian circle to the Bull | | | | |
| |and the night to the | | | | |
| |Scorpion | | | | |
|182 |Helice or Callisto |PURGATORIO |25 |92 |1 |
|183 |Guido Guinicelli |PURGATORIO |26 |93, 137 |2 |
|184 |Pasiphae |PURGATORIO |26 |93 |1 |
|185 |That sweet fruit |PURGATORIO |27 |95 |1 |
|186 |First beamed upon the |PURGATORIO |27 |95 |1 |
| |mountain | | | | |
|187 |Aeolus |PURGATORIO |28 |96 |1 |
|188 |A lady |PURGATORIO |28 |2, 14, 21, 44, |32 |
| | | | |53, 54, 66, 81, | |
| | | | |93, 95-97, 105, | |
| | | | |112, 113,138-140,| |
| | | | |145-149, 153-156 | |
|189 |Xerxes |PURGATORIO |28 |96 |2 |
|190 |Urania |PURGATORIO |29 |98, 118 |1 |
|191 |Delia |PURGATORIO |29 |98 |1 |
|192 |Delia’s girdle |PURGATORIO |29 |98 |1 |
|193 |Griffon |PURGATORIO |29 |98, 99, 102 |7 |
|194 |Chariot |PURGATORIO |29 |98-100, 102, 10 |11 |
| | | | |3, 124 | |
|195 |Three ladies |PURGATORIO |29 |99 |1 |
|196 |Ten paces |PURGATORIO |29 |98 |1 |
|197 |24 elders |PURGATORIO |29 |98 |1 |
|198 |Crowns of flower-de-luce |PURGATORIO |29 |98 |1 |
|199 |Four creatures |PURGATORIO |29 |98 |1 |
|200 |Green leaves |PURGATORIO |29 |80, 98 |2 |
|201 |Beast’s six wings |PURGATORIO |29 |98 |1 |
|202 |Two wheels |PURGATORIO |29 |98, 103 |2 |
|203 |White |PURGATORIO |29 |37, 40, 51, 54, |21 |
| | | | |63, 65-68, 71, | |
| | | | |98, 99, 106, 109,| |
| | | | |145, 153 | |
|204 |Green |PURGATORIO |29 |40, 45, 63, 65, |8 |
| | | | |69, 81, 88, 98 | |
|205 |Red |PURGATORIO |29 |57, 66, 95, 96, |7 |
| | | | |99, 114 | |
|206 |Three eyes in her head |PURGATORIO |29 |99 |1 |
|207 |Four clad in purple |PURGATORIO |29 |99 |1 |
|208 |Creatures |PURGATORIO |29 |51, 82, 99, 112, |7 |
| | | | |116, 117, 135 | |
|209 |Flower-de-luce |PURGATORIO |29 |98 |1 |
|210 |Rose |PURGATORIO |29 |98, 103, 142, |6 |
| | | | |152, 153, 155 | |
|211 |White veil |PURGATORIO |29 |99 |1 |
|212 |Emeralds |PURGATORIO |31 |98, 102 |2 |
|213 |She fox |PURGATORIO |32 |103 |1 |
|214 |Apollo | PARADISO |1 | 106, 107 | 2 |
|215 |Lamp of the world |PARADISO |1 |106 |1 |
|216 |Four great circles |PARADISO |1 |82 |1 |
|217 |Glaucus |PARADISO |1 |106 |1 |
|218 |Virtue of the place |PARADISO |1 |106 |1 |
|219 |External wheels |PARADISO |1 |106 |1 |
|220 |Exalted creatures |PARADISO |1 |107 |1 |
|221 |Diverse essences |PARADISO |2 |109 |1 |
|222 |Hammer |PARADISO |2 |109 |1 |
|223 |Blessed motors |PARADISO |2 |109, 126 |2 |
|224 |Kindled love between the man|PARADISO |3 |109 |1 |
| |and the fountain | | | | |
|225 |Constance |PARADISO |3 |110, 111 |2 |
|226 |White and of the yellow key |PARADISO |5 |67, 112 |2 |
|227 |Thrones of eternal triumph |PARADISO |5 |113 |1 |
|228 |Raymond Berenger IV of |PARADISO |6 |115 |1 |
| |Provence | | | | |
|229 |Standard-bearer |PARADISO |6 |114 |1 |
|230 |Word of God |PARADISO |7 |115 |1 |
|231 |Creator |PARADISO |7 |79 |2 |
|232 |Horn of Ausonia |PARADISO |8 |117 |1 |
|233 |Solon |PARADISO |8 |118 |1 |
|234 |Iole |PARADISO |9 |119 |1 |
|235 |Memory of the Pope |PARADISO |9 |120 |1 |
|236 |Thomas Aquinas |PARADISO |10 |83, 124, 125, 127|4 |
|237 |Gratian |PARADISO |10 |121 |1 |
|238 |Peter Lombard |PARADISO |10 |114, 121, 132 |3 |
|239 |Isidore of Seville |PARADISO |10 |121 |1 |
|240 |Albert of Cologne |PARADISO |10 |121 |1 |
|241 |Fifth light |PARADISO |10 |121, 125 |2 |
|242 |The one was all seraphic in |PARADISO |11 |122 |1 |
| |ardor | | | | |
|243 |Ubaldo |PARADISO |11 |122 |1 |
|244 |He ran into strife with his |PARADISO |11 |122 |1 |
| |father for sake of a lady | | | | |
|245 |Deprived of her first |PARADISO |11 |122 |1 |
| |husband | | | | |
|246 |Egidius and Sylvester |PARADISO |11 |123 |1 |
|247 |Seraphs |PARADISO |11 |111, 117, 139, 49|4 |
|248 |From Christ the last seal |PARADISO |11 |123 |1 |
|249 |Cherubs |PARADISO |11 |41, 122, 149 |2 |
|250 |Dominic |PARADISO |12 |124 |1 |
|251 |Metropolitan Chrysostom |PARADISO |12 |125 |1 |
|252 |Anselm |PARADISO |12 |125 |1 |
|253 |Donatus |PARADISO |12 |125 |1 |
|254 |Rabanus Maurus |PARADISO |12 |125 |1 |
|255 |Joachim |PARADISO |12 |125 |1 |
|256 |Bonaventura |PARADISO |12 |125 |1 |
|257 |St. Victor |PARADISO |12 |125 |1 |
|258 |Peter |PARADISO |12 |85, 103, 123, |9 |
| | | | |125, 135, 139, | |
| | | | |140 | |
|259 |Splendor |PARADISO |13 |95, 102,103, 110,|11 |
| | | | |114, 118, 120, | |
| | | | |122, 123, 126, | |
| | | | |127 | |
|260 |Our sire brings to birth |PARADISO |13 |126 |1 |
|261 |Parmenides, Melissus, Bryson|PARADISO |13 |126 |1 |
|262 |Sabellius |PARADISO |13 |126 |1 |
|263 |Arius |PARADISO |13 |126 |1 |
|264 |From horn to horn |PARADISO |14 |128 |1 |
|265 |Gaze on the mirror |PARADISO |15 |20 |1 |
|266 |Nerli and Vecchio |PARADISO |15 |129 |1 |
|267 |Cianghella |PARADISO |15 |129 |1 |
|268 |Mary, called on with loud |PARADISO |15 |129 |1 |
| |cries | | | | |
|269 |Iniquity of that law |PARADISO |15 |130 |1 |
|270 |Sheepfold of St. John |PARADISO |16 |130 |1 |
|271 |Strong star |PARADISO |17 |133 |1 |
|272 |The white glow of the |PARADISO |18 |134 |1 |
| |temperate sixth star | | | | |
|273 |William and Renouard |PARADISO |18 |134 |1 |
|274 |Duke Godfrey |PARADISO |18 |134 |1 |
|275 |Robert Guiscard |PARADISO |18 |134 |1 |
|276 |Marked with an ‘I’, while an|PARADISO |19 |136 |4 |
| |‘M’ shall mark the contrary.| | | | |
|277 |Poison |PARADISO |19 |18, 92 |2 |
|278 |Bull |PARADISO |22 |31, 93 |2 |
|279 |The name of the fair flower |PARADISO |23 |142 |1 |
|280 |The royal mantle |PARADISO |23 |142 |1 |
|281 |Keys of such glory |PARADISO |23 |142 |1 |
|282 |Exile of Babylon |PARADISO |23 |142 |1 |
|283 |He who lay upon the breast |PARADISO |24 |145 |1 |
| |of the Pelican | | | | |
|284 |Two robes in the blessed |PARADISO |25 |145 |1 |
| |cloister; two lights which | | | | |
| |ascended | | | | |
|285 |Sixtus and Pius and Calixtus|PARADISO |26 |147 |1 |
| |and Urban | | | | |
|286 |Sixth hour |PARADISO |26 |151 |1 |
|287 |Veronica |PARADISO |31 |154 |1 |
|288 |Knot or complex |PARADISO |33 |115 |1 |

