Joyce's Divine Comedy

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

                       Dante's Inferno, Canto I, lines 1-3


So Stephen finds himself in Chapter 3. After his first sexual experience, Stephen feels lost. He is full of sin--from lust the rest followed. "His pride in his own sin, his loveless awe of God, told him that his offence was too grievous to be atoned for in whole or in part by a false homage to the All-seeing and All-knowing." He is indeed "within a forest dark." Then, like Dante's Virgil, the school rector announces a retreat--a spiritual journey.

Although Chapter 3 could be argued to mainly reference Dante's Inferno (with the vivid descriptions of Hell), I would say that this chapter reflects the whole of Dante's Divine Comedy: from Hell to Paradise, from spiritual abjection to spiritual redemption.

The second part of Chapter 3 hurls us hellward. Soon after Father Arnall discusses the retreat, we see how Stephen suffers in mental anguish as he imagines Judgement Day. Already, even before the Father's sermon, Stephen is experiencing Hell--another step in Stephen's journey to Paradise. Then we get Father Arnall's sermon on Hell. Dante's Inferno is famous for its fiery and vivid description of Hell: its organization, its punishments, even its denizens. Father Arnall might as well be Dante. He masterfully describes Hell, with its "never ending storm of darkness, dark flames and dark smoke of burning brimstone, amid which the bodies are heaped one upon another without even a glimpse of air." Stephen is on a tour through Hell. Thanks to Stephen's rich imagination, as Father Arnall explains the tortures of Hell, it is almost as if we experience them ourselves. After a break, Father Arnall discusses the spiritual torments of Hell. Again, although it is just a description, we see Stephen suffering and experiencing these pains himself. At the end, he and the other boys pray to God for forgiveness. 

Stephen finishes his tour through Hell alone. Full of fear, he goes to his room and falls asleep. This fear manifests itself in a nightmare where Stephen is surrounded by demons. When he awakes, he prays and cries. He is ready to enter Purgatory and cleanse himself. As he heads out we see he realizes the gravity of his sins. Finally, he enters Church Street Chapel and makes a heartfelt confession to the priest, who forgives him. Free of sin, Stephen enters Paradise and the next stage of his life:

"Another life! A life of grace and virtue and happiness! It was true. It was not a dream from which he would wake. The past was past."