Daily Archives: February 25, 2019

Capaneus’s Hell

In canto 14, Dante and Virgil encounter a soul called Capaneus, through which the reader is introduced to a new concept. Barolini describes it: “Hell is a condition in which the soul is permanently oneself as one was on earth- unrepentant and unameliorated, with no hope of change or growth,” (Barolini). In other words, instead of considering Hell as a place for souls that are forced to pay for their sins in eternal anguish, Barolini refers to it as a “condition”. A condition is defined as a mindset, in this case, untouched and unaffected by the circumstances in which the soul dwells. Despite the horrific punishment Capaneus endures, his pride and confidence in himself as a warrior is unshaken. There is no possibility that his outlook will succumb to the ongoing pressure to repent. The eternal suffering, presence of demons and the cries of the anguished do not seem to bother Capaneus in the slightest. As Capaneus bluntly puts it, “…As I/ was alive, so am I dead,” (50-51). This arrogant demeanor is a clear example that when someone does not show evidence of guilt or remorse for any transgression they commit in their living days, it cannot be expected of them to do so when they descend into Hell.

In response to this superior attitude, Virgil retorts, ” ‘O Capaneus, since your pride is not extinguished, you are punished more; no punishment, other than your rage, would be suffering of a measure with your fury,” (62-5). Virgil wishes to express here that as long as Capaneus’s pride is still intact, this, in itself, is punishment enough for the soul. The anger and fury that embodies Capaneus because of his stubborness and possible belief that he does not belong in Hell will keep him in distress for all eternity. Therefore, Capaneus must be forced to deal with his crimes for all of eternity. Barolini summarizes this point by stating that the soul “…is stuck with its self”. Furthermore, he considers, “If the motto of the sinners here is that they are now what they always were, then in effect these sinners create their own Hell”. Capaneus’s perspective on his position in Hell entails the likelihood that all sinners are exactly as they were in the living world. With this in mind, the souls are making an illusion of a Hell that solely belongs to them. Although this does not exclude them from punishment, it seems far less cruel than the punishments forcefully inflicted upon them because they are choosing to remain as they have always been and as a result, are choosing their own destinies in Hell. This is especially appealing for the souls of the third subcircle within the seventh circle, where Capaneus dwells, because their sins pertain to violence against God. If their unchanging personas allow for a fabricated Hell, this, in turn, signifies that they’re evading and going against God’s punishments which He deems appropriate for the souls and are being punished by their own terms.

Dante and Virgil meet Capaneus, Title: Capaneus, Illustration by William Blake, Source: Danteworlds (UTexas)

Sin of Sodomy

In canto 15 Dante and Virgil enter the third and last circle of the seventh hell where the heretics, sodomites, and usurers are punished for their violence against God. In this place Dante meets a familiar figure, his mentor Brunetto Latini who is placed in this hell for his acts of sodomy. In the notes of this canto it is said the Brunetto was burned in real life as punishment for the act of sodomy “Brunetto (whose name means “dark”) is burned over his whole body; in some Italian cities (though not Florence), burning was a frequent civil penalty for sodomy ” (27) this shows just how severe the crime of sodomy was even though sodomy is just one part of the sin of lust. In Dante’s version of hell the actual sin of lust is placed only on the second circle of hell which shows that he views it as one of the least offensive sins out there, but then he goes and puts sodomy at the end of the seventh circle of hell, a drastic difference from the treatment of lust . At this time period most people viewed the act of non-procreating sexual intercourse as an affront to God himself as he designed nature in a way were the path humans are supposed to follow is the path of procreation. The act of sodomy strays off the path that nature has created for humans, therefore those who commit sodomy are going against not only nature but the creator of nature himself God and that makes sodomy an severe offensive sin.