Table 4. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the first question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “What is an Allegory to you?”. This table has six columns. Column 1 shows the number of the interviewee. Columns 2 to 6 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 4
List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “What is an Allegory to you?”

|No. of the |Preferred Meaning |
|Interviewee | |
| |a. an extended |b. a direct |c. a valid exaggeration|d. a library of |e. none of the |
| |metaphor |conversation | |poetry |above |
|1 |√ | | | | |
|2 |√ | | | | |
|3 |√ | | | | |
|4 |√ | | | | |
|5 |√ | | | | |
|6 |√ | | | | |
|Total |6 | | | | |

As shown from the table above, 6 out of 6 or 100% of the interviewees preferred the meaning extended metaphor for the word Allegory.

Table 5. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the second question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “Do you believe that an Allegory is a good literary device to express the goodness and the badness of a decision during critical moments?”. This table is composed of three columns. Column number 1 shows the number of the interviewee, columns 2 and 3 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 5
List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “Do you believe that an Allegory is a good literary device to express the goodness and the badness of a decision during critical moments?”

|Number of the |Preferred Response |
|Interviewee | |
| |Yes |No |
|1 |√ | |
|2 |√ | |
|3 |√ | |
|4 | |√ |
|5 | |√ |
|6 |√ | |
|Total |4 |2 |

As shown from the table above, 4 out of 6 or 66.67% of the interviewees agreed that an Allegory is a good literary device to express the goodness and the badness of a decision during critical moments while 2 out of 6 or 33.33% of the interviewees disagreed.

Table 6. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the third question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “Have you been into a critical moment that affected your decision-making?”. The table is composed of three columns. Column 1 shows the number of the interviewee while Columns 2 and 3 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 6 List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “Have you been into a critical moment that affected your decision-making?”

|Number of the |Preferred Response |
|Interviewee | |
| |Yes |No |
|1 |√ | |
|2 |√ | |
|3 |√ | |
|4 |√ | |
|5 |√ | |
|6 |√ | |
|Total |6 | |

As shown from the table above, 6 out of 6 or 100% of the interviewees agreed that they have been into a critical moment that affected their decision-making.

Table 7. The table below shows the answers of the interviewees to the fourth question presented in the questionnaire. The fourth question was: “How did you make your decision?”. This table has six columns. Column 1 shows the number of the interviewee while columns 2 to 6 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 7
List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “How did you make your decision?”

|Number of the |Preferred Answer |
|Interviewee | |
| |a. maintaining the moral |b. deciding to do bad |c. doing nothing|d. letting others decide |e. others |
| |goodness of an action |in favor of one’s | | | |
| | |convenience | | | |
|1 |√ | | | | |
|2 |√ | | | | |
|3 |√ | | | | |
|4 |√ | | | | |
|5 |√ | | | | |
|6 |√ | | | | |
|Total |6 | | | | |

As shown from the table above, 6 out of 6 or 100% of the interviewees preferred that in making a decision, one must maintain the moral goodness of an action.

Table 8. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the fifth question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “Do you think the goodness or badness of an action change?”. The table is composed of three columns. Column number 1 shows the number of the interviewee while columns 2 and 3 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 8 List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “Do you think the goodness or the badness of an action changes?”

|Number of the |Preferred Response |
|Interviewee | |
| |Yes |No |
|1 | |√ |
|2 | |√ |
|3 |√ | |
|4 | |√ |
|5 | |√ |
|6 |√ | |
|Total |2 |4 |

As shown from the table above, 4 out of 6 or 66.67% of the interviewees disagreed to the idea that the goodness or the badness of an action changes while 2 out of 6 or 33.33% of the interviewees agreed.

Table 9. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the sixth question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “Do you think Morality changes?”. The table is composed of three columns. Column number 1 shows the number of the interviewee while columns 2 and 3 show the given options presented in the questionnaire. Table 9 List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “Do you think Morality changes?”

|Number of the |Preferred Response |
|Interviewee | |
| |Yes |No |
|1 | |√ |
|2 | |√ |
|3 |√ | |
|4 | |√ |
|5 | |√ |
|6 |√ | |
|Total |2 |4 |

As shown from the table above, 4 out of 6 or 66.67% of the interviewees disagreed to the idea that Morality changes while 2 out of 6 or 33.33% of the interviewees agreed.

Table 10. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the seventh question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “Do you believe that there is a difference or there are differences between the concept of the God before and the God now?”. The table is composed of three columns. Column number 1 shows the number of the interviewee while Columns 2 and 3 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 10
List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “Do you believe that there is a difference or there are differences between the concept of the God before and the God now?”

|Number of the |Preferred Response |
|Interviewee | |
| |Yes |No |
|1 |√ | |
|2 | |√ |
|3 |√ | |
|4 |√ | |
|5 |√ | |
|6 |√ | |
|Total |5 |1 |

As shown from the table above, 5 out of 6 or 83.33% of the interviewees believed that there is a difference or there are differences between the concept of the God before and the God now while 1 out of 6 or 16.67% of the interviewees disagreed.

Table 11. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the eighth question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “What is your concept of life after death?”. This table has six columns. Column 1 shows the number of the interviewee while columns 2 to 6 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 11
List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “What is your concept of life after death?”

|Number of the |Preferred Answer |
|Interviewee | |
| |a.reincarnation of life |b. having a |c. reuniting with |d.resurrection |e. others |
| | |second life |God | | |
|1 | | | |√ | |
|2 | | |√ | | |
|3 | | |√ | | |
|4 | | | |√ | |
|5 | | |√ | | |
|6 | | |√ | | |
|Total | | |4 |2 | |

As shown from the table above, 4 out of 6 or 66.67% of the interviewees perceived the concept of life after death as being reunited with God while 2 out of 6 or 33.33% of the interviewees perceived it to be resurrection.

