Gutierrez, Jerome Erick A.
Synthesis Paper

Inferno 4 and Purgatorio 7 (Comparing and Contrasting)

Initially, I wanted to see if there was similarity between the Inferno’s first circle or level and the Pugatorio’s first spur, terrace, or level but I could not really find anything. I then decided to write once again about a topic found in my first paper and I noticed that despite the fact that the Valley of the Rulers isn’t the first ledge, or terrace in Dante’s Purgatorio[1] (unlike Limbo which is the first circle of hell) and that it isn’t also technically IN Purgatory but right before it (a.k.a Ante-Purgatory), it does indeed have some similarity/parallelism (but also big differences) to the first circle of the Inferno (Limbo). The key words I noticed was that Dante the wayfarer asks Virgil who are those “separate from the rest” as they approach Limbo[2] (In the Inferno). Then in the Purgatorio, Sordello leads Dante and Virgil to the Valley of the Rulers who are referred to those (spirits) who are “set apart”[3] Now speaking of Limbo in the Inferno, Virgil, who also happens to be from this place (proved by line 39, Inferno 4), refers to the inhabitants of Limbo as “those who live in longing”[4] (manifested by their constant sighing, and not any outcry of pain due to suffering unlike other Cantos in the Inferno). Logically and factually, these souls long for the Beatific Vision or entry into Paradise, but such event will never happen despite these pagans being virtuous[5] (unless Christ decides to repeat the Harrowing of Hell wherein He took some virtuous pagans in Limbo and brought them to Paradise[6]). In reference now to the Valley of the Rulers, these individuals also live in longing, but unlike the virtuous pagans in Limbo, these late-repentants will ultimately gain entrance to Paradise thanks to their accepting of Christ. I have chosen therefore to