Compared to modern times, it seems that the average person in the Middle Ages was much more concerned about God, particularly the divine opinion of the individual in question. Perhaps this comes from the fact that if you spend your life worrying about Viking raids or the Black Death, you have much more hope of achieving a pleasant afterlife whereas, if your cot is adjustable and your TV bigger of 32 inches, it seems that there is little point in hoping for something better. A predictable but interesting side effect of this celestial reflection is the exploration of the paradox of sin. How can a world created by an extremely good God contain evil? What is sin, and if everything was created by God, where did it come from? The intellectuals of the Middle Ages explored these questions and each came to their own conclusion. To use a color analogy, everyone could be called red, but with their own tints and shades. For example, Dante Alighieri's masterpiece The Divine Comedy can be thought of as an explication of his conception of sin. He spends two-thirds of the work explaining his thoughts on what happens to the vast majority of people he believes will not go straight to heaven. Interestingly, Dante comments at length on the nature of sin in Purgatory, the area reserved for those who will eventually reach heaven. As highlighted in the Inferno, Dante agrees with the traditional concept of sin as an action contrary to the will of God but, in Purgatory, his definition becomes more nuanced. Dante's afterlife tour guide, Virgil, explains a lot by commenting on the structure of Purgatory; Natural love is right and cannot wander. The love of the soul goes astray if it desires what is wrong or loves too strongly, or... middle of paper......ferent media - poetry, prose and plays - Dante, Augustine and Marlowe explore all an important question that pervaded the Middle Ages and remains prevalent today: What is the nature of sin? They come to similar conclusions, but each of them adds something new and different: misguided love, abused free will, and lack of responsibility. Although their concepts are similar, each adds their own signature, or touch, adapting the sense of sin to their own life. Each conclusion has a slightly different tone that reflects the minds that created them. Works Cited Alighieri, Dante, Gustave Doré and Anthony Esolen. Purgatory. Modern Library, 2004. Print. Augustine of Hippo. Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick. New York: Oxford University Press Inc, 1998. Print.Marlowe, Christopher, Frank Romany, and Robert Lindsey. The complete comedies. London: Penguin Classics, 2003. Print.