Table 12. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the ninth question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “Do you think the morals you have learned on Earth could affect your life after death?”. This table is composed of three columns. Column 1 shows the number of the interviewee while columns 2 and 3 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 12
List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “Do you think the morals you have learned on Earth could affect your life after death?”

|Number of the |Preferred Response |
|Interviewee | |
| |Yes |No |
|1 |√ | |
|2 |√ | |
|3 |√ | |
|4 |√ | |
|5 |√ | |
|6 |√ | |
|Total |6 | |

As shown from the table above, 6 out of 6 or 100% of the interviewees agreed that morals learned on Earth could affect life after death.

Table 13. This table shows the answers of the interviewees to the tenth question presented in the questionnaire. The question was: “What is your opinion of the statement: ‘Hell is man’s creation, Heaven is God’s creation.’?”. This table has six columns. Column 1 shows the number of the interviewee. Columns 2 to 6 show the given options presented in the questionnaire.
Table 13
List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “What is your opinion of the statement: ‘Hell is man’s creation. Heaven is God’s creation.’?”

| |Options |
|Number of the | |
|Interviewee | |
| |a. hell is man’s creation |b. man discovered hell |c. hell is science,|d. hell is man |e. others |
| |inherited from Adam and |in the Earth’s core |heaven is religion |committing sins, heaven| |
| |Eve, heaven is man on the |while God created the | |is man being saved by | |
| |peak of his happiness |sky | |God’s salvation | |
|1 | | | |√ | |
|2 | | | |√ | |
|3 | | | | |√ |
|4 | | | | |√ |
|5 | | | |√ | |
|6 | | | |√ | |
|Total | | | |4 |2 |

As shown from the table above, 4 out of 6 or 66.67% of the interviewees agreed to the opinion that hell is man committing sins, heaven is man being saved by God’s salvation while 2 out of 6 or 33.33% of the interviewees have given their own opinion about the statement.

Table 14. This table shows the interviewees’ own opinions to the eleventh question presented in the questionnaire. The eleventh question was: “As a Christian, what do you think is the significance of Morality in life after death?”. It is composed of two columns. Column number 1 shows the number of the interviewee. Column 2 shows the interviewees’ perspective regarding the given question.
Table 14
List of the Interviewees’ Responses to the Question “As a Christian, what do you think is the significance of Morality in life after death?”

|Number of the | |
|Interviewee |Opinion |
|1 |The significance of Morality in life after death is that it provides the guiding principles for us to attain |
| |the afterlife we wish or hope. |
|2 |This will affect how our lives will be evaluated after death for final judgment. |
|3 |It is a form of Retribution wherein the goodness that you have done will be rewarded and the badness, you |
| |will have to take its consequences. |
|4 |It will guide us to a life with God. |
|5 |Morality motivates us to build a good relationship with God. |
|6 |It determines whether our soul after death will receive its heavenly reward or not. Absence of Morality means|
| |not being able to experience a life of eternal bliss. |

As shown from the table above, 6 out of 6 or 100% of the interviewees said that Morality has significance in life after death.

Table 15. This table presents the summary of the data gathered from the In-depth Interview done by the researchers. The In-depth Interview had 6 respondents from the different groups of College of the Holy Spirit of Manila. This table is composed of 2 columns. Column 1 shows the items asked as presented in the questionnaire and column 2, which is divided into 6 sub-columns, shows the number of each interviewee.
Table 15
Summary of the Result of the answers of the respondents during the In-depth Interview

|Items Asked |Number of the Interviewee |
| |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |
|Perceived meaning of |An extended metaphor |An extended metaphor |An extended metaphor|An extended metaphor |An extended metaphor|An extended metaphor|
|Allegory | | | | | | |
|Agreement and disagreement|Yes |Yes |Yes |No |No |Yes |
|to the idea that an | | | | | | |
|Allegory is a good | | | | | | |
|literary device in | | | | | | |
|expressing the goodness | | | | | | |
|and the badness of a | | | | | | |
|decision during critical | | | | | | |
|moments | | | | | | |
|Agreement and disagreement|Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |
|to the idea of being in a | | | | | | |
|critical moment affecting | | | | | | |
|decision-making | | | | | | |
|Decision-making |Maintaining the moral |Maintaining the moral |Maintaining the |Maintaining the moral |Maintaining the |Maintaining the |
| |goodness of an action |goodness of an action |moral goodness of an|goodness of an action |moral goodness of an|moral goodness of an|
| | | |action | |action |action |
|Agreement and disagreement|No, because an action |No, Morality is always |Yes, there are times|No, it does not |No, because I think |Yes, there are |
|to the idea that the |whether good or bad |objective. |that our |change, but the |we have an ultimate |factors that can |
|goodness or the badness of|maintains its value as| |perspectives on |gravity or severity |basis of what is bad|affect the changes |
|an action changes |it is and cannot | |situations changes. |would be subject to |& that is innate in |but because when a |
| |change. In other | |To determine the |different factors. |us. We are created |person is consistent|
| |words, if an action is| |goodness and badness| |as a good person, it|on his decisions, |
| |good, it is good and | |of one’s action, you| |is in our nature. He|then it doesn’t |
| |cannot and will not be| |would refer to the | |becomes bad because |change. |
| |bad per se and | |situation and how it| |of the choices he | |
| |vice-versa. | |can be applied to | |makes. | |
| | | |the person. | | | |
|Agreement and disagreement|No, because Morality |No, because Morality is|Yes, depending on |No, it is objective. |No, Morality is |Yes, because of some|
|to the idea |is absolute and |always objective and |the situations, |It is based on faith |based on laws and |factors that can |
|that Morality changes |eternal. What changes |unchangeable. |depending on the |and, or norms. |the ultimate law is |affect the person. |
| |is the interpretation | |challenges of the | |the law from God; |If the person is |
| |given. | |time. Like the way | |divine law. Our |inconsistent then |
| | | |we look at law today| |nature dictates us |definitely he may |
| | | |and in the past is | |to always do what is|alter Morality. |
| | | |different. | |good. | |
|Agreement and disagreement|Yes, it will depend on|No |Yes, it has loads of|Yes, one thing that |Yes, it is based on |Yes, the concept of |
|to the idea that |religion and culture | |differences |changed is the image |situations. The |God depends on the |
|there is a difference or |because the concept of| |especially those who|of God that He is not |spread of |personal experience |
|there are differences |God, most of the time,| |do not have a |just a Just God, but a|Christianity is a |of a person. It also|
|between the concept of the|are interpreted with | |religion. If what |forgiving God. This |great factor in the |varies on the level |
|God before and the God now|the influence of | |one believes that |image makes a |concept of God. |of maturity of an |
| |culture and the kind | |everything in this |connection of personal|Unlike the old |individual. |
| |of religion. | |world may change and|experience with God. |times, we have prior| |
| | | |at some point you | |knowledge of God | |
| | | |still look for | |before having a | |
| | | |something more, I | |personal experience | |
| | | |think that something| |with Him. | |
| | | |more is God. | | | |
|Perceived concept of life |Resurrection |Reuniting with God |Reuniting with God |Resurrection |Reuniting with God | Reuniting |
|after death | | | | | |with God |
|Agreement and disagreement|Yes, because the kind |Yes, because it will |Yes, I believe |Yes, my way of living |Yes, because it is |Yes, because how we |
|to the idea |of afterlife will be |affect the conduct of |there’s life after |life is trying to tell|how you live your |live our lives here |
|that the morals learned on|determined by how we |our lives and on how |death, that’s the |God that, “I would |life on earth. |will determine the |
|Earth could affect life |live our life. What’s |God will judge it after|point of Morality. |like to be with you.” |According to the |kind of life I will |
|after death |the point of doing |death. |We are al |God invites us to be |Christian Teachings,|have after death. |
| |good and being good if| |responsible for our |good but he does not |we are told to |Morals matters for |
| |there’s no afterlife? | |actions, because if |force us. |follow Christ. |these serve as a |
| | | |justice wouldn’t be | | |bridge to the kind |
| | | |serving on Earth, it| | |of life our |
| | | |would be served | | |Christian faith |
| | | |there. | | |offers. |
|Opinion to the statement: |Hell is man committing|Hell is man committing |Others | |Hell is man |Hell is man |
|“Hell is man’s creation. |sin. Heaven is man |sin. Heaven is man | |Others |committing sin. |committing sin. |
|Heaven is God’s creation.”|being saved by God’s |being saved by God’s | | |Heaven is man being |Heaven is man being |
| |salvation. |salvation. | | |saved by God’s |saved by God’s |
| | | | | |salvation. |salvation. |
|Opinion to the |The significance of |This will affect how |It is a form of |It will guide us to a |Morality motivates |It determines |
|significance of Morality |Morality in life after|our lives will be |Retribution wherein |life with God. |us to build a good |whether our soul |
|in life after death |death is that it |evaluated after death |the goodness that | |relationship with |after death will |
| |provides the guiding |for the final judgment.|you have done will | |God. |receive its heavenly|
| |principles for us to | |be rewarded and the | | |reward or not. |
| |attain the afterlife | |badness, you have to| | |Absence of Morality |
| |we wish or hope. | |take its | | |means not being able|
| | | |consequen-ces. | | |to experience a life|
| | | | | | |of eternal bliss. |

