Author Archives: Marzena Rammairone

The analysis of two images of Satan (by Sandro Botticelli and Salvador Dalí) inspired by canto XXXIV of Inferno in Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

Marzena Rammairone

The Divine Comedy in English

Prof. Stefania Porcelli

 

The analysis of two images of Satan (by Sandro Botticelli and Salvador Dalí) inspired by canto XXXIV of Inferno in Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

 

 

The Middle Ages played a significant role in the development of the image of Satan by his widespread depiction in various forms of art, making the image not only visual and realistic but also more widespread and omnipresent. The way mainstream Christians dealt with the idea of the Satan was influenced by how Christian writings and art has depicted the fallen angel. A combination of medieval folklore and literature, such as Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno) but also John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Goethe’s Faust were contributory in influencing the public’s portrayal of Lucifer as a super villain, lawbreaker and utter wrongdoer in fictional texts. From the tenth century onwards, for at least half a millennium, Christianity viewed the Devil as a real thing, who existed everywhere.[1] Dante Alighieri gave a thorough description of Satan in the last canto of Inferno, which later inspired many artists, such as Sandro Botticelli or Salvatore Dali. They created paintings, illustrations and sculptures of Lucifer that generated a wide range of emotions such as: fear, consternation or even anxiety. But does Dante’s “emperor of the dolorous kingdom”[2] bring about those kinds of emotions and reactions. In my opinion he doesn’t. Quite the contrary, I suppose.

Dante’s Inferno, first part of his epic The Divine Comedy, presents Satan who, as an adversary to God, is incapacitated and confined to the pits of hell. This reflects the view on the Devil at the time, where he was often featured in medieval plays and cycles as more comedic relief and the “loser” against God.[3]

Throughout the journey through hell, it is repeatedly implied that at the end Dante will meet Satan. However, the meeting with Satan is rather anticlimactic. Instead of the clever, cunning and “tempting” Satan the modern reader is used to, the Satan shown here is nothing more than a voiceless beast. While in appearance he is certainly horrifying, there is nothing threatening about his personality. Although the reader expects Dante’s encounter with Lucifer to go beyond sadness, anguish, despair and growing cruelty, in fact, is up for a big surprise or even disappointment.

First of all, although the physical appearance of the fallen angel might look terrifying end extremely bestial at first glance, it doesn’t seem so scary after more thorough observation. Lucifer is completely isolated, trapped in a frozen lake of Cocytus from the waist down (hell being a place of darkness and ice contradicts the popular idea that it was a place of fire). He has three gigantic heads with three faces of different colors (yellow – impotence, red – ignorance, black – hate), which mirror the Trinity. As Teodolinda Barollini described it: “In spiritual terms, Lucifer is the antithesis of the Divine Trinity: Lucifer spirates death where the Trinity spirates love.”[4] He moves his enormous bat wings bringing about freezing wind that keeps the ice from melting.

Besides, “the king” of hell, although repulsive and frightful, is completely immobile, confined like a prisoner. He performs several functions, in a very mechanical and repetitive way, that make him look more like a robot that a scary monster. He mechanically bats his wings and continuously munches on three damned souls (Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius). The bloody tears that come out of his monstrous eyes also seem robotic because there is no emotion to be seen in his face (or faces in this case). Lucifer is “inanimate”, without soul, but he moves, bats his wings, drools, and chews[5]. The repetitive and ongoing movement makes Lucifer extremely predictable, monotonous but also powerless. It is obvious that he is nothing but an instrument operated by God’s hands. Lucifer is completely mute, unable to express himself in any way. He is deprived of any voice, emotion or reaction. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that Dante Alighieri presents a Satan who “appears more pathetic than terrifying.”[6]

Dante’s inspired works were very influential in visually creating the idea of a Satan in peoples’ minds. But the question remains how Dante’s depiction of a commonly feared creature inspired some artists and how accurate they were in portraying him themselves.

Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (c. 1445 – May 17, 1510) was an Italian painter who belonged to the Florentine School under the patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici. He painted a wide range of religious subjects and also portraits. Sandro Botticelli began illustrating Dante’s Divine Comedy at the request of Lorenzo di Pier Francesco di Medici around 1490. Botticelli created 92 drawings for Divine Comedy, which “have been admired for their beauty and for their sensitive and faithful adaptation of the text.”[7] Without a doubt, they are considered masterpieces and amongst the best works of the painter. Of an initial project of 100 drawings, one for each canto of the Comedy, 92 are survived, which are currently divided between the Vatican Library (7 drawings) and the Staatliche Berlin Museum (85 drawings.).[8]

In the beginning each drawing was made with a metal point, mostly silver. It usually left clearly defined outlines if used on prepared surfaces, but Botticelli used it on vellum, which left a fainter mark. The next stage was to go over these lines with a pen and two different types of ink were used: light brown or brown iron-gall. When the miniature design was finished, a first gray-brown layer was passed through the brush, and then the image was colored.[9]

Botticelli created an illustration of Lucifer and also shed light on his geographical position in Hell.

Satan and traitors to benefactors

Source: Zeichnungen von Sandro Botticelli zu Dantes Göttlicher Komödie ; verkleinerte Nachbildungen der Originale im Kupferstich-Kabinett zu Berlin und in der Bibliothek des Vatikans ; mit einer Einleitung und der Erklärung der Darstellungg hrsg. von F. Lippermann. Berlin: G. Grote, 1921.

http://www.worldofdante.org/pop_up_query.php?dbid=I132&show=more

 

Botticelli is very thorough and detail oriented in his illustration. The artist passionately follows word for word the text reproducing what was Dante’s vision on Satan. Lucifer is pictured here with three heads (and three faces for that matter, which don’t have three different colors as Dante described it in Canto XXXIV), connected by the shoulders with six giant bat’s wing. The right wing seems to be undefined and the semicircle on the bottom of the page stands for the boreal hemisphere.

The middle head of Lucifer is gnawing on Judas Iscariot (notorious for betraying Jesus Christ) while his enormous claws grab hold of a punished sinner. That detail closely follows Dante’s description.

“In each of his mouth he was breaking a sinner

with his teeth in the manner of a scotch, so that he

made three suffer at once.

to the one in front the biting was nothing next to

the clawing, for at times the spine remained all

naked of skin.” (Divine Comedy, Canto XXXIV, 55-60)

Two remaining heads on the side crunch the legs of Cassius and Brutus who are being punished for the assassination of Julius Caesar, the founder of the Roman Empire. The image of Lucifer depicted by Botticelli and strongly inspired by Dante’s description strikes me to be frightening and repulsive. The fact that its body is covered with something that seems to be fur adds to its animalistic and monstrous look.

Another image of Satan that I chose to analyze is A Logician Devil – an illustration of Lucifer created by Salvador Dalí in 1951 for Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. The painting is done by the woodcut engraving technique.

A logician Devil created by Salvador Dalí in 1951

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Logician_Devil

 

 

Later, in 1957, the Italian government commissioned Salvador Dalí to create a hundred watercolors to illustrate Dante’s Divine Comedy, to coincide with the 700th anniversary of the famed poet’s birth.

It is apparent that Dalí’s interpretation of Lucifer differs from Dante’s description in Canto XXXIV. First of all Dalí’s prince of darkness is not a three headed creature that is chomping on three sinners like Dante’s. It does however gnaw on someone that seems to be Judas. Second of all, it is not placed in the frozen lake of Cocytus but rather in a muddy river. There are trees growing behind him, that implies rather warm climate oppose to icy cold and bitter surrounding presented in Inferno.

What is more the Satan created by Dali is lacking wings and colossal dimensions but has a bone-like structure projecting from his skull (which is not portrayed in Dante’s description), which cracks his skull from the front to the back.

