SOURCE: "The Conversion of Tragic Vision in Dante's Comedy," in Romanic Review, Vol. LXXX, No. 4, November, 1989, pp. 607-25.

The following essay elucidates the process of "demonic epiphany " in Dante's Divine Comedy whereby tragic heroes recognize their sin and suffer shame on the way to achieving greatness of soul.

An important feature of the recognition scene in tragedy is a moment of harrowing shame which Northrop Frye in his Anatomy of Criticism has called the demonic epiphany. When Oedipus and Othello fully recognize their tragic mistakes, the humiliation of exposure is perhaps the keenest aspect of their misery. Such moments are especially painful but also most illuminating both for the fictional characters and those who see the play or read the narrative; for this moment powerfully unifies the theme and action and offers a simultaneous perception of all the ideas and incidents. What Frye does not say, but what...