Dante describes Purgatory as a “the mount, where justice probes” (169), a mountain created from matter that Satan’s fall from Heaven dislodged. That matter reformed into the mountain where repentance is possible for all who atone for their sins. The mountain symbolizes how the road to salvation is difficult, but with the promise, and eventual fulfillment, of achieving success by reaching the heights—literal heights in that the penitent has scaled a physical mountain and figurative heights in that the penitent can now ascend into Heaven. The journey is both painful, because penitents endure painful trials, and joyful, because their trials purify them so that they can recover their communal selves. 

In addition to his conception of Purgatory as both painful and joyful, Dante incorporates paradox in his repeated expression that humans cannot fully access the divine. They must try, however, as the process may bring them closer to divine understanding. Dante reveals his own shortcomings in this to underscore his message: “Had I the skill/To pencil forth, how clos’d th’ unpitying eyes/Slumb’ring […] I might design/The manner of my falling into sleep” (310). Dante’s falling asleep or fainting when overwhelmed thus exemplifies how humankind will inevitably fall short as they attempt to access the divine.