And last but not least Dali’s Satan looks more like a worn out, debilitated and depleted humanlike creature instead of a robotic monster performing repeated actions. It seems lifeless and still and the only act of mobility that can be spotted in the whole image is actually Dante and Virgil trying to get past him.

When we think of Satan as the king of darkness, our minds get filled with images of a monstrous satanic figure other beastly devils that roam around torturing punished sinners, who in turn cry out with never ending pain, regret and no hope. The same emotions are generated when we look at many popular works of art that portray that infamous figure. That perception of the fallen angel changes when we read Inferno, the last canto in particular, where Dante Alighieri describes in detail the emperor of a dolorous kingdom. That description became an inspiration for numerous artists to portray Lucifer. Some of them are more accurate than others taking many details from Dante’s text into consideration. There is probably no right approach to illustrate Dante’s Divine Comedy and the images he created and presented  using a written word. But without a shadow of a doubt, in the first two centuries of the book’s history alone, there were many outstanding illustrators that changed Dante’s word into an image. I truly believe that in the years to follow, many more artists will be added to that group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Wernick, Robert. “Who the Devil Is the Devil?” Smithsonian, 30.7, Oct, 1999, p.2

[2] Alighieri, Dante, Edited and Translated by Robert M. Durling, The Divine Comedy, Volume I, Inferno, Oxford University Press, New York 1996 p.535

[3] Poole, W. Scott. “Satan in America: The Devil We Know”. 2009. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, p.10

[4] https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-34/

[5] https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-34/

[6] Russell, Jeffrey Burton, The Devil : perceptions of evil from antiquity to primitive Christianity, Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1977, p.97

 

[7] Watts, Barbara J. (1995). “Sandro Botticelli’s Drawings for Dante’s “Inferno”: Narrative Structure, Topography, and Manuscript Design”, p.164

[8] Marmor, M.From Purgatory to the “Primavera”: some observations on Botticelli and Dante, Atibus et Historiae, vol. 24, 2003, pp. 199-212

[9] Oltrogge D., Fush R. and Hahn O.,Finito and No finite drawing and painting techniques in Botticelli’s Divine Comedy, in Sandro Botticelli: The Drawings for Dante’s Divine Comedy, 2000

 

Symbolic Canto 32

Giant, Harlot Chariot Engraving by Gustave Dore Black & White

http://www.worldofdante.org/pop_up_query.php?dbid=I323&show=more

Canto 32 is an episode that is utterly and heavily symbolic. After reading this canto for the first time it was very hard for me to understand and comprehend it. Because of that I turned to the comment of Teodolinda Barolini who organized and explained the events in detail. The title of her elaboration is “Apocalypse Now”

Dante follows the parade that begun in Canto 29 and Beatrice is now at the center of it, in the chariot. The procession arrives at the Tree of Knowledge, which has no leaves and is completely bare. As T. Barollini wrote: “This is the tree from which Adam and Eve ate. The sin of gluttony thus reaches its full metaphorical potential, given that the eating that is castigated here is not literal but supremely metaphorical: Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” After the gryphon attaches the chariot the chariot to the tree it comes back to life.

Dante loses his consciousness and when he comes back to his senses he sees his beloved one sitting at the foot of the tree. She is guarding the chariot with the help of the seven virtues (the three theological and four cardinal virtues).

Beatrice addresses the pilgrim and tells him of his faith but also and his duty to describe what happens in front of his eyes. Right after that a swift sequence of images occurs for Dante to see, remember and describe. Namely, an eagle rips off the tree’s leaves and flowers and almost breaks the chariot, which symbolizes the persecution of the church (chariot) by the early emperors – Rome (eagle). A starving, female fox (heresy) jumps into the chariot and is driven away by Beatrice (the early heresies, overcome by the Church). The eagle that ripped off the tree comes back and hails the chariot with the feathers (the Church’s acquisition of temporal possessions through the Donation of Constantine – Barolini). Right after that the earth opens up and exposes to view a dragon (Islam that was believed to create a split between Christians), which in its power breaks the chariot and quickly crawls away. The chariot being covered with feathers “grows” seven heads with horns (personification of the capital sins, helped – “feathered” by the affluence and riches of Rome). Finally two new characters come into sight: a giant and a prostitute who represent the Avignon Papacy (the change of location of the papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1309).

