In the literary criticism of Paradiso, by Jeremy Tambling, the argument that Dante Aligheiri's Paradiso was an "L'antico errore" or an "ancient error" of love lost and was articulated through a series of metaphors and examples. It is Dante becoming a cultural comparativist, although he does not believe in Venus he uses it in his Paradiso acting as an ancient believer when he is truly a more modern believer of the divine. Tambling shows Dante's thought process through Purgatorio by putting the lustful at the highest cornice on Mount Purgatory. It is this act that Tambling argues to the point that Dante's love is in effect erotic lust. It is this sin that Dante places closest to heavenly pleasure. Tambling uses the metaphor that the souls in the moon, all women, are lovers this runs parallel to violence through the cantos effectively conveying the idea of violent love. The violent love is the love known only to those maddened with its lustful characteristics. It is the maddening power of Venus that cause this and it is the final and greatest shadow and stain on the soul causing the violent lust in all.

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Literary Reference Center - powered by EBSCOhost: THE VIOLENCE OF VENUS: EROTICISM IN PARADISO

The Literary Criticism, by Philip Wicksteed, of Dante Alighieri's Purgatorio, critics Dante's portrayal of mount Purgatory, from the fall of man to the absolution of sin. Wicksteed believes that Dante failed to recognize that earthly blessedness could never be attained after the fall of Adam and Eve and it is in this regard that Dante created Purgatory. In terms of Dante, Purgatory could be more correctly called as "Paradise Regained" as opposed to Milton's Paradise Lost. Purgatory is the embodiment of Eden, and according to Dante it is the pedestal of Eden that all must go to before reaching heaven. To reach heaven, according to Dante, souls must attain their earthly blessedness, only by atoning on Mount Purgatory. It is by regaining this blessedness that the souls will recover the lost balance of nature, and come to the realization that earth was an exile from Eden, but it is also a home; just as the exile was not only a fall from grace but also a chance to experience the full fruition of human nature. The primary argument between Dante and Wicksteed is the fact that Dante believed that Purgatory portrays Eden and the recognition of the soul's earthly blessedness; while Wicksteed states that once Adam and Eve fell from grace, Eden and the full earthly blessedness became eternally unattainable.

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Literary Reference Center - powered by EBSCOhost: PHILIP H. WICKSTEED ON THE INVENTION OF DANTE'S PURGATORY

The common idea is that the Inferno, or Hell, and Purgatory reside underground in eternal flames of torment and suffering. According to Dante this would be true for Inferno where the souls of the damned eternally suffer for their sins in the Inferno. The idea of the inferno is that the souls did nothing in their life to receive heavenly grace, and therefore should have no chance of moving onto Purgatory, but rather be compelled by Divine Justice to their punishment. But Dante's vision of Purgatory is something completely different. His idea of Purgatory as a towering mountain that leads into the heavens was completely revolutionary of the time, just as the idea that the suffering of Purgatory is completely willful. No prior inclination of Hell or Purgatory ever took these two concepts into action until Dante did. It sets the Divine Comedy apart from other Divine novels of the time and forever to come.