Next to Beatrice, Mary is probably the most important female character in Dante's Comedy. Mary's symbolism in relation to the souls in purgatory initially appears relatively simple: her examples of virtue rebuke repentant sinners for their sins and encourage them in their purgation. However, Mary's exact nature is more complex because she is presented as both divine and human, and the juxtaposition of her two natures provides her with a multifaceted relationship with souls and with Dante. She is at the same time exemplum of human perfection and feminine perfection, divine mother of Christ and bride of the Holy Spirit, and finally a bodily mother not only for Christ but for all of us. As Marianne Shapiro points out in Woman Earthly and Divine in the Comedy of Dante, Maria is above all presented as the epitome of a good mother who meets the needs of. his son, including his spiritual appetites. As a good mother, Mary leads a pilgrim, who is her "spiritual child", to goodness, to the child's father, to God (Shapiro 119). Say no to plagiarism. wrote an essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Mentioned throughout Purgatory, the Virgin Mary is a much more palpable presence in the second realm of the afterlife than in the first. In the Inferno, Mary is mentioned only once when Virgil tells Dante that Mary was the one who originally took pity on Dante and wanted his journey through the three kingdoms: "In Paradise there is a kind lady - she/who weeps for the anguish towards which I send you" (Inf. II, 94-5). Therefore, the importance of Mary for Dante's journey is underlined by the very fact that it was she who started it. However, her name never comes explicitly stated in Hell, just as the name of Christ is never spoken, because mentioning their holy names would be inappropriate in Hell. However, Mary's name is never spoken directly throughout Purgatory, often by the souls undergoing the their purgation when they offer her prayers or when they give her examples of virtue. Therefore the mention of the name of Mary by the souls is appropriate because She helps them in the absolution of their sins, which is the purpose of all souls in purgatory Mary's seven virtues are cataloged on each step of Purgatory, only two of her virtues - the humility portrayed in a statue in canto 10 and the meekness visualized by Dante in a vision in canto 15 - are not vocalized in any way. . Furthermore, the fact that Mary is often quoted directly from Scripture in Purgatory presents her as a more physical being than she was presented in Hell, and references to her throughout Purgatory foreshadow her actual appearance in Heaven. Mary is perhaps given a special meaning, even a divine status in Dante's Purgatory because the Marian cult became increasingly important to Catholic theology and piety in the 12th and 13th centuries. Hilda Graef points out that popular devotion to Mary around the 12th century evoked new hymns, such as the "Salve Regina", as well as new prayers, such as "Ave Maria", around the same time (Graef 229-230). “Salve Regina” expresses man's trust in Mary's power as an advocate with God as she acts as a mediator between man and Christ. Furthermore, the "Hail Mary" presents Mary as the epitome of the virtuous woman because she is the mother of Christ: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with them, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your breast." , for you have conceived the Redeemer of our souls" (Graef 230). Dante's presentation of Mary in Purgatory can therefore be seen in relation to these two liturgies. In canto 7, the souls of Antipurgatory sing "Salve, Regina ", hymnaddressed to the Virgin Mary, asking for mercy. In canto 3, the Envious also cry out: «Mary, pray for us» (50). In canto 5 Buonconte da Montefeltro dies immediately after having "finished". uttering Mary's name "and is saved (101). Thus, Steven Botterill states: "Throughout Purgatory, Mary is seen as intimately and actively interested in the work of salvation in the individual human soul" (Botterill 156). However, Mary is most clearly defined in purgatory by her virtuous nature and human perfection, highlighted by seven scenes from her life that exemplify her seven virtues. The Virtues of Mary they are used to rebuke penitent sinners and encourage them through their purification, as well as to provide corrective examples of how others on earth should live - humility, charity, meekness, zeal, poverty, temperance and chastity. the seven deadly sins of Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony and Lust and his divinity provides a contrast to human frailty. Several scholars, including Steven Botterill, suggest that Dante may have borrowed from earlier examples, such as the Speculum Beatae Maria Virginis by Conrad of Saxony, to present the Virgin Mary as an example of the seven. virtue (Botterill 157). As the first presentation of her seven virtues, the Annunciation illustrates Mary's humility through her humble acceptance of becoming the