Final Paper

Final Paper

Dalí vs Boticelli

The representation and interpretation of lucifer in Dante’s Inferno by Salvador Dalí and Sandro Boticelli.

In my final paper I will focus on the interpretation of the concept of the devil in Dante’s Inferno as depicted by Salvator Dalí and Sandro Boticelli.

In the first part I will briefly introduce the interpretation of the concept of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Then I will focus on the image of the emperor of the dolorous kingdom presented by the author

 

In the second part I will present the illustration of Lucifer created by Salvador Dalí in 1951 for Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. I will describe it in detail and enumerate similarities and differences with the image of Lucifer presented by Dante in Inferno.

In the third part of my paper I will present the illustration of Lucifer created by Sandro Boticelli. I will provide the description of the drawing and state the similarities and differences with the Lucifer of Dante.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative.

 

In the last part of my paper I will state that the illustrations of Dalí and Boticelli clearly reveal how these two artists captured Dante’s poetical imagery through a variety of interpretations and artistic processes. I will also conclude which of the two presented works come closer to the image of devil presented by the author himself.

The final encounter – the most terrifying or the most puzzling?

 

 

Suloni Robertson

Lucifer (with Brutus, Judas, & Cassius)

I found this photo in a Circle 9 Gallery , The University of Texas at Austin, http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/gallery12.html

 

 Dante’s journey through hell is slowly coming to an end. As he walks on sinners (literally) completely submerged in thick ice, he can barely see, through dense fog, an enormous shape slowly appearing on the horizon (similar situation to when he saw the giants). Both the pilgrim and the readers anticipate to finally see not only the greatest sinner of them all but also the most terrifying and ultimate punishment that takes place at the very bottom of hell. Dante builds the suspense with the pilgrim’s words: “How do I became frozen and feeble, do not ask, reader, for I do not write it, and all speech would be insufficient.” (Divine Comedy, Canto XXXIV v. 22-24). Will this encounter with “the emperor of the dolorous kingdom” (Divine Comedy, Canto XXXIV v. 27) go beyond sadness, anguish, despair and growing cruelty that we saw through the pilgrim’s eyes in previous cantos? Or are we, the readers, up for a big disappointment?

First of all, although the physical appearance of the fallen angel might look horrifying end extremely bestial at first glance, it doesn’t seem so scary after more thorough observation. Lucifer is completely isolated, trapped in a frozen lake from the waist down. He has three faces with three different colors (yellow – impotence, red – ignorance, black – hate), which mirror the Trinity. As Barollini described it: “In spiritual terms, Lucifer is the antithesis of the Divine Trinity: Lucifer spirates death where the Trinity spirates love.” He moves his gigantic bat wings bringing about freezing wind that keeps the ice from melting.

Besides, the king of hell, although repulsive and frightful, is completely immobile. He performs several functions, in a very mechanical and repetitive way, that make him look like a robot. He mechanically bats his wings and continuously munches on three damned souls (Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius). The bloody tears that come out of his monstrous eyes also seem robotic because there is no emotion to be seen in his face (or faces in this case) The repetitive and ongoing movement makes Lucifer extremely predictable, monotonous but also powerless. It is obvious that he is nothing but an instrument operated by God’s hands.