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA GATHERED, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter deals with the discussion, interpretation, analysis and critique of the profile of the author, the summary of the “Divine Comedy” and the tabular presentations that support the information gathered by the researchers. This also includes the researchers’ findings related to the problems stated in this study. The researchers’ recommendations concerning this study are also presented in this chapter.
Profile of the Author:

Dante Alighieri, a notable Italian poet was known for his literary works during the middle Ages. His epic poem “Divine Comedy” became one of the finest works of world literature. It has been praised by numerous grammarians and literary critics for its magnificent poetry. Dante had a tremendous influence on later poets and authors like John Milton who wrote the book “Paradise Lost” which is derived from the theme of the “Divine Comedy”. Dante’s unique style of writing is eminent in his Comedy and can be perceived by the use of symbolic representations known as Allegory. The researchers realized that the Allegorical Signs within the piece resemble the author’s wisdom and scholarly learning. The poem relates his spiritual development and focuses on the theme of life after death. Dante himself is the main character in the Comedy. He believes that his own experiences, as portrayed in the poem resemble the reality of political and secular problems in the society. All these are reflected in the book by his character representing the imperfections of mankind. For this, Dante projected his own moral and ethical values to solve these issues. He also fought for his own freedom not only in politics but also in his personal life. This began when his family made an arranged marriage, he never wished to have. Dante suffered in the misery of admiring his true love, Beatrice Portinari. This longing became his inspiration in writing and was extended in the creation of his works and gave rise to the existence of the “Divine Comedy.”
Summary of the “Divine Comedy”: “Divine Comedy” is divided into three books namely: Hell, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. In the first book, Dante presented the sufferings experienced by people who died because of mortal sins. He placed them in a cone-shaped cavern with nine circles. These nine circles characterize the levels of man’s sinfulness. In the First Circle called Limbo, he mentioned the least offensive souls, such as the unbaptized and those who died before Christ brought redemption to the world. Virgil, Dante’s guide, himself dwells in the First Circle. From the second until the sixth Circle, lie those who could not control their desires for sex, food, money and are heretic. The Seventh Circle contains those who committed violence against themselves or others, or against God himself. The Eighth Circle contains hypocrites, thieves, forgers, alchemists, swindlers, flatterers and deceivers. The Ninth Circle is reserved for the worst evildoers: the traitors of every kind–those who were false to friends or relatives, or to their country or a noble cause. After passing through Hell, Dante and Virgil next arrive at the Mount of Purgatory, having ten terraces. Running up the side of the mountain, are souls purging themselves of venial or less serious sins involving negligence, pride, envy, sloth, political intrigue and others. Among the sinners are ex-communicants who repented before they died and monarchs who neglected their duties. As Dante and Virgil continue upward, they meet the proud, the envious, the avaricious, the wasteful and the lustful sinners. Farther up the mountain, they can already see the Earthly Paradise. Having been through Purgatory, Dante arrives in Heaven. It is a place of perfect happiness and is a celestial region with planets, stars and other heavenly bodies. A man’s placement depends on the level of goodness he or she achieved on Earth. From the lowest level of Heaven is the Moon next is Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Stars and the other heavenly bodies. The highest level is where the Triune God, the Virgin Mary, other angels, and saints reside.

.Interpretations of Allegorical Signs: The researchers, after having listed and quantified the Allegorical Signs evident in the poem, have given the interpretations for each sign. They have gathered these data to support the content of the poem.
Table 16. The researchers have created a table to present each Allegorical Sign and its corresponding meaning in relation to its theme. This is Table 16 entitled “Table on Interpretations of Allegorical Signs”. Column 1 shows the number of the Allegorical Sign. Column 2 shows the Allegorical Sign given in the poem and column 3 shows its Allegorical interpretation.
Table 16
Interpretations of Allegorical Signs

