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The Relationship Between Nature And Grace In Dante's Inferno

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Register to read the introduction… To reach our ultimate salvation and reunite with God we must arrive at certain truths. His philosophy states that the human mind is weak and would only be able to arrive at some truths about God after a long time. St. Thomas Aquinas argued it is necessary for God to reveal the truths that are essential for salvation. (Reid) This reoccurring trend in Aquinas’ writings connects both grace and nature, while separating him from other philosophers. Through Aquinas’ writings Dante created his divine comedies to emulate the relationship between nature and grace presented by Aquinas. About 40 years after the birth of St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, Italy in the year 1265 A.D. ( Dante 1) Throughout this famous poet’s tales, it is evident that there are underlying theme of nature and grace. The relationship between grace and nature that …show more content…
This is quite similar to St. Thomas Aquinas’ explanation that without grace (Beatrice), nature (Virgil) can only take an individual so far on their journey. Dante strongly emphasizes the progression from Purgatory to Paradise in Canto XXX. “Through the flowers, Beatrice appears. The Pilgrim turns to Virgil to confess his overpowering emotions, only to find that Virgil has disappeared!”(Dante pg. 363) The emergence of Beatrice and vanishing of Virgil is meant to represent the exact transitional moment between nature and grace. Virgil has taken Dante as far as he could in his quest for paradise; at this exact point in time Beatrice’s appearance and purpose was to help Dante attain salvation. The fact that nature (Virgil) and grace (Beatrice) are so strongly correlated in Dante’s pilgrimage through Hell, Purgatory, and paradise makes it evident that Dante’s writing reflects St. Thomas Aquinas’

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