Everyone Sins In Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri, the author of The Divine Comedy, explores the development of themes by using first person point of view and imagery. He shows this through the descriptions and vivid detail that he provides. In The Divine Comedy, Dante finds himself traveling through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Within these three stories, there are major themes developed through Alighieri’s first person point of view and imagery.
One of the major themes that Alighieri explores is that “Everyone Sins.” Alighieri employs both first person writing and imagery to convey this theme to his readers. He states, “Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.” This shows how not only Dante but also everyone strays from that straight pathway in life and engages in sin. The straight road represents God’s almighty path whereas the dark wood represents the sin that you have engaged in and the pain you may suffer through. Another way he illustrates this theme is by writing,
“Great flames are kindled where the small sparks fly… The lamp of the world rises to mortal view from various stations…” Alighieri uses imagery to convey to us the theme of just how powerful God’s love is. The small sparks entered into him are kindled into extraordinary flames all from God’s love. Showing how God’s love is used directly from first person, the author states “Horrible were my sins, but infinite is the abiding Goodness which holds out it’s open arms to all who turn to it.” This represents how the sinner’s sins were horrible however God’s love allowed him to be redeemed and be entered into Purgatory. Giving the open arm image, it provides an emotional attraction from the reader portraying how loving God is and how powerful his love can