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Divine Comedy Purgatorio Book Report

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Pride in Dante For Dante, Pride is simply not acceptable. It is considered the worst of all sins and the theme of humility is thus present throughout the text. Since Pride is such given such a mammoth place in the text, it is also important to mention how Dante believed it could be removed. Thus he refers to pride in the book called Purgatory to illustrate the point that purging oneself from pride is needed to gain salvation in the end. Dante wants to go through the process of purging since he is not the most modest person himself. He considered himself far above many poets and artists of his time and hence seen cleansing.

As Dante enters the cornice of the proud, he can hear those who had been too proud in the world wishing for some humility. Here once learns that pride is very closely related to the belief that a person doesn't need help and can accomplish everything on his own. It is one thing to be strong and believe in...

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We need to understand that asking for help is a sign of humility; it is a way of admitting one's inability to do everything on his own. One line from the prayer he hears goes like this: "so teach all men to offer up their own" (XI 12) which in itself is a confession of man's limited powers.
The prayer heard in the land of the prideful is an important one since it presents many themes. For one the prayer contains the word reed which was used as a symbol many times in the book. "Our strength is as a reed bent to the ground" (XI 19). This is a way of saying that man must be humble enough to understand that his strength is severely limited and his proud neck needs to bow in front of the higher power as a reed bows close to the ground. Secondly we must understand that prayer in this part is one of the more well-known ones often used…

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