Divine Comedy Group

Question:

bobbyoh92
bobbyoh92
Student
High School - 11th Grade

In the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is there a reason why the Cantos of all 3 books add up to one hundred?

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Posted by bobbyoh92 on Friday December 12, 2008 at 11:59 AM and tagged with dante, divine comedy, inferno.

Answers:

  1. cburr
    cburr Teacher
    Middle School

    eNotes Editor

    In the Middle Ages numbers were given great significance, and were thought to reveal the mysteries of God's creation.  The number 100 symbolized for Dante the totality and perfection of the universe.  The number 10 is considered to stand for perfection, because it is the base on which the number system is built.  The number 100, then, is the perfect number multiplied by its own perfection.

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    Posted by cburr on Friday December 12, 2008 at 12:25 PM