Is The Good Place channeling Dante's The Divine Comedy?

I posted almost a year ago on this page, and the subject of that was Dante's Inferno comparing it to another piece of pop culture. I have now returned to do the same.  This blog wasn't intended to be a Divine Comedy discussion blog, but her, might as well go for it. So, without further ado: here is my theory that The Good Place is channeling The Divine Comedy. 

I don’t know if this is a theory so much as it is just an interesting parallel. I should clarify that I am not, in any way, a Dante scholar. I’ve read the Divine Comedy once and thoroughly enjoyed it. Still, there are some similarities between the show and the Divine Comedy. If I did have to take it into full blown theory mode, if The Good Place is following the Divine Comedy, the four will eventually make it into The Good Place and Michael will not be able to. There is also an outside chance, depending on how close to The Divine Comedy the show wants to go, that at least one member of Team Cockroach is still alive.

The Divine Comedy begins with The Inferno. The Inferno opens with Dante waking up in the woods in his 30's (he says the middle part of his life). He feels lost and eventually finds himself at the gates of Hell, which has a sign stating, “Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here”. His guide is the poet Virgil, who is a citizen of Limbo. This is technically Hell, though Virgil and other residents of Limbo are not punished. They cannot get into heaven because they were born before Jesus, and thus are not saved. This is important because later on, we learn that because of this, Virgil cannot enter Heaven, even as a guide to Dante.

This is how the Entrance to Hell is typically depicted.

Since the above picture doesn't have the sign, here you go.

I would say that all members of Team Cockroach are middle aged. I don’t know if exact ages have been given in the show, but none seem overly old or young. Jason is probably the youngest, though due to his lifestyle, quite possible he is middle aged. It may be a stretch to say that any of them feel lost, but often times when characters flashback on their lives they feel regret over how they lived. The first thing that they see when awaking in “The Good Place” is a sign that says, “Welcome! Everything is Fine!” Call this a twisted version of the sign above Hell.

Narrator: As it turns out, things were not fine.

It may be tempting to call Janet their guide to the Good Place, but I feel she aligns better with another character from The Divine Comedy, and so I give the designation of the show’s Virgil to Michael. In Season 1, Michael is the one most knowledgeable about the neighborhood (well, he did design it), and as we’ve gone into season 2, he knows about The Bad Place and how it operates. This is because he lives/works there, obviously. I would say that Michael grows into the role of “Virgil”.  As the series progresses, he takes a more active role in the lives of Team Cockroach, and seeks to improve along with them. This could also be viewed as Michael working to improve the lives of Team Cockroach.  (I’m not totally sure if Virgil had the active goal of getting Dante to improve as he guides him through Hell, or if he was merely a guide.)

Virgil showing Dante around Hell.

I had formulated this theory during a Season 1 re-watch, and the last episode (Chapter 24, Rhonda, Diana, Jake and Trent) was setting off all sorts of bells for me. I wish this season had maybe two more episodes, because then we could have had Team Cockroach explore The Bad Place. In the Inferno, Dante is shown how the damned are punished. (Some of the throw away lines about how extreme the punishments are in The Bad Place sound Dante-esque. Flesh being removed from bodies? That’s how thieves were punished.)  The torture museum as going to be exactly that. It was going to show what people did to end up in The Bad Place and how they were punished. The show didn’t actually go down that route, but that line made me think that this was a direction the show could take. I don’t think a full season of them in The Bad Place would be all that great (Michael isn’t lying when he says they would see things that would haunt them forever. For instance, fortune tellers had their heads forced backwards.)

Going to guess Hell doesn't have a chiropractor. 

This is where things get a little interesting. In The Divine Comedy, Dante and Virgil descend through Hell, they get past Satan (who is encased in ice) and they descend through a small opening to get to Purgatory. The exit of Hell is in its very heart. The exit to The Bad Place is in the center of headquarters.