mother of Christ (Purg. 10, 43-5). Subsequently, the wedding at Cana illustrates his generosity through his attention and consideration towards others when he points out to Christ that the hosts have no wine (Purg. 13, 28-30). Thus, Mary's reaction to finding Christ in a temple exemplifies her sweet meekness because she does not choose to rebuke her son as a scolding mother would have done (Purg. 15, 85-93). Mary's haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth after Gabriel spoke to her further exemplifies her zeal (Purg. 15, 100). Then, Christ's birth in a stable demonstrates his acceptance of poverty (Purg. 20, 19-24). Then, reference is made again to the wedding at Cana to illustrate her temperance because she was only interested in the correct ceremony of the wedding banquet, rather than her own appetite (Purg. 22, 142-4). Finally, reference is also made again to the Annunciation to represent Mary's chastity because she conceived Christ when she was still a virgin. Marianne Shapiro points out that the divine Mary offers a contrast not only to human imperfection but also more specifically to feminine imperfection by noting that Mary's imperfect virtues are often followed by contrasting vices of other women (Shapiro 39). For example, Mary's example of humility in the Annunciation is immediately followed by the image of King David's humility before the ark of God and the arrogance of his wife Michal: "Michal looked like a woman full of contempt and suffering" (Purg. 10, 68-9). ). Therefore, Shapiro states that “the image of Saul's haughty daughter contrasts vividly with that of Mary's humility in accepting God's will” (Shapiro 39). Furthermore, Shapiro also notes that Mary's meekness when she finds Christ in the temple among the doctors is again immediately followed by another portrait of a wife's arrogance when Peisistratus' wife says, "Take revenge on the presumptuous arms/ that embraced our daughter , or Pisistratrus” (Purg. 15, 100-101). However, Shapiro could have provided further examples of how Mary's virtues contrast with the sins of other women in the same circle of Purgatory, even if they do not follow one another immediately , Mary's generosity at the Wedding at Cana contrasts with the envy of Sapia, the first soul exemplifying Envy that Dante encounters. The image of Mary's temperance at the Wedding at Cana in the canto22 is also very distinct from the vivid image of the gruesome cannibalism of Mary of Jerusalem, which follows shortly after in the next canto (Purg. 23, 28). Finally, Mary's chastity in the Annunciation in canto 25 is immediately strengthened by Diana's chastity but countered by Venus's lasciviousness, or "Venus's poison" (Purg. 25, 132). Indeed, Mary's virtues are often the only examples of female virtues that are presented in the series of prods on each terrace of Purgatory, reinforcing the idea that Mary exists not only as an exemplum of general human perfection but also as an exemplum of female perfection. In Cantos 10, 13, 15, 18, and 20, Mary's virtues are strengthened only by male virtues, which come from saints, biblical figures like David, classical figures like Orestes, and powerful leaders of antiquity like Caesar. Only the last two examples of Mary's virtues, her temperance and her chastity, are strengthened by examples of other women's virtues, perhaps because Dante thought that women exemplified those virtues better than men. However, Mary's temperance is reinforced by the general female population of ancient Rome while her chastity is reinforced by the mythological Diana, so Mary provides the only particular mortal female example of virtue in the goad system of purgatory. While Dante may have taken particular scenes of Mary to represent her virtues because he knew and associated certain scenes from Mary's life better than others, perhaps he also took certain scenes from Mary's life to further imply some theological questions or themes related to Mary or Christ. As Hilda Graef references in Mary: a History of Doctrine and Devotion, the idea of ​​Mary's Immaculate Conception became a profound theological debate in the 12th and 13th centuries, and Thomas Aquinas's rejection of the Immaculate Conception was well known (Graef 250, 279). Therefore, Dante may have presented the Annunciation of Mary twice to emphasize his faith and acceptance of the idea of ​​the Immaculate Conception. The wedding banquet at Cana is also mentioned twice in the catalog of Mary's virtues, so the scene also seems to suggest an important symbolic episode. When Mary tells Jesus that the wedding guests have no wine, Christ performs his first miracle when he turns well water into wine. Christopher Kleinhenz points out that Christ's miracle of the transformation of water into wine is particularly suited to Purgatory because the miracle has deeper theological implications: In the exegetical tradition the miracle of the transformation of water into wine is interpreted as a sign of conversion on the part of of Jesus of people