Moreover, Lucifer is completely mute, unable to express himself in any way. He is deprived of any voice, emotion or reaction. There is no communication between him and the pilgrim, no involvement or any part, no interest. This is completely different from what was presented in previous Cantos. Dante was able to communicate with the damned souls who expressed their reaction to the situation they found themselves in. Some of them asked the pilgrim to remember them when he gets back to the living. The sinners in previous cantos have a voice, some show emotions, some tell their stories and some just choose to stay silent and be eternally forgotten.

To sum up, the last encounter between the pilgrim and the king of hell seems a little puzzling and powerless, although expected to be powerful and dramatic. The characters do not have any kind of relationship or communication due to the fact that Lucifer is only a mechanical beast performing robotic functions. It comes as a surprise that he is in fact utterly insignificant, immobile, sterile and mute. Who I believed to be the biggest sinner at the bottom of hell is not in fact one of those being endlessly tormented. He is nothing but a tool in God’s hands, like other devils in hell. He doesn’t participate whatsoever in Dante’s moral growth, which will eventually bring him closer to God, but he does provide a passage for the pilgrim and his guide to Purgatorio.

Reflective post (1)

I read parts of Divine Comedy back in high school, many years ago. Since I read it in my native language I understood the words but, in truth, nothing more than that. It definitely didn’t move my mind or heart. In other words it didn’t affect me in any way, because even though I understood the language I failed to understand the rich content. It is hard to explain why it happened, but for sure it was caused by many factors like cultural background, age, lack of ability to imagine certain things, limited understanding of various concepts.

A few years forward I am reading Dante’s masterpiece again. This time around I read it in a foreign language but with more mature and more analytical mind.

I have written a few posts based on cantos I read. In these posts I elaborate on concepts, ideas or images that I found interesting or intriguing. Choosing the subject for my posts and exploring it more while reading additional notes or materials available helped me comprehend the content even better.

My first post is a form of introduction of two main characters – Dante the pilgrim and his master Virgil, the circumstances the former unexpectedly found himself in and the journey that he is about to take. My second post doesn’t focus only on the main character but also introduces two secondary characters – Ciacco and Filippo Argenti – two sinners suffering in hell. This post also describes the political situation of Florence to which Dante (Dante – the author this time) was directly connected. In my third post I mainly concentrate on Dante’s (pilgrim) feelings, emotions and state of mind while the journey continues through hell continues. This analysis of someone’s behavior requires certain analytical skills and drawing conclusions from descriptions found in the book. The fourth post pays particular attention to sinners who represent the worst form of violence (the violence against nature) – the sodomites. It describes their wrongdoing and immorality, which result in eternal and horrific punishment. In addition it presents Dante’s view on the sin of sodomy and its very negative social and spiritual consequences. The fifth post contains description of the punishment for the Panders and the Seducers but also presents clearly Dante’s condemnation of corruption in Catholic Church. In my sixth and last post I analyze the relationship between Dante and Virgil, which in fact is much deeper than the relationship between a pilgrim and his guide.

After rereading my posts and reflecting upon them I can easily draw to a conclusion that I came a long way since reading Divine Comedy back in high school

First of all, my posts are not limited to a simple description of what happens in particular cantos. I am somehow able to analyze symbols, settings, images, behaviors of characters or even writing style to determine what message is being conveyed.

Besides, I utilize images available online to make my post and its content easier to visualize.

In addition, I try to use citations from the source to provide evidence to what I am trying to convey.

On the other hand, I have to admit that my posts lack coherency and logical organization due to the fact that I choose the most appealing image or topic of my interest in a particular canto without paying attention to what I previously wrote about. But there is in fact one element present in every single post that gives them a sense of unity. It is either Dante the pilgrim with his emotions, feelings and reactions or Dante the author with his opinions, beliefs, viewpoints and judgments.

I truly realize that there are a lot of elements I need to work on while writing my posts (coherence, more research on a chosen topic using available resources, logic organization) but, all in all, doing so helps me progress in understanding the complex content of Divine Comedy.

