Dante's Divine Comedy is primarily meant to convey a moral and instructional message. The work makes clear that every individual human being is subject to temptation and sin, and that every sin will be punished, but it is also crucial to the story that every human being also is free to alter his or her behavior in order to avoid punishment and to win the eternal rewards of Paradise.
Dante effectively and dramatically shows the world to be full of powerful and dark forces which can tempt a human being off the path of righteousness:
Midway the journey of this life I was 'ware
That I had strayed into a dark forest,
And the right path appeared not anywhere.
Ah, tongue cannot describe how it oppressed
This wood, so harsh, dismal and wild, that fear
At thought of it strikes now into my breast (Dante 3).
However, if Dante were to simply show the inevitability of temptation and sin, and the horror of subsequent punishment to be delivered, his message would be hopelessness and despair. Accordingly, Dante offers an alternative to hell, an opportunity for salvation. The "city" or the path of the true way is symbolized by the high hill, in contrast to the dark wood of the life of the passions and senses: "But when my footsteps had attained the first/ Slope of a hill, at the end of that drear vale/ Which with such terror had my spirit pierced,/ I looked up and beheld its shoulders pale/ Already in clothing of that planet's light/ Which guideth men on all roads without fail" (Dante 4).
Here we see the light of goodness contrasted with the darkness of sin or temptation away from the state of innocence. It is no coincidence that the true way or moral righteousness and faithfulness to God is marked by a light which stands in stark contrast to the darkness of the natural environment, a darkness which can bewilder human beings and lead them to take part in behavior which Dante clearly believes is both self-dest...