Cato vs Capaneus : Dry Desert

          In the 7th circle (3rd subcircle) of Dante’s inferno, Dante contrasts Cato and Capaneus to emphasize that sinners are responsible for maintaining their own hell in the afterlife. Cato and Capaneus were both pagans that displayed virtues such as honesty and bravery which enhanced their political careers. Cato was a Roman statesman and warrior during the late Roman republic. He was notoriously known for refusing bribes and condemning corruption. He committed suicide because he didn’t want to submit to Julius Caesar’s tyrannical forces. Capaneus was one of the many warrior Kings that attempted to take over Thebes. Unlike his comrades, he didn’t want to deceitfully attack in the night, he wanted to fight openly in the day. He was killed by Zeus because he climbed a city’s wall and openly challenged Jupiter (Zeus) to fight him, to which Zeus responded by throwing a lightning bolt at him. While Cato doesn’t appear in Cato 14, the 7th circle is set in a “course, dry ground” (Canto 14, line 13) that was similar to the one “trodden by the feet of Cato” (Canto 14, line 13) in his real life and also the one that Capaneus “lies” (Canto 14, line 46) on in the afterlife. The importance of the course, dry ground is that it can’t grow any vegetation. Cato and Capaneus’ lives are like the dry ground because they’re pagans so it’s difficult for their life to grow into something meaningful because they’re already condemned. However, Dante claims that “The floor was course, dry sand, not made differently from that once trodden by the feet of Cato.” (Canto 14, line 12-14). The “floor” actually refers to the Libyan Desert that Cato crossed with his army. Dante deliberately mentions Cato because while he’s a pagan who shares very similar characteristic with Capaneus, he’s not in the 7th circle of hell. Dante refers to the desert to show that when Cato crossed it with his army to fight for freedom, inevitably leading to his suicide, his virtues outweighed the punishment of his religious beliefs. Thus, Dante uses the word “once”  not only as an indicator of time, but to show that Cato was “once” in the “desert” in hell, but he was able to grow out because his virtues provided him with the opportunity to achieve redemption at one point (despite being a pagan). However Capaneus isn’t able to outgrow his ill vices, thus he’s still trapped in hell’s version of a desert. Dante describes him as “scornful and frowning, so the rain does not seem to ripen him.”(Canto 14, lines 46-47). Instead of repenting for his blasphemy, he’s condemning the Gods even more for his condition. Dante uses botanical imagery when he uses terminology “ripen” to describe Capaneus’ lack of character development in hell. While the rain tortures the other souls to repent, it has no effect on Capaneus thus he can’t grow into anything else. Capaneus claims that “As I was alive, so am I dead” (Canto 14, line 50). He possessed disdain for the Gods during his life and he still has the same feelings for them in his afterlife. Thus, he is responsible for his own stagnation in hell because he refuses to repent. Virgil even claims that “O Capaneus, since your pride is not extinguished, you are punished more;” (Canto 14,line 62-63). Despite Capaneus’ virtues as a military leader, his blasphemy outweighed his virtues, and his continuous defiance in hell further condemns and prolongs his suffering. Thus, the desert setting only reiterates that sinners like Capaneus are responsible for their own hell because they can’t cultivate virtues like repentance that can possibly lessen their punishment.

 

References :

“Ante-Purgatory.” Dante’s Inferno – Main Page, University of Texas at Austin, danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/purgatory/01antepurgatory.html.

Additional Note: I have the online pdf version of the book and it doesn’t allow for page numbers to be displayed (it gives me alphabets instead) so I couldn’t include the page numbers).

Sinners Create their own Hell

In Canto fourteen, Dante and Virgil enter the Third Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell. The punishment of the violent against God, nature, or industry is derived from the biblical account of the destruction of the “cities of the plain” (Martinez and Durling, note to lines 8-39, canto 14 p.5797r). The destruction of the cities of the plain was said to be a figure of the Last Judgement in the New Testament (Martinez and Durling, note to lines 8-39, canto 14 p.5797r). The “three laws” correspond to the three sins, blasphemy, usury and sodomy, are punished in this sub circle (Martinez and Durling, note to lines 22-24, canto 14 p.5797s). The rain of fire falls throughout all three zones of this sub circle. The first zone that they come across is for the Blasphemers. In this zone “Of naked souls… some were lying supine on the earth, some were sitting all huddled, and some were walking ceaselessly” (Inferno 14, 18-23). Among the sinners Dante sees a giant, whom Virgil identifies as “Capaneus… This was one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes; and he had, and seems still to have, God in disdain, and respects him little” (Inferno 14, 60-71). Capaneus’ pride is not “extinguished” (Inferno 14, 63). I researched more about Capaneus and found that he was a figure who thought himself so strong that not even Jove could destroy him, but instead he was destroyed by the thunderbolts of Jove (Cliffnotes). For his blasphemy on Earth, he is condemned to Hell, and states “As I was alive, so am I dead” to Dante (Inferno 14, 49). This emphasizes that he has not changed (Cliffnotes). According to Virgil, Capaneus will continue to be punished more than anyone else in this circle as he keeps blaspheming against God (Cliffnotes). Capaneus is an example of the saying “We are our own hell” (Barolini). Hell is a condition in which the soul is permanently oneself as one was on earth- unrepentant and unameliorated, with no hope of change or growth (Barolini). The soul that did not repent of its sins while alive, is fixed for eternity with its sins, it is stuck with itself; this connects with Capaneus’ line “As I was alive, so am I dead” (Baronlini). Vergil explains that his undiminished pride is in fact his most appropriate punishment (Baronlini). If the motto of the sinners here is that they are now what they always were, then in effect these sinners create their own Hell (Baronlini).