 

 

 

Sliding in haste into home of the hypocrites

 

Artist: Bartolomeo Pinelli
1825, Print, Italy
https://art.famsf.org/bartolomeo-pinelli/canto-xxiii-pl-47-linferno-di-dante-dantes-inferno-19633037283

Virgil and Dante continue their journey through the 8th circle of hell after secretly escaping from fighting devils that cause two of them fall in a pitch full of boiling tar. That situation causes the pilgrim to remember the Aesop Fable about a mouse and a deceitful frog who offered to carry a tiny animal across a river with a malicious intention of drowning him. Dante doesn’t even try to hide his overwhelming fear that enraged demons will eventually catch up to them. His agitation continues to build up making his “hairs curling with fear” (Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, Canto XXIII, 19), which consequently creates suspense and tension. He suggests to his master to look for a hiding spot before the steamed up demons wind up at their side. Well, Dante’s intuition turns out to be very much on point because the devils appear in pursuit out of nowhere. At that very moment Virgil grabs Dante:

“… like a mother who is

awakened by the noise and sees the flames burning

close by,

who takes up her son and flees, caring more for

him than for herself, not stopping even to put on her

shift:” (Divine Comedy, Canto XXIII, 37-42)

Virgil slides down the rocky cliff with Dante in his arms straight into the sixth pouch, which is the home of hypocrites. Dante completely taken by surprise describes the speed of them moving down:

“Water has never cursed more swiftly down a

slice to turn the wheels of a land mill, as it

approaches the paddles,

than did my master down the wall, carrying

me along on his breast like his son, not his

companion.” (Divine Comedy, Canto XXIII, 46-51)

Once Virgil and Dante reach the sixth bolgia they are safe at least from the devils that chased them because they are not able to leave their assigned part of hell. Although at times devils seem to have power over damned souls in the end they are nothing but Divine’s tools eternally trapped in hell.

The scene described above, which appears a little comical to me, shows that Virgil puts Dante’s safety first. What I find even more interesting is the fact that Virgil is presented here not only as the pilgrim’s beloved master and the guide but also as a person with maternal feelings towards him.

 

 

 

Dante’s condemnation of corruption in Catholic Church

 

SANDRO BOTTICELLI, CANTO XVIII, COLORED DRAWING ON PARCHMENT, C. 1480https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sandro_Botticelli_-_Inferno,_Canto_XVIII_-_WGA02854.jpg

The pilgrim and Virgil land at the top on the eighth circle of hell on Geryon’s back. The horrifying place that appears in front of Dante’s eyes is called Malebolge. Dante follows his guide around the left side of the first circle until they reach the first pouch (the are ten of them altogether in the eighth circle of hell) where the nude damned are forced to march in lines through a series of ditches. If they attempt to stop or get out if the line they get beaten with a whip by devils with horns. This pouch is a place for the Panders and the Seducers.

Dante compares the hoards of sinners the marching in lines to large crowds of people coming to the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church to pay their indulgences:

“as the Romans, the year of Jubilee, because of

the great throng, found a way to move people, across

the bridge,” (Divine Comedy, Canto XVIII, 28-30)

It is clear to see that the author condemns the Pope Boniface VIII who announced in 1300 that it was a year of Jubilee, also called a Holy Year in the Roman Catholic Church. He also declared “indulgences” to those who visit Roman churches and make “an offering” (which was basically paying the clergy to have sins forgiven). Because of that declaration the numerous groups of peasants kept coming in waves to the home of Pope and were being corralled by the guards, which caused forming two lines moving to and from Vatican. Dante plainly notes the similarity between the horned devils that control the sinners and the servants of Vatican.

Another instance where Dante manifests his antipathy towards the church is found in the description of the sinners from the second pouch called flatterers.

“And while I am searching with my eyes down

there, I saw one with his head so filthy with shit that

whether he was lay or clerk did not show.” (Divine Comedy, Canto XVIII, 115-119)

Dante’s description of the flatterers covered in their own stinking excrement does not exclude a priest (clergy), which strongly suggests his aversion towards the church.

