Dante's Divine Comedy is a moral comedy that is designed to make think about their own morals. The poem could have been used almost as aguide for whatand what not to do to get into Heaven for the medieval people. Dantetakes the reader ona journey through the "afterlife" to imprint in the readers minds whatcould happen to themif they don't follow a Godlike life and to really make the reader thinkabout where they willgo when they die and where they would like to go when they die. In theDivine Comedy,Dante uses his imagination and his knowledge of the people's perception ofthe "afterlife"to create a somewhat realistic yet somewhat imaginary model of theafterlife.In the first lines of the Divine Comedy, Dante says "In the middleof the journey ofour life I came to my senses in a dark forest, for I had lost the straightpath."(Dante 1416lines 1-3) This is the typical stereotype of today for when a personbecomes "lost" orconsumed in sin. The sinful life is a dark life and a sinless life is abright, white, and purelife. Dante's coming to his senses in a dark forest symbolizes hisrealizing how "lost" in sinhe truly was and realizing that he needed to do something about it,meaning he needed togo through the seven sacraments so that he could become pure enough to seeGod inParadise and not have to spend and eternity in Hell. Dante realized thathe had strayedfrom the true faith without realizing it, not knowing exactly how ithappened, and is tryingto return. Losing the straight path symbolizes losing the holy, pure, orGodlike life. Darkness is more or less a symbol of evil and light or brightness a symbolfor good. Throughout the poem, Dante is advocating that man must consciously aim forrighteousness and morality. People can often become so involved withday-to-day livingthat they will fall into a life consumed with sin. Man must always beaware of his need to perform righteously. The dark forest symbolizes a human life whereevery wakingmo...