|Number of the | | |
|Allegorical Sign |Allegorical Sign |Allegorical Interpretation |
|1 |Midway upon the journey of our life |Dante was 35 years old |
|2 |Dark wood |forest of the world of sense |
|3 |Hill |type of the true course of life |
|4 |Leopard |temptation of the flesh |
|5 |Lion |pride |
|6 |She-wolf |avarice |
|7 |Gate of St. Peter |gate of purgatory |
|8 |Beatrice |heavenly wisdom |
|9 |Virgil |worldly wisdom |
|10 |Greyhound |Can Grande della Scala, great Ghibelline Leader |
|11 |Chosen vessel |St. Peter |
|12 |A gentle lady |the Virgin Mary, never spoken of by Name in hell |
|13 |Lucia |illuminating grace |
|14 |Rachel |the contemplative life |
|15 |Aeneas |the ancestor of the founder of Rome, which became the seat of the |
| | |empire |
|16 |Virgin Mary |divine grace |
|17 |Power | |
| | |the Holy Trinity |
| | | |
|18 |Wisdom | |
|19 |Love | |
|20 |Fire which overcame a hemisphere of darkness |symbol of partial light afforded by Philosophy to the virtuous |
| | |heathen |
|21 |Castle |symbol of the abode of philosophy or Human wisdom unenlightened by |
| | |revelation |
|22 |Seven high walls |signifies the four moral and three Intellectual virtues- prudence, |
| | |temperance, fortitude and justice; understanding, knowledge and |
| | |wisdom |
|23 |Dioscorides |a physician in Cilicia of the first century, author of a medical |
| | |work; treating of the qualities of plants |
|24 |Hippocrates and Galen |Greek physicians |
|25 |Orpheus and Linus |mythical Greek singers and poets |
|26 |Tullius, Cicero and Seneca |writers whose ethical works were much read in the middle ages |
|27 |Avicenna and Averroes |Arabian physician and philosophers, both of whom wrote commentaries |
| | |on Aristotle |
|28 |Cleopatra |queen of Egypt, mistress of Caesar and Anthony |
|29 |Helen |the wife of Menelaus, was carried off by Paris of Troy and was thus,|
| | |the cause of The Trojan War |
|30 |Tristan |Tristan of Lyonesse, one of King Arthur’s knights |
|31 |All eternity |last judgment |
|32 |Plutus |God of riches |
|33 |General minister and guide |fortune |
|34 |Primal creatures |angels |
|35 |Spirits rained from the heavens |the angels that fell with Satan |
|36 |Erichtho |a sorceress of Thessaly |
|37 |Queen of the eternal lamentation |Proserpine |
|38 |Theseus |failing to rescue Proserpine, was kept in the lower world till |
| | |delivered by Hercules in defiance of the power of Hades |
|39 |Gorgon |Medusa |
|40 |Farinata Degli Uberti |was the head of the Ghibelline party in Tuscany for many years about|
| | |the middle of thirteenth century |
|41 |Guido Cavalcanti |Dante’s first friend, was charged with the same sin of unbelief as |
| | |his father |
|42 |Barrators |Simony |
|43 |Three dispositions |there are three species of moral character to be avoided; vice, |
| | |incontinence and bestiality |
|44 |Opizzo II of Este |an ardent Guelf |
|45 |Chiron |teacher of Achilles, Hercules and other Renowned Greeks |
|46 |Dionysus |Dionysus the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse |
|47 |Attila |king of the Huns, known as the Flagellum Dei |
|48 |Pyrrhus |son of Achilles, took part in the Trojan War and killed Priam. |
|49 |Sextus |Sextus Pompeius, the son of Pompei the Great, was defeated by Caesar|
| | |at Munda |
|50 |Rinier of Corneto and Rinier of Pazzo |notorious highway men, contemporaries of Dante |
|51 |Lano and Jacomo |notorious spendthrifts |
|52 |First Patron |first patron of Florence was Mars |
|53 |Keys |keys of punishment and mercy |
|54 |Harlot |envy |
|55 |The world once was chaste |golden Age, under Saturn; the mythical king of Crete |
|56 |Great old man |allegory of the history of the human race |
|57 |Gold | |
| | |four ages of man, spiritual and secular authority |
|58 |Silver | |
|59 |Iron | |
|60 |Brass | |
|61 |Brunetto Latini |one of the most learned and able Florentine of the thirteenth |
| | |century |
|62 |Priscian |the famous grammarian of the Sixteenth century |
|63 |Franceso |a jurist of much repute in his time, who taught Oxford and at |
| | |Bologna |
|64 |Cord |symbolizes the ascetic vows on which Dante had formerly relied to |
| | |capture and subdue the Leopard |
|65 |Jacopo Rusticucci |a Florentine of lowly origin |
|66 |Guglielmo Borsiere |a purse-maker, who exchanged his trade for a life of social pleasure|
|67 |Beaver |fallacy |
|68 |Phaeton |son of Phoebus Apollo |
|69 |Beautiful lady |the Church |
|70 |Great mantle |Papal Mantle |
|71 |She that was born with seven heads |church |
|72 |Seven heads |seven sacraments |
|73 |Ten horns |ten commandments |
|74 |Spouse |pope |
|75 |Aruns |an Etruscan soothsayer |
|76 |Manto |the daughter of Tiresias, and herself a prophetess |
|77 |Michael Scot |a famous Scotch wizard |
|78 |Guido Bonatti |a famous astrologer of Forli in the thirteenth century |
|79 |Cain |the man in the moon |
|80 |Holy Face |the Santo Volto, an image of Christ upon the cross, still venerated |
| | |at Lucca |
|81 |King Thibault |king of Navarre and brother-in-law of St. Louis |
|82 |Friar Gomita |was hanged for his frauds |
|83 |Don Michael Zanche of Logodoro |another of the judicatures of Surdinia, was murdered by his |
| | |son-in-law Branca d’ Oria |
|84 |Jovial Friars |brothers of the military and conventual order of Santa Maria, with |
| | |knightly vows and high intent |
|85 |That transfixed one |Caiaphas |
|86 |Catalano de’ Catalani |a Gulf of Bologna |
|87 |Loderingo degli Andolo |a Ghibelline of Bologna |
|88 |When the sun tempers his lock beneath beneath Aquarius |the sun is proceeding northwards Aquarius, and the nights already |
| | |wane towards half the day |
|89 |Phoenix |peculiarity |
|90 |Vanni Fucci |a Black of Pistoia, robbed the treasure of San Jacopo in the church |
| | |of San Zeno, together with two accomplishes |
|91 |Raised hands with both the figs |a coarse gesture of contemptuous defiance, made by thrusting out the|
| | |fist with the thumb between the fore and middle finger |
|92 |Sabellus |bitten by a little serpent in the Libyan Desert |
|93 |Nasidius |stung by a snake of another kind, dwells until he bursts his armor |
|94 |Cacus |was a monster inhabiting a cave in Mt. Aventine and was noted for |
| | |his thefts |
|95 |Deidamia |mother of a son by Achilles |
|96 |Eteocles |son of Edipous, king if Thebes, quarreled with his brother over the |
| | |succession to the throne |
|97 |Guido da Polenta |had been Lord of Ravenna, his shield bore an eagle |
|98 |Spoils |three bushels |
|99 |Ali |head of the schism |
|100 |Fra Dolcino |a heretic and reformer |
|101 |Guido del Cassero and Angiolello da Cagnano |treacherously drowned by order of the one-eyed Malatestino |
|102 |Bertran de Born |the famous troubadour who invited young prince Henry to rebel |
