Luz Zapata 

Professor Lui 

Reading Journal 

Week 12 

Reading Journal 

The book “Dante The Divine Comedy” is very interesting. Even though the book is interesting, sometimes I got confused figuring out what character was speaking. I find this book interesting because of the story that is telling. The book is about a guy name Dante who was trying to go to heaven, but the doors were closed for him. He was trying very hard to climb the mountain which probably will take him to paradise, but it was impossible. Then Virgil tell him that she would lead him to heaven through the longest way which means that they will have to pass through hell and the purgatory. In this book there are many themes that can be found but the most interesting one is the theme of love. This theme is interesting because you don’t expect someone in hell to encounter love. Often, hell Is only about hate and suffering. There are different types of love in this book. To begin with there is the love of Beatrice. This is a good love because Beatrice is trying to protect Dante. She leaves heaven to ask Virgil to guide Dante through hell because she loves him a lot.  In page 80, line 70 it says, “Beatrice am I, who thy good speed beseech; Love that first moved me from the blissful place wither I’d fain return, now moves my speech.” This shows that this is a good love because she left her happy place to help Dante. On the other hand, there is the bad love. For example, some souls are in hell because they did bad things because of love. In page 100, line 124, it says, “Yet, if so, dear desire thy heart possess to know that root of love which wrought our fall, I’ll be as those who weep and who confess.” This quote demonstrates that the reason that Francesca was in hell is because love drive her to sin. The theme of love is found in this book, the book has example of good love, as well as bad love.