Dante's Inferno: The Gate Of Mount Purgatory

“Seven Ps he inscribed upon my forehead with the point of his sword, and : “See that you wash these wounds, when you are within,” he said. (Purg 9.112-114)

This passage points to seven terraces of purgatory. Dante and Virgil are now by the gate of Mount Purgatory and see the three steps below approaching it that have different colors. The first is a clear white marble that reflects images, the second is a darker color than purple, and the last where the gatekeeper’s feet are planted is bright red. These three steps represent the three stages of penance that are recognition, heartfelt contrition, and lastly satisfaction. The gatekeeper, like the angel and Cato, is very bright and Dante cannot take it. The gatekeeper is also carrying a naked sword that reflects sunbeams in his hand. He is

Dante has three visions about gentleness in this canto. The first is when he sees a woman, who is Virgin Mary, at a temple who is asking her son, Christ, why he ran away and that she and his dad have been looking for him. This vision ends as the woman falls silent. The second is about Peissatratus and his wife who is outraged, grieving, and crying. She begs her husband to take revenge on the man who embraced their daughter, but Peissatratus calmly responds: if we punish those who love us, what do we do to those who wish us ill. The second vision ends there and the third starts. A group of angry people filled with wrath is killing a young man with stones. This is about the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, who was killed by the Jews. Later, Saint Stephen asked God for forgiveness of his killers. When Dante snaps out of his vision, he returns to the external world and realizes “not false errors.” This is because his visions were not false, but they were happening in his mind and there was an absence of sense. This is correlated to the three visions Dante has about wrathfulness in canto