| | |against his father, Henry II of England |
|103 |The moon is beneath our feet |it was early in the afternoon |
|104 |Geri del Bello |first cousin of Dante’s father, he was a harmful and quarrelsome |
| | |person, who, having sown discord among the Sacchetti, was slain by |
| | |one of them |
|105 |Griffolin of Arezzo |obtained money from Albero of Siena by pretending that he could |
| | |teach him the art of flying |
|106 |Athamas |king of Orchomenos, near Thebes, had two children by the sister of |
| | |Semele, Ino |
|107 |Semele |daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes. Was beloved by Jupiter, whom she|
| | |bore a son, Bacchus |
|108 |Hecuba |wife of King Priam |
|109 |Gianni Schicchi |a Florentine of the Cavalcanti family, well known for his mimicry |
|110 |Mirror of Narcissus |water |
|111 |Elephants and Whales |less dangerous, not being endowed with reason |
|112 |Ephialtes and Otus |sons of Neptune, warred against the Olympian Gods |
|113 |Briareus |another of the Giants who defied the Gods of Olympus; with 100 arms |
| | |and 50 heads |
|114 |Dames |the muses |
|115 |Lake of ice’s four concentric rings |1st ring: Caina (where traitors to their |
| | |kindred suffer penalty) |
| | |2nd ring: Antenore (for traitors to their country |
| | |3rd ring: Ptolomea (for traitors to their gusts) |
| | |4th ring: Judecca (for the worst of all sinners, traitors to their |
| | |benefactors) |
|116 |Counts Napoleone and Alessandro degli Alberti |a Ghibelline and Guelf respectively, quarreled over inheritance and |
| | |each seeking treacherously to kill the other, they were both slain |
|117 |Sassol Mascheroni |murdered his nephew for an Inheritance |
|118 |Gualandi, Sismonsi and Lanfranchi |three of the chief Ghibelline families of Pisa |
|119 |Alberigo de’ Manfredi of Faenza |one of the Jovial friars |
|120 |Ser Branca d’ Oria |a member of the famous Genoese house of Doria; murderee, of his |
| | |father-in-law, Michel Zanche |
|121 |Atropos |the fate that severs the thread of life |
|122 |Three faces |the three faces exhibit the devilish |
| | |counterpart of the attributes of the three persons of the God head, |
| | |(a) Impotence-pale yellow with jealousy and envy |
| | |(b) Ignorance-black with its own darkness |
| | |(c) Hate-scarlet with rage |
|123 |Stars |constant aspiration of the poem, and of the soul whose journey it |
| | |depicts towards the highest things |
|124 |Mid sky |the horizon |
|125 |Four stars |symbols of the Cardinal Virtues- prudence, temperance, fortitude |
| | |and justice |
|126 |Seven Realms |seven circles of purgatory |
|127 |Calliope |the Muse of Epic Poetry |
|128 |Cato of Utica |one of the chief opponents of Caesar’s measures |
|129 |Last hour |used in the double sense of bodily and spiritual death |
|130 |Marcia |was the second wife of Cato, who yielded her to his friend Q |
|131 |Casella |a musician of Florence or of Pistria |
|132 |Manfred |the natural son of the emperor Frederick II, and King of Sicily |
|133 |Pastor of Cosenza |the Archbishop of Corenza, took Manfred’s body from it’s grave and |
| | |threw it unburied on the bank of the Verde |
|134 |Full fifty degrees had the sun ascended |it was now about 9 am |
|135 |Belacqua |was a Florentine, a marker of citherns and other musical instruments|
|136 |Castor and Pollux |the twins which sign is further north of the equator than Aries |
|137 |Mirror |the Sun, because in common with other planets, he receives the |
| | |divine light from above, the spheres intervening and reflects it |
| | |downward |
|138 |Clouds of August at set of sun |the shooting stars in a clear sky |
|139 |Buonconte |son of Count Guido da Montefeltro, he was the captain of the |
| | |Aretines at the battle of Campaldino, where he was slain |
|140 |Pia |is reported to have been put to death in her husband’s stronghold in|
| | |the Tuscan Maremma |
|141 |Ghin di Tacco |most famous highway man, whose headquarters lay between Siena and |
| | |Rome |
|142 |Federigo Novello |son of the Count Guido Novello, of whom nothing is known but that he|
| | |was slain in 1291 near Bibbiena |
|143 |Count Orso |the son of Count Napoleone degli Alberti, was murdered by his |
| | |cousin, the son of Count Alessandro |
|144 |Pierre de la Brosse |was chamberlain and confidant of Philip the Bold of France, he lost |
| | |the King’s favor and was hanged |
|145 |Sordello |lived in the thirteenth century, left his native land and gave up |
| | |his native tongue to live and write as a troubadour in Provence |
|146 |Albert of Hapsburg |son of the Emperor Rudolph, was elected king of the Romans in 1298, |
| | |but, like his father, never went to Italy to be crowned; he was |
| | |murdered by his nephew, John the Parricide, in 1308, at Konigsfelden|
|147 |Ottocar |king of Bohemia and Duke of Austria, has slain in battle against |
| | |Rudolph 1278 |
|148 |William, Marquis of Montferrat and Canavese |in a war with the Guelfs, had risen in revolt in 1290, he was taken |
| | |captive at Alessandra, and for two years, till his death, was kept |
| | |in an iron cage |
|149 |Noble Judge Nino |Nino de’ Visconti of Pisa was the grandson of Count Ugolino |
|150 |Guilty Head |Rome, as a seat of a corrupt papacy |
|151 |First great stair |symbol of Contrition |
|152 |Eagle |symbol of Baptismal regeneration |
|153 |Polycletus |the Greek sculptor, lauded by a number of classical writers known in|
| | |the middle ages, and his art is extolled by Italian poets prior to |
| | |Dante |
|154 |Povenzan Salvani |a chief supporter of the Ghibelline cause in Tuscany, defeated and |
| | |taken prisoner at the Battle of Colle in 1269, he was beheaded |
|155 |Omberto, Count of Santafiora |was a member of the Aldobrandeschi Family |
|156 |Pap |bread |
|157 |Lightning from heaven |Lucifer |
|158 |Niobe |wife of Amphion, King of Thebes, was so proud of her fourteen |
| | |children that she offended Latona, who had only two- Apollo and |
| | |Diana |
|159 |Sapia |a lady said to have been of the Bigozzi family, who held a |
| | |stronghold about four miles from Colle, in the territory of Sienna |
|160 |Orestes |the son of Agamemnon, renowned for his friendship with Pylades |
|161 |Aglauros |daughter of Gerops, changed to stone because of envy of her sister |
|162 |A light |by Divine Will |
|163 |Lavinia |betrothed to Turnus; she hanged herself in a frenzy despair |
|164 |Primal goods |towards God & Virtue |
|165 |The first cognitions |primal/supreme conceptions/notions are axioms |
|166 |Dream |three sins remain to be purged: avarice, gluttony and lust. |
|167 |Alagia |wife of Marquis Moroello Malaspina |
