Man in Mirror

In Dante’s work, Paradise, where the journey of the spiritual realms has come to an end, he gives beautiful imagery as to what Paradise might appear as. One of the main thematic elements used consistently throughout Paradise is light; whether it displays itself through mirrors, Beatrice’s eyes, the souls, or the River of Light the idea of light continuously presents itself as the main topic. The author appears to create the imagery of light to move along with Dante as he becomes closer to God throughout his journey through Paradise. One might be more apt to say that as Dante transforms and has revelations wherein his weakened vessel is made stronger, his understanding of the light evolves. The author creates the light to be relative to Dante on his journey to enlighten the readers on how their understanding of the world and God should be transformed through a closer relationship with Him. 

Beginning at the second canto, the author begins to portray to the reader Dante's weakened vessel and his inability to see the light for what it truly is. One of the first images of light the author displays is through an analogy involving mirrors, light, and the reflections of said light. The author uses this analogy to display the variation in man and where he stands in a union of love with God while making the observation that each is equal in their potential ability to glorify God. He also is portraying to the reader how humans, in their weaker vessel, cannot understand God in His fullness but rather they must understand Him through their own earthly knowledge, thus the use of mirrors and light. While Dante and Beatrice are on the moon she begins to shed light (pun intended) upon the questions he has concerning the light. "You take three mirrors. Two you set apart / at the same distance, with the other one / exactly in the center of your sight / Yet farther back" (2.97-100) through this analogy Beatrice explains to Dante that the people are akin to the mirrors and that while humans differ in their orientation to God and that the "light" or how they reflect God may appear different in size, there is "equal intensity in all the rays" (2.105) meaning that the essence of God is always equal. Through the depiction of mirrors, Dante is conveying to the reader the varying nature of the individual's orientation to God or the degree in which they face and reflect God. This difference in orientation to God allows for variation in how man might glorify God. Dante is raising awareness to the difference in degree in which one can reflect God's light or bring glory to him, "You'll see, although the sight of the far glass will fall short of the other two in size, equal intensity in all the rays" (2.103-105) while all the mirrors are reflecting a portion of the same source of light they are reflecting more or less of that light based on their placement. In summation, Dante illuminates that an individual's orientation to God directly affects their ability to reflect the wholeness of God's light. Continuing to consider man's weakened vessel, he will have a limited ability to reflect God's light wholly, but the more man turns towards God he will be better able to reflect more of God's light than before. The author displays this through Dante's need to be given earthly imagery to understand the light at this stage, but as the journey progresses on it can be observed that he begins to view the light through different images and relies less on earthly understanding. 

The next figure through which Dante perceives the light is Beatrice's eyes. The author appears to depict Beatrice to have a very close relationship with Dante as well as the Lord, even having her act as a tie between him and God; aiding in the growth of the relationship. Multiple times the author makes a point to note that "I hadn't sensed the climb, but when I saw / how much more lovely Beatrice became, / easily I believed we were within" (8. 13-15) thus portraying Dante's perception of Paradise is viewed through Beatrice. One could surmise that Beatrice serves as a mirror to enlighten the mind and heart of Dante in the matter of God's essence. Another instance of Beatrice serving as a mirror upon which Dante can understand Paradise is when they are in the fourth sphere and Dante sees the Holy Ghost and "with what a flame of sudden radiancy / they quelled my eyes, that all their might was lost!" (14.77-78). Followed by "But Beatrice turned her lovely glance to me" (14.79) then Dante regains his strength through her in "From her the strength returned to raise my eyes, and I saw my lady and I had been assumed / unto a loftier bliss of Paradise" (14.82-84). When Beatrice and Dante reach the tenth level, Dante observes "I saw her beauty passing all our ways / of understanding, and believe indeed / that He alone who fashioned her enjoys / Its fullness" (30.20-22) the author uses the passage to bring attention to the weakened vessel's ability to comprehend God in His fullness and that as earthly beings, man will never be able to fully enjoy the beauty God bestows upon creation. After this Beatrice departs from Dante, therefore providing evidence to show that Dante no longer relies on Beatrice to understand God's essence.

The third way in which light directly affects Dante's enlightenment is through the river of light "and I beheld a stream, / A river of flashing light" (30.60-61) the river of light when this close to the source, is very pure and clear and evidences God more fully. Dante is then informed, "'The flames of longing, flames that now impel, / urging you on to learn of what you see, / delight me all the more they swell, / but such a thirst you cannot satisfy / before you've drunk the water of this spring'" (30.70-75) therefore Dante required the aid of the river to "make a better mirror of [his] eyes" (30.86). The author displays Dante strengthening his weakened vessel through the river and shortly after this notion of making his eyes better, Beatrice departs from Dante thus evidencing Dante's new independence from reliance on other images and figures to show him the light.

In conclusion, the author depicts Dante as a mirror unto man as to aid them in the enlightenment of their minds and souls so that they may better reflect God's essence into the world. Dante acts as a model unto man in the nature of how to better orient oneself to God and His essence. Man like Dante is a weakened vessel and must progress in closeness to God so that they may be the best "mirror" they can. If man is a mirror and God is light then man must submit to God and turn themselves fully towards Him to be the best mirrors they can be.