According to the show, beings need a pin to get to The Judge. We know that Michael will be able to get there eventually. This, more so than Mindy St. Claire’s “Medium Place” may be purgatory. (Now that I think of it, Mindy St. Claire’s is probably closer to The Good Place. In the Paradiso (Heaven) there are beings far away from the center of Heaven, but they are still happy and content, because they are in Heaven and they can’t/wouldn’t disagree with God. Mindy’s house and life seem pretty shitty, but she likes it and seems to have no complaints. Also: Michael is really opposed to the Bad Place’s raid on Mindy St. Claire’s house (“It’s illegal!”) . If it truly is more of The Good Place, this could have major ramifications, though I doubt the show would venture into a war between The Good and The Bad Places.

In the Purgatorio, when Virgil and Dante go through Purgatory, Dante admits that he has flaws, and has committed the sin of pride. You could probably make a case that between all of them, Team Cockroach has committed all seven deadly sins, but I think they all commit Pride. I don’t think a single one of them is a clear candidate for Dante, but rather they are all four, collectively, a stand-in for Dante. But, he admits his wrong doing, knows he will spend time in Purgatory, and vows to make himself better once his tour of the afterlife is over. This is something that we have seen Team Cockroach due. Whether it is taking ethics courses (willingly!) or flat out admitting their wrong doings, they have all recognized their faults.

Go Team Cockroach!

It may be that Michael is not fully on Team Torture, and has thought there should be a way for people to redeem themselves. Given that Team Cockroach has been at this for over 200 years (based on number of reboots and average length of those reboots), that may allow them to get through to The Good Place. (Unless they are still alive, and this experience teaches them to become better people in the Real World, but I don’t buy into that theory. I only included it up top because Dante is alive. It is possible that one member is still alive, and will use the experience to better themselves, but otherwise, I call bullshirt on that particular theory).

Now, Michael might be able to join Team Cockroach in true Purgatory, but I don’t think it is likely that he can make it all the way to The Good Place. As stated before, because Virgil could not have been saved and lived in Hell, he could not even enter the Paradiso (Heaven). Michael himself states that he doesn’t know if he could make it into The Good Place. So, who will escort Team Cockroach through The Good Place?

Janet.

The real Bad Place was the friends we made along the way.

Dante has two guides in his journey through the afterlife. Virgil is his first one, and is with him through all of the Inferno and all of the Purgatorio. But, his second companion is Beatrice. Beatrice was an actual person that Dante knew, and in his works, she is an angel. It is she who guide Dante through Heaven. She is extremely knowledgeable about all things, and can even anticipate Dante’s questions (frequently in the Paradiso, Dante remarks that Beatrice knew what he was going to ask, but permitted him to speak anyway). Likewise, Janet is very good at anticipating needs and is a useful aid.

Admittedly, Beatrice never goes into Hell, and really only meets Dante at the top of Purgatory (think of Purgatory like Devil’s Tower, with the Garden of Eden on top). Janet functions in The Bad Place, and can go to where the judge is (I’m luggage!). But, her ability to freely move about the realms may be a nod to her being angelic. She can go where she pleases, but would be more comfortable in The Good Place.

"Hi there! Follow me, please!" 

(It should be noted that you can read The Divine Comedy as Dante having romantic feelings for Beatrice. If that is the case, your team leader for being most like Dante would be Jason. Dante frequently comments on Beatrice’s beauty, and Jason is very much so infatuated with Janet’s beauty).

What does this mean for the show? Well…

1. The members of Team Cockroach will, at the very least, tour the real Good Place. It would be fun to see what the actual Good Place is. Dante doesn’t get into Heaven at the end of the Divine Comedy. He is still living. But, he is armed with the knowledge that will allow him to get into heaven.

2. Michael will not get into The Good Place. He cannot even go there.

3. There is an outside chance that the members of Team Cockroach are still alive, and will have to use their knowledge of the afterlife to better themselves in the real world. Again, I am not sold on this, but that might make for an interesting final season.

I will admit, this laugh alone makes me think his original intent was not to help the humans.

I don’t think that she show is doing a direct parallel. If we did, this show would feature a lot of gruesome torture. I think there are also some liberties. For instance, the most likely candidate for Satan would be Shawn, but Shawn seems to be running The Bad Place, not encased in ice for all of eternity (In the Inferno, Satan doesn’t preside over Hell. He is being punished.) But, there are a few things that seem to line up with Dante’s work that I thought would be interesting to explore.

What do you think?