Daily Archives: February 19, 2019

Contractarianism and Fraud

Virgil, the tour guide of Dante’s pilgrimage explains the itinerary for the inner construction of the seventh and eighth circle of hell. For Virgil the tour guide, he has the power to anticipate what’s coming next in the journey to Inferno, therefore giving Dante the tenacity to descend further while overcoming fear and cowardice.

In Virgil’s account, the seventh circle consists of violence, and it is separated “and constructed in three sub-circles. [It is the type of violence that applies] to God, to oneself, and to one’s neighbor.” (XI 30-31). He also hints that fraudulence is a sin that is caused by human intellect, therefore the degree of suffering would be greater than that of violence (XI 25-27). By anticipating deeper to the Malebolge, we are confronted by the various characteristics of fraudulence: hypocrisy, flattery, casters of spells, impersonators, thievery and simony, panders, embezzlers, and similar filth (XI 58-60).

From verse 55 to 56, Alighieri mentions that Fraudulence severs the connection between Nature and human. To a further extent, this type of disconnection also applies to the citizen and society and citizen to citizen as well. In the philosophical theory of ethics, Contractarianism explains that the authority of moral norms is derived from the mutual agreement that everybody agrees on, and it rejects the notion that divine ideals would provide justifications for moral norms (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Contractarianism). In this sense, fraudulence in various degrees corrupts the political and moral contracts of modern society. And it undermines the idea of self-interest because there is a reciprocal response in how human beings are committing fraudulent act to violate each other’s self-interest. I believe Alighieri realizes that fraudulence is indeed a contagious force. When fraudulence is committed within the individuals, this will further erode the moral and political stability of the society (which is expressed in the political state of Florence during that time). If we are looking at society and its human beings as a whole, doesn’t this also corrupts the ever-changing state of Nature?

 

Canto 11 – A Brief Break to Explain the Organization of Hell/The Presence of the Number 3 and The Importance of Nature

Canto 11 reminded me of previous cantos where Virgil and Dante pause because Dante, the pilgrim, needs explanations and clarity from Virgil. This is a recurring technique of Dante, the writer, in which he allows the readers to mirror his character and gain answers to similar confusions that the pilgrim himself is experiencing.

While Virgil and Dante are resting, Virgil explains the organization of Hell in more depth. The organization also enables the reader to note how Dante, the poet, classifies the severity of certain sins over others. I thought it was compelling that the religious presence of the number three appears again in this Canto. First, Virgil tells Dante there are three smaller circles. Hell is separated into three parts. The first circle in middle hell is also divided into three subcircles where the sinners are separated into three groups based on the gravity of violence either committed against others, against oneself, and the worst, which is violence against God.

I was a little confused as to why Dante punishes sodomy as a worse punishment than the crimes committed by the lustful in Circle 2/Canto 5. But, when I reread Virgil’s explanations to Dante I gained more clarity. It is important to note that sodomy is a sin of violence. This means that Dante, the writer, does not punish sodomizers for their morality but more so because he views it as unnatural to the world. Dante the poet defines crimes against God as the most violent because they go against the natural will of life. Virgil states that sodomy and those who harm God scorn “nature and its goodness.” (Canto 11, Line 47). For Dante, something that contradicts nature is far worse and violent than engaging in lust. Above all, God is the most important, therefore going against him and harming what he created is worse than harming others.

Lastly, Dante, the writer, punishes the fraudulent at a lower place in Hell. Virgil tells the pilgrim that fraud, “seems to cut solely into the bond of love” and “forgets the love that Nature makes” (Canto 11, Lines 52-58). It is clear again how severe defying nature is to Dante, the poet. When one is fraudulent and deceitful, he is going against the natural trust and love people are meant to have for one another. Dante ranks fraud worse than violence because it directly contradicts natural trust.

Mankind’s Fraud

In Canto 11, Dante and Virgil have a brief respite from their journey before continuing on, and both agreeing that they should make use of this time, Virgil decides to tell the pilgrim who they will be seeing next, so that he does not have to explain later. In lines 22-24: “Of every malice gaining the hatred of Heaven, injustice is the goal, and every such goal injures someone either with force or with fraud.” This line explains that the actions of men that Heaven punishes, are all actions that have the end goal of hurting someone. Virgil goes on to say later in the canto, that this hurt can be directed at “God, to oneself, and to one’s neighbor..” (Line 31). However, those who hurt another with violence are not punished to the same degree as those who are fraudulent, which here means those who lie or mislead.

Line 25-27: “But because fraud is an evil proper to man, it is more displeasing to God; and therefore the fraudulent have a lower place and greater pain assails them.” The mention of fraud being an evil that only mankind has is the reasoning for the greater punishment of those who commit fraud. Later in the canto, Virgil explains that fraud can be committed only where there is trust, and that fraud takes advantage of this trust (lines 52-53). This greater punishment of fraud because it is a human flaw may be linked to Satan deceiving in the Garden of Eden, committing the first fraud.

Religious and Political Allegory in Canto 13

In Canto 13 Dante reintroduces a political and religious allegory through the folly recount Pier Delle Vigne. In this Canto, Dante and Virgil arrive at the seventh circle, second sub-circle, where obscure atmosphere confuses Dante and gives forth to the instruction from Virgil to rip a branch from a tree. As Dante dismembers the branch he sees blood spewing from its end. The tree then cries out ” Why do you split me?” (Canto 13, 31.3). This cry of pain was the voice of Pier Delle Vigne, a politician who acted as secretary to Emperor Frederick II. Within this seventh circle the sin is that of suicide, which Dante uses as a religious allegory by showing that although Pier may have been without sin, meaning, Pier might have been innocent of the treasonous crimes attributed to him at the time and therefore sinless, Pier committed suicide which is blasphemous to God and in and of itself condemns the suicided to hell through lack of ability to repent. Furthermore a religious contrast between Pier and St. Peter by noting that Pier scarcely let anyone from the emperors presence, ” that i excluded almost everyone from his intimacy;” (Canto 13, 61.1) whereas Peter is the one who holds the gates of heaven open to those worthy. This shows a love of openness in Peter and not in Pier. However, as Pier continues to unpack his emotional distress, he reveals folly in his lack of wisdom and repentance stating, “by the strange new roots i swear to you that i never broke faith with my lord.”; Pier is incredulous to his betrayal of God and feels pitiful towards himself.

In terms of political allegory, Dante illustrates the corrupt political nature in Florence. Although Pier is possibly innocent, the ease in which corruptness is introduced and convicted upon Pier depicts an unstable and weak political system in which corruptness is expected and will be apparent throughout the rest of Dante’s journey through hell.