Paradiso-Dante

In "Paradiso", Dante is led by his guide Beatrice, and ascends through the heavenly spheres of Heaven, where he is granted a vision of God's heavenly court. In each sphere, Dante meets many souls who have been rewarded for their cardinal virtues, such as prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance. In this last book of the "Divine Comedy", Dante focuses on the free will and how it should be directed and perfected towards God's will and love.

God has given us the right, the power, and the freedom to choose between good and evil, love and hate, or light and darkness. He gave us the gift of free will, and thus we have the freedom to make our own decisions and whether to tend to God freely or not. Man can either gain or lose merit through his freedom of will, which is then justified by means of reward or punishment. Since the "gift that He most prizes, was the freedom of the will" (Canto 5, l. 21-22), the will itself is naturally inclined towards God, but the desire, which is inclined towards the Earthly pleasure, can cause man to fall into sin. The will should be directed towards the purpose of serving God such that it overpowers the desire. Thus, in order to overcome sin and enter Heaven, God has to be recognized and

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They have chosen to love and serve God, and thus they are rewarded with Heaven, where they give God glory by singing the praises of His love and mercy. The two men in the painting, therefore, are not in a state of grace since no light shines on them.

The "Paradiso" explains to us the importance of directing our will towards God. This shows that they are overpowered by Earthly desire rather than spiritual pleasure. The painting also has a lot of movement, particularly on the part of the woman, thus it shows her transition from sin to freedom. If we decide to be only controlled by the pleasures of the Earth, instead of also desiring the spiritual pleasures, then we are prone to sin. She is swinging towards the light with such force that it overwhelms the two men. God not only became the focus of his psalms, but also of his life. For instance, King David was passionate about God and wrote psalms to express the way he felt. As mentioned earlier, the Earthly desires can cause man to sin; therefore the woman is being lead away from sin. Therefore, he earned his place in Heaven for "…now he has learned the merit will can earn…" (Canto 20, l. Furthermore, they are not as visible and radiant as the woman, because the color of their attire is painted in such a way that they blend in with the surroundings. They have proven their devotion, adoration, and faithfulness to God, as well as their desire to be in His presence. With this we have to keep in mind that we are responsible for our own actions, and only we can make ourselves sin. The woman looks happy with the sun shining at her, because she is being directed towards God, and thus she is freed from sin.

Approximate Word count = 1120
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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