from the ways of life. vice to those of virtue. This essential idea of ​​transformation and renewal has its precise and immediate correlative here in Purgatory: it is an effective and effective description of the purgative process that takes place on every terrace of the Mountain. Thus, in addition to its primary function – to signal the virtue of charity – the quote “Vinum non habentâ” serves to introduce the broader context of the biblical passage and its interpretative tradition, which further enriches our understanding of the episode of Dante's poem ( 78). However, Christ's miracle at Cana further references the Last Supper where Christ turns the wine into his blood, which is strengthened by the fact that the trip to the Mountain also occurs over the Easter weekend. Mary's virtues thus seem to recall even major episodes from the Bible. While Mary's virtues always provide the prime example of the sin-opposing virtue punished at the beginning of each terrace of purgatory, the scenes of Mary's life are not presented entirely in a unified or chronological manner. In fact, although she is always mentioned, Maria's name is not always mentionedis provided by Dante. While her name is explicitly stated in cantos 10, 18, 20 and 22, Mary's name is not given in cantos 13, 15 and 25. However, Mary is alluded to instead in cantos 13, 15 and 25 due to the fact that it is quoted through passages taken directly from the Bible. The presentations of Mary's virtues also vary in length. For example, canto 13 summarizes the virtue of Mary's generosity in one verse: "Vinum non habent" (29). The fifteenth canto, however, offers a broader presentation of Mary's meekness: There I suddenly seemed to be overcome by an ecstatic vision and to see some people in a temple; and a woman right in the doorway, with the gentle attitude that mothers use, said: "O my son, why have you done this to us? See how painfully we have searched for you, your father and I." And at this point, immobilized, what had first appeared now disappears. Canto 15 also differs from the other presentations of Mary perhaps because at the same time it accentuates her meekness both due to the fact that her name is not mentioned and due to the fact that she speaks in Italian, rather than in Latin as she does in other cantos: canto 10 ("Ecce ancilla Dei"), canto 13 ("Vinum non habent") and canto 25 ("Virum non cognosco"). all the scenes of Mary's life distill not only the essence of her human perfection, but also present her above all as a mother. After all, the references to Mary's Annunciation in cantos 10 and 25, the rush to tell Elizabeth that she is pregnant in canto 18, the birth of Christ in canto 20 and the words spoken to Christ in the temple in canto 15 and, later , , at the wedding at Cana in cantos 13 and 22, all refer to Mary in relation to Christ. Mary is, therefore, defined by her status as a mother while few women in Hell or Purgatory, on the other hand, appear to be defined by their motherhood. As a mother, therefore, Mary is presented not only as a divine being but as a physical, mortal being who possesses a maternal body. In Dante and the Mystical Tradition, Steven Botterill notes, “The Mary of Purgatory is a living being, constantly seen in action, literally an embodiment of the virtues, not simply an ethereal or incredibly idealized perfection” (Botterill 157). Botterill points out that Dante's language frequently uses verbs of physical action and concrete images to present Mary "in terms of physical action or human situation" emphasizing the fact that "Mary is always human" (Botterill 158). Through Dante's physical language, Mary runs ("ran"), possesses a "womb" and a "mouth," and even (at least in the Paradise) "made...pregnant" (Botterill, 157). Furthermore, Mary is presented as a physical being because she often speaks in purgatory, or at least she is quoted directly from the biblical text. However, perhaps the most physical presentation of Mary evokes the image of her giving birth when a shadow cries out in Purgatory 20:..."Sweet Mary", as a woman would cry out in the pangs of childbirth. And he continues: In that hostel where you had placed your holy burden, there one can discover how poor you were (20-24). Botterill also notes that Mary is often presented in human actions. In canto 10, she "turns the key that had opened / supreme love" becoming the mother of Christ (42-43). In canto 18 he zealously runs up a mountain to meet Elizabeth. However, the presentation of Mary as a physical being emphasizes not only her human nature, but also the human nature of her son, who for her is mortal. Finally, as Botterill also points out, the references to Mary's earthly life provide her with a deeper understanding and a deeper connection to the human condition of man. However, the cult of Mary that arose in the centuries before Dante's life elevated her because she was seen as more divine than the common man. The evocation of Mary in Purgatory, therefore, underlines her virtue and her, 1975.