|168 |Fabricius |Roman consul who rejected the bribes of Samnites |
|169 |St. Nicholas |bishop of Myra who experienced poverty |
|170 |Hugh Capet |descendants were ruling France, Spain and Naples |
|171 |Conradin |grandson of Frederick II who was defeated and taken by prison |
|172 |Charles II |sold his young daughter in marriage. |
|173 |Polydorus |youngest son of Priam who was killed thinking he might take |
| | |possession of the treasure |
|174 |Marcus Licinius Crassus |Triumvir, richest and most avaricious of men |
|175 |Erisichthon |punished for sacrilege by Ceres |
|176 |Forese |Brother of Corso Donati; related to Dante’s wife: Gemma del Donati |
|177 |Piccarda |Forese’s sister |
|178 |Bonaguinta Urbiciani |poet of Lucca in the last half of 13th century |
|179 |Boniface |Bonifacio de ‘Fieschi, Archbishop of Ravenna |
|180 |Guittone d’ Arezzo |one of the order of Frati Gaudenti |
|181 |For the Sun had left the meridian circle to the Bull and the | 2 p.m. |
| |night to the Scorpion | |
|182 |Helice or Callisto |a nymph attendant on Diana whose son changed into a bear by Juno; |
| | |Jove transferred them into heavens calling them the “Great & Little |
| | |Bear” |
|183 |Guido Guinicelli |most illustrious of the Italian poets before Dante; member of the |
| | |Ghibelline Principi family |
|184 |Pasiphae |attained her end by entering an artificial cow |
|185 |That sweet fruit |Summum bonum, peace with God |
|186 |First beamed upon the mountain |Venus, the morning star, was rising |
|187 |Aeolus |king of the winds |
|188 |A lady |Matilda (type of Active Life) |
|189 |Xerxes |king of Persia |
|190 |Urania |muse of astronomy and heavenly things |
|191 |Delia |the moon |
|192 |Delia’s girdle |the halo |
|193 |Griffon |(double nature) |
| | |Christ- divine |
| | |- human |
|194 |Chariot |church |
|195 |Three ladies |theological virtues: |
| | |faith |
| | |hope |
| | |charity |
|196 |Ten paces |ten commandments |
|197 |24 elders |24 books of old Testament |
|198 |Crowns of flower-de-luce |purity of faith and teaching |
|199 |Four creatures |faces of: man, lion, ox and eagle (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) |
|200 |Green leaves |hope |
|201 |Beast’s six wings |six laws: natural, mosaic, prophetic, evangelical, apostolic and |
| | |canonical |
|202 |Two wheels |Old Testament and New Testament |
|203 |White |faith |
|204 |Green |hope |
|205 |Red |charity |
|206 |Three eyes in her head |three eyes of Prudence: Past, Present, Future |
|207 |Four clad in purple |four virtues to the empire |
|208 |Creatures |mankind |
|209 |Flower-de-luce |purity of Old Testament |
|210 |Rose |charity of New Testament |
|211 |White veil |Beatrice |
|212 |Emeralds |Beatrice’s eyes (brightness) |
|213 |She fox |early heresies |
|214 |Apollo |sun God |
|215 |Lamp of the world |sun |
|216 |Four great circles |horizon, zodiac, equator and equinoctial colure. |
|217 |Glaucus |fisherman to sea god |
|218 |Virtue of the place |earthly paradise |
|219 |External wheels |revolving heavens |
|220 |Exalted creatures |angels |
|221 |Diverse essences |the fixed stars |
|222 |Hammer |heavens |
|223 |Blessed motors |angels which are called intelligences |
|224 |Kindled love between the man and the fountain |Narcisssus |
|225 |Constance |second of the 3 great Swabian emperors |
|226 |White and of the yellow key |silver key of knowledge |
| | |golden key of authority |
|227 |Thrones of eternal triumph |church on heaven is triumphant |
|228 |Raymond Berenger IV of Provence |notorious opponent of Raymond VII |
|229 |Standard-bearer |Augustus |
|230 |Word of God |Holy Spirit |
|231 |Creator |Father |
|232 |Horn of Ausonia |Italy |
|233 |Solon |lawgiver |
|234 |Iole |love of Heracles |
|235 |Memory of the Pope |Boniface VIII |
|236 |Thomas Aquinas |Doctor Angelicus |
|237 |Gratian |brought Ecclesiastical and civil law into relation |
|238 |Peter Lombard |collected and discussed the pronouncements of the Christian Fathers |
|239 |Isidore of Seville |author of great cyclopedia |
|240 |Albert of Cologne |Albertus Magnus, styled doctor universalis |
|241 |Fifth light |Solomon |
|242 |The one was all seraphic in ardor |St. Francis of Assisi |
|243 |Ubaldo |Bishop of Gubbio |
|244 |He ran into strife with his father for sake of a lady |Poverty |
|245 |Deprived of her first husband |Christ |
|246 |Egidius and Sylvester |two of Francis’s most devoted followers |
|247 |Seraphs |love |
|248 |From Christ the last seal |Stigmata |
|249 |Cherubs |knowledge |
|250 |Dominic |Dominicus “Belonging to the Lord” |
|251 |Metropolitan Chrysostom |Greek father of the Church |
|252 |Anselm |archbishop of Canterburry |
|253 |Donatus |compiler of a treatise on grammar in use throughout the Middle Ages |
|254 |Rabanus Maurus |archbishop of Mainz |
|255 |Joachim |abbot of Flora |
|256 |Bonaventura |seraphic doctor |
|257 |St. Victor |abbey of Paris |
|258 |Peter |devourer of books |
|259 |Splendor |reflected light: word, idea, God |
|260 |Our sire brings to birth |the nine orders of the Angelic Hierarchy |
|261 |Parmenides, Melissus, Bryson |heathen philosophers |
|262 |Sabellius |denied the Trinity |
|263 |Arius |denied the Father and the Son |
|264 |From horn to horn |from arm to arm of the cross |
|265 |Gaze on the mirror |God |
|266 |Nerli and Vecchio |two ancient and honored families |
|267 |Cianghella |contemporary of Dante |
|268 |Mary, called on with loud cries |the Virgin, called on in the pains of childbirth |
|269 |Iniquity of that law |law of Mahomet |
|270 |Sheepfold of St. John |Florence (patron saint of St. John the Baptist) |
|271 |Strong star |Mars |
|272 |The white glow of the temperate sixth star |Jupiter (between cold Saturn and hot Mars) |
|273 |William and Renouard |paladins of Charlemagne |
|274 |Duke Godfrey |leader of the 1st crusade |
|275 |Robert Guiscard |founder of the Norman kingdom of Naples |
|276 |Marked with an ‘I’, while an ‘M’ shall mark the contrary. |the virtues and vices of the lame Charles II, king of Naples |
|277 |Poison |vice |
|278 |Bull |Gemini or twins, in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars |
|279 |The name of the fair flower |the Virgin |
|280 |The royal mantle |Empyrean |
|281 |Keys of such glory |St. Peter |
|282 |Exile of Babylon |life on Earth (strangers and pilgrims) |
|283 |He who lay upon the breast of the Pelican |Christ; it was believed that the Pelican killed its brood and then |
| | |revived them with its blood |
|284 |Two robes in the blessed cloister; two lights which ascended |Jesus and Mary |
|285 |Sixtus and Pius and Calixtus and Urban |early Popes |
|286 |Sixth hour |life in Paradise |
|287 |Veronica |a holy woman who wipe the sweat and dust from His face |
|288 |Knot or complex |the universe |

