Beatrice has finished her case against the pilgim Dante. All that's left is for him to find his way beyond confession and into confession . . . which he does with a major crack-up that leads him to faint for the third time in COMEDY.

Before he collapses, the poem begins a series of inversions or reversals that both increase the ironic valences of the passage and give its reader an almost vertigo-inducing sense of Dante's emotional landscape.

A difficult passage in the Garden of Eden, here Beatrice accomplishes what she came for. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the slow build-up to the final moment of contrition . . . which mimics the moment when Dante gives way in front of Francesca, back in INFERNO's circle of lust.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:20] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 64 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:15] Dante, from boy to man.

[07:26] Recognition, the key to the passage, to contrition, and a possible node of irony.

[10:38] The "unbearded" oak and the final crack-up.

[13:49] Iarbas and Dido v. Dante and the new Dido.

[16:28] Beatrice's venom.

[17:27] Dante's beard.

[20:00] The angels' departure?

[21:16] The meaning of the beast's two natures.

[23:53] Glossing the end of the passage: lines 82 - 90.

[27:57] Francesca and her physical seduction v. Beatrice and her physical-theological seduction.

[33:01] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 64 - 90.