 

References:
Alighieri, Dante, et al. Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri : Inferno, edited by Ronald L. Martinez,
Oxford University Press USA – OSO, 1996. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/huntercollege-ebooks/detail.action?docID=693941.

Barolini, Teodolinda. “Inferno 14: We Are Our Own Hell: sunt lacrimae rerum.” Commento
Baroliniano, Digital Dante. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2018. https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-14/

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/d/the-divine-comedy-inferno/summary-and-analysis/canto-xiv

Koch, Joseph Anton (Austrian painter, engraver, and draftsman, 1768-1839), Ghirardoni, Giovanni Andrea (Italian painter, died ca. 1628). Iconografia dantesca. 1904. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/SS33624_33624_33391147

Capaneous and Hells Design

As Virgil and Dante the pilgrim lower into the third ring of the seventh circle they are met with the damned souls who committed violence directly against God. It is a sandy terrain with no vegetation in which flames fall like snow from the sky (Inferno 14, 28). The souls are scattered about some moving around constantly, some crouched down, and some lying flat on their backs. The soul who sticks out to Dante the pilgrim is Capaneous who does not seem bothered by the flames like the rest. In response to Capaneus’ loud rambling, Virgil replies, “O Capaneus, since your pride is not extinguished, you are punished more; no punishment, other than your rage, would be suffering of a measure with your fury” (Inferno 14, 63). In other words, Capaneus’ rightful torment is that of his own creation because only he can create a hell that matches his own sins as a blasphemer. This idea is also supported in Barolini’s commentary with the quote by Capaneus stating, “As I was alive, so am I dead” (Inferno 14, 51). This line by Capaneus supports the notion that, “…we are our own hell” (Barolini). Capaneus’ special damnation supports this notion and helps Dante the pilgrim realize even more about the design of hell that God intended as he goes about his journey onto the right path.

” The Filthy image of Fraud”

A wood engraving of Geryon by Gustavo Doré.

Towards the end of canto 16, Dante notices a monster that rises from the depths of the water and this is Geryon. In Canto 17, Geryon is introduced as the monster, the “filthy image of fraud”. Geryon is a personification of fraud, (lines 10-15) “Its face was that of a just man, so kindly seemed its outer skin, and the rest of its torso was that of a serpent; it had two paws, hairy to the armpits; it had back and breast and both sides with knots and little wheels: …” He is described as a hideous beast that is used as the image of fraud. Dante uses a metaphor and compares him to a beaver because during medieval times the biologists thought that beavers caught fish by sticking their tails in the water and secreting some oily substance that the fish were fond of. Geryon is secreting “fraud” or in the words of Dante “Behold the one that makes the whole world stink!” (line 3) “Fraud makes all physical barriers and defenses (mountains, walls, and armor) useless”. It poisons the world with venom and humans do grow fond of fraud and end up committing it. People convince one another to commit fraud by promising that they will end up rich and live extravagantly and use deception for personal gain.

Geryon’s body represents the “chronological sequence of a fraudulent deal”.  Geryon’s initial appearance represents trust, the bright colors of his torso can confuse and by the end of the ordeal comes the sting which is either death or of loss. Geryon’s colorful torso is also related to the leopard’s painted skin that represents fraud.  In lines 25-27 Geryon is compared to a scorpion “In the emptiness all its tail was wriggling, twisting, upward the poisoned fork that armed it tip like a scorpion’s”.  Certain scorpions with rose tails symbolize a “double-edged sword” meaning that they can sting immensely or be pleasant. Both scorpions and Geryon have very venomous tails. In other words, Geryon can sting by deceiving someone with his honest face for his own personal interests or he can be somewhat helpful. In this canto, Geryon did help Virgil and Dante by taking them around the waterfall of the river Phlegethon down to the Circle of Fraud. Dante was struck with horror when Virgil requested a ride from the monster. As he climbed on Geryon he saw countless sinners suffering from above and was scared the entire time. Moreover, in Canto 3, Cerberus was introduced was a three-headed dog but is also “the great worm”; like Geryon they are both part snake. In Genesis 3, serpents are considered the first deceivers.

The Coding of “Violence Against Nature”

In Canto XV, Dante traverses the lowest part of the seventh circle of the Inferno, the subcircle of violence against nature. The term  of ‘voilence against nature’ is for the sin of sodomy, which is known as the, “unspeakable sin” by Carolyn Dinshaw throughout her book, Getting Medieval. This sin is coded as ‘unmentionable’ or the sin ‘against nature,’ as Dinshaw explains, is because agents of the church did not want to give people ideas as to what the sin is, but rather that any sin of the sexual nature falls under it (3-12). This codification of sodomy groups same sex interactions with those of premartial sex, beastiality, and any other form of sex without the intent of procreation. This grouping decenters the common notion of queer sex as being exclusively same sex in the Middle Ages, but also queers any form of sex outside of the sanctity of marriage, but even within this unoffical codification of sodomy there seems to be a heirarchy of sevarity, which is why same sex lovers are found in violence against nature rather than lust where adulterers can be found. Also note that men are the main inhabitants if not the only inhabtants of this subcircle. The reasoning for this is because it is an attack on God’s perfect image of what is ‘natural.’ For a man to give up his masculinity in the act of same sex interactions and is seen as a threat on the structures of the patriarchial societial structures sanctioned by those in power, may they be secular or clergy, who are given their authority by  God.

 

Works Cited:

Dinshaw, Carolyn. Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communites, Pre- and Postmodern. Duke University Press (1999). Print.

The Damned Are Not Simply Evil

In Canto 15, Dante and Virgil are still in the seventh circle of Hell, to which are inhabited by sinners who have committed violence against God. What I want to focus on here is the complexity of one sinner, Brunetto Latini. The nature around this individual begs to question that although these souls had committed sins, the nature of sins should not be easily dismissed. We, the reader, must understand that the during Dante Alighieri’s time the church condemned homosexuals acts, for it upset the natural order of things; the church viewed sexual acts as a way to procreate only. Dante shows great admiration towards his former mentor Brunetto Latini, “For in my mind is fixed, and touches now/ My heart the dear and good paternal image/ Of you, when in the world from hour to hour”(Alighieri 82-84). Furthermore, Dante with high regard tells Brunetto about how grateful he is to have him as an mentor, “You taught me how a man becomes eternal; / And how much I am grateful, while I live/ Behoves that in my language be discerned. (Alighieri 85-87). Now, can we the readers question about the author’s(Dante Alighieri) intentions with this character(Brunetto Latini)? It is evident that Brunetto is a complex and sympathetic character. Maybe Dante wanted his readers to contemplate about human nature and to be remorseful towards people who were confronting their sins.

The Old Man of Crete–Dante and Greek Mythology

In Canto 14, Virgil explains the rivers of Hell to the Pilgrim.  The rivers originate in a mountain in Crete where there is a statue of an old man, he describes this man: “his head is formed of fine gold, and pure silver are his arms and breast; then he is of brass as far as the fork; from there downward he is all refined iron, except that his right foot is baked clay” (canto 14, lines106-110). The imagery used here is very closely connected to Greek mythology.  Crete is an important location in myth as it is where many of the Gods originate from and where many of the mythical stories take place.  Dante mentions one of those stories here with the connection to Rhea, who he says: “chose it [this mountain in Crete] once to be the trusted cradle of her son” (canto 14, lines 100-101).  Rhea’s son is Zeus–her youngest child whom she saved from being consumed by his father, Cronus, by tricking him into swallowing a stone wrapped like a child and hid Zeus on the island of Crete until he could defeat his father and save his siblings.  The structure of the statue reflects an idea rooted in Greek mythology as well.

The myth of the creation of humans states that the Gods had created man 4 times: the first group of humans were from the golden age, the second from the silver age, the third from the bronze age, and the last from the iron age.  The only element which makes up the old man of Crete which is not a part of this myth is the baked clay, which our book says may refer to the Catholic Church.  This statue represents all the men who have ever lived and stands strongest on the final piece–the Church (canto 14, line 111).  However, Virgil says that every part of the old man is cracked except for his golden head.  Therefore, every part of man, including the Church has been corrupted and damaged except from the original created state which no longer exists.  Dante writes that it is the old man’s “tears” that run through these cracks to form the rivers of Hell.  The tears would come from the eyes, where there are no cracks–so the earliest humans are crying for what they have become.  However, since Dante was Christian and wrote from his beliefs and not those of the Greeks, the head must still represent the earliest humans who were closest to God.  The Pilgrim knows that God is present in Hell and that He made Hell with love as He did everything else because of the inscription above the gates of Hell.  The un-cracked golden head represents not only those humans who were close to God, but also God’s love for them which causes His tears and theirs.  The rivers that flow through Hell are the tears which flow from the love of God.  It makes sense that the flames in the next few cantos are extinguished on the banks of the river since the river is so closely connected to God, it is free from the source of pain and suffering.