To sum up, the author expresses in Canto XVIII his deep antipathy towards the church and its servants by comparing them to the workers of deep hell and flatterers – sinners drowning in their own excrement. It is also worth mentioning that the way Dante describes the flatterers shows his ability (wit) to navigate easily between every style in his poetry.

 

 

 

 

 

Sodomy as a greater sin than homicide and suicide

 

The image shows black and white vintage engraving by Gustave Doré, “Brunetto Latini”

I found this image browsing through the resources available at http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu

In canto XV Dante and Virgil continue their journey through the seventh circle of hell, far below the wall surrounding it. In the third ring, which is located at the very bottom of the seventh circle the pilgrim encounters the sinners which represent the worse form of violence – the sodomites. They are presented as extremely violent against nature. The sodomites suffer below those who committed the sin of homicide or suicide because of their hostile behavior towards nature and willfully violating self love and love of others. As a consequence of that disgraceful act the continuity of family but also community is seriously compromised.

The sodomites walk aimlessly without a break and always together, as a group, across the burning sand (the hot sand represents their inability to reproduce and consequently play a productive part in a society). Dante recognizes his former mentor among them – Brunetto Latini, who was born in Florence around 1220 and died in 1294. The pilgrim asks Latini to sit down with him and talk:

“…As much as I can, I beg you; and if

you wish me to sit down with you, I will do so, if he

over there permits it, for I am going with him.” (Canto XV, 34-36)

His mentor, however refuses to do so, because:

“…whoever in this flock stand still

for an instant, must then lie for a hundred years

without brushing off the fire that strikes him.” (Canto XV, 37-39)

The moral connection between their crime and long term punishment seems a little unclear to me but I assume that the author wants to emphasize that whoever commits this type of a crime or exposes himself to it even for a moment will suffer the repercussions for many years ahead.

Sodomites not only can’t stand still for a moment because the sand burns their feet but also they move their hands constantly to clean themselves off the small flakes of fire that falls on them. Besides, they wander in numerous groups, not alone and not in pairs as, for example the heterosexual lovers – Francesca and Paulo who are placed in the second circle. It clearly represents the character of sodomy as the sin that draws in not pairs but groups of sexual partners who willfully and boldly disobey the law of nature. What is more, they don’t damn themselves alone but they drag others into eternal punishment.

To sum up, it is obvious that Dante Alighieri allows the reader to see that the sin of sodomy has very negative social and spiritual consequences. In other words people who commit that sin are destructive to nature, God and community and their crime is considered as one of high seriousness that goes far beyond homicide and suicide.

 

 

Frozen swamp

http://www.worldofdante.org/pop_up_query.php?dbid=I143&show=more

Dante Alighieri’s Inferno from the Original by Dante Alighieri and Illustrated with the Designs of Gustave Doré (New York: Cassell Publishing Company, 1890)

 

Dante finds himself in the third circle of hell after recovering from a state of unconsciousness cased by extreme and profound sympathy that he felt for two lovers – Francesca and Paulo.

“… new torments and new tormented ones I see around me wherever I walk, and wherever I turn, and wherever I look.” (Canto 6, 7-9) Here the pilgrim becomes extremely overwhelmed by what he sees, by what surrounds him. He already fainted twice and seems exhausted but now he realizes that it is only the beginning of the journey. The new damned souls surround him to the point he feels trapped and helpless because there is no way out.

“I am in the third circle, with the eternal, cursed, cold, and heavy rain; its rule and quality never change.” Dante describes the third circle of hell using multiple adjectives that convey a very negative and unpleasant image of this place. Rain, which is a key word here and typically has a positive connotation, falls in abundance here. Because of the fact that it is an area of gluttons everything here comes in a plentiful amount, never changes and has no end, which becomes a curse.

“Great hailstones, filthy water, and snow pour down through the dark air, