Augustine In Confessions And Dante's Journey

A commonly used literary trope is the journey in which main characters, the “heroes,” adventure through far away lands while also discovering themselves in the process. Yet, is there something different about a religious journey? We see both Saint Augustine in Confessions and Dante in Purgatorio go through religious journeys as they tell the story of their lives. Both have many similarities, such as having to undergo self-reflection as they strive towards knowing God. However, they are also different; while Dante’s journey happens in Purgatory, Augustine’s happens on Earth. Not all religious journeys are exactly the same, but many contain a lot of the same elements that help to classify them as religious journeys. Augustine and Dante’s tales are both
These sins are important to a religious journey, because without doing wrong, they would not know what they have to change in order to do good acts in their lives. Augustine admits that his sins are that he “followed the driving force of my impulses abandoning you” (Conf. I, 4, 2). He realizes that he thought only about Earthly things and not about God. This is what made continuing on his journey hard. He was enjoying reading the Christian thought but he did not wat to give up his Earthly desires. Once he realizes that this is holding him back, he knows he will not ever commit them again. Even during his journey, Dante doubts God. He lets his pride take over, believing that what he thinks is the truth. Beatrice, another one of his guides, has to shame him for it: “but since I see your intellect is made of stone, and petrified, grown so opaque – the light of what I say has left you dazzled” (Purg. XXXIII, 73-75). It is after his encounter with her and others throughout his journey that he realizes that it is not all about him, and he has to put his pride aside in order to follow