More Analysis of the Appearance of the Allegorical Signs: This section presents the Allegorical Signs and the interpretation of each. These Allegorical Signs are given interpretations based on their Moralistic View as how they are used in the poem. In Chapter 4, Table 3 of this study, the list of the Allegorical Signs found in the “Divine Comedy” was presented. To remember, table 3 also presented the book and canto source, page number and the frequency of appearance of each Allegorical Sign. The researchers decided to determine the ten Allegorical Signs which appeared most frequently in the poem. The ten Allegorical Signs and their frequency of appearance are ranked and shown in Table 17 below.
Table 17
Top Ten Allegorical Signs from the Epic Poem “Divine Comedy” According to Frequency of Appearance

|Number of the | | | |
|Allegorical Sign |Allegorical Sign |Frequency of Appearance |Ranking |
|1 |Love |151 |1st |
|2 |Power |62 |2nd |
|3 |Beatrice |61 |3rd |
|4 |Stars |38 |4th |
|5 |Virgil |33 |5th |
|6 |A lady |32 |6th |
|7 |Virgin Mary |20 |7th |
|8 |Gold |19 |8th |
|9 |Mirror |16 |9th |
|10 |Keys |11 |10th |

Analysis and Interpretation of the In-depth Interview Result: After conducting the In-depth Interview, the researchers used the formula
P= (Frequency/n x 100) to come up with the percentage of the results. The table below shows the result of the In-depth Interview, its frequency and percentage.
Table 18
Frequency and Percentage of the In-depth Interview Result

|Question Number|Choices |Frequency out of 6 Interviewees |Percentage |
|1 |a |6 |100% |
| |b |- |- |
| |c |- |- |
| |d |- |- |
| |e |- |- |
|2 |Yes |4 |66.67% |
| |No |2 |33.33% |
|3 |Yes |6 |100% |
| |No |- |- |
|4 |a |6 |100% |
| |b |- |- |
| |c |- |- |
| |d |- |- |
| |e |- |- |
|5 |Yes |2 |33.33% |
| |No |4 |66.67% |
|6 |Yes |2 |33.33% |
| |No |4 |66.67% |
|7 |Yes |5 |83.33% |
| |No |1 |16.67% |
|8 |a |- |- |
| |b |- |- |
| |c |4 |66.67% |
| |d |- |- |
| |e |2 |33.33% |
|9 |Yes |6 |100% |
| |No |- |- |
|10 |a |- |- |
| |b |- |- |
| |c |- |- |
| |d |4 |66.67% |
| |e |2 |33.33% |
|11 |(opinion) |6 |100% |

Based on the Table 15 presented previously in chapter 4, the researchers have realized that the gathered data from the In-depth Interview are favorable in attaining the objectives of the study.

Conclusions: The researchers, after gathering all the data related to their study, have realized that Dante Alighieri’s epic poem "Divine Comedy" is narrated through the use of Allegory. These Allegorical Signs projected the Moralistic View of the poem's plot by directly comparing the literal meaning of its content to Moralistic ideas. Some of the most evident Allegorical Signs in the poem are Love which means the Father, Power which means the Son and Beatrice which means Heavenly Wisdom. It is the symbolic representation of Allegory that relates it to Morality. Characters, events and abstract ideas especially about Morality are best represented by Allegorical Signs because it can directly compare reality to imagination.

Dante, as an author used his own experiences to show his love for Morality through writing. He developed this passion through the personal struggles that he have encountered in his life. One of which was, when he was forced to marry a woman when he had already fallen in love with Beatrice Portinari. This struggle of his true love inspired him to live a good life. But later on, he realized that it is not only love that could lead him to that life. He entered politics which caused him into becoming an exile of his own country. He fought for his freedom and his land. Those critical moments of his life gave rise to the existence of the epic poem "Divine Comedy". Dante’s idea was to create an image of the world of the Christian God during his time through the poem. Narrating his poem in the first person, he exhibited his goals in presenting the supreme goodness of God; he also managed to show perfection of the use of Allegory in moral and religious perspective. The content of the plot shows the soul’s journey from sin to salvation. It is a poem telling an imaginary adventure through the three worlds.

The researchers upon studying Dante's piece formulated their own analysis of the use of Allegory in projecting the Moralistic View of the “Divine Comedy”. Based on Table 16 and 17 of this chapter, the Allegorical Signs used in this epic poem clearly projects Morality through the interpretation. It is supported by the factual list of frequency of appearance to stress the recurring use of Allegory. Dante created his poems with the use of two tools: reason and imagination, in order to produce a metaphorical meaning of his piece. The Allegory in Dante's “Divine Comedy” is an expression of his and every man's existence. The moral, philosophical and theological learnings on Dante’s piece aim to uncover the imaginary journey of every reader’s life. To remember, on the operational framework of this study, Dante as the author of the “Divine Comedy” wants to impart the ethical teachings he has learned through his piece so that his readers will be aware of their own spiritual mission.

In line with this, Dante also wants his readers to have a deeper understanding of the morals implied in the values of love and loss, violence and greed, hope and injustice. Moreover, it is said that we, humans desperately need guides to help us achieve our end. Both these ideas extracted from this study’s related literature explains that Dante’s purpose is to guide his readers to the state of happiness.

In addition, the researchers conducted an In-depth Interview to have a deeper knowledge of the moralistic aspect of their study. Through this method, the researchers realized that: Dante’s experiences as told in his poem are facts that were experienced during the old times and are still being experienced at present and that Morality is an absolute concept which doesn’t change in nature and cannot be explained in just plain language. This is also supported by the statement: “good and evil are neither defined in terms of the other; they are logically related to each other in the appropriate way. Thus, nothing can be both good and evil.” Therefore, an action whether good or bad maintains its value as it is and cannot change. What may change is the interpretation of an action. The result of the In-depth Interview is favorable in attaining the objectives of this study because it strengthened the concepts gathered by the researchers that Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is autobiographical; it speaks of a man’s journey in life. The result also supports the idea that the modern man is open-minded in terms of the different beliefs. The concepts that actions are subject to moral judgment and that believing in life after death makes a man unconquerable in this life are also supported by the results. However, the results in the questions: “Do you think the goodness and the badness of an action changes?”, “Do you think Morality changes?” and “Do you believe that there is a difference or there are differences between the concept of the God before and the God now?” are in contrast. This explains that the different concepts and beliefs of God’s existence do not necessarily affect one’s views of Morality as seen from the further explanations of the selected Morality and Literature professors: Mr. Reynaldo Villegas, Mr. Restituto Ramos, Ms. Marilyn Pescasio, Sr. Arlene Lobitaña, Noela Manzano and Ms. Leslie Gatpandan whom the researchers interviewed.
Recommendations:
This research study suggests that the school should give a broader scope of the works of Dante Alighieri for the English and Literature teachers: (1) to inculcate in the minds of the new generation the essence of moral ideals as his orientation to his literary pieces (2) to create an avenue for individual’s spiritual guidance (3) to put detail on the rhetorical use of Allegory in writing poems. For further investigations of this topic, the researchers suggests for: (a) production of essays regarding “Divine Comedy” to contribute to the development of Morality in educational philosophy (b) a thorough discussion of philosophical and theological issues concerning the literary piece “Divine Comedy” (c) a comparative study between Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and “The Convivio” concerning the philosophical criticism applied to both literary piece (d) an expansion of the study through conducting an In-depth Interview with a larger sample of respondents to strengthen its validity. The researchers also recommend that a related study will be conducted by the incoming students, either in Religious and Values Education or Communication to sustain the moral values within literary pieces.

----------------------- Literary Piece

Author

Ethical Teachings through Allegory/Characters

Readers

Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri

Ethical Teachings through Allegory/Characters

Readers

100