Michel De Montaigne, a fifteenth century French essayist once said that, "The perpetual work of your life is but to lay the foundation of death. (21st Century Dictionary of Quotation, 1993) In The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri conveys the concept that actions throughout life determine the quality of the afterlife. In various instances throughout his work, Dante shows the correlation between actions on Earth and the nature of eternal life. He views life on Earth as a long struggle where the worthiness of Heaven is established. He believes that the path to eternal happiness is not direct, and must be adequately proportioned with suffering. The true nature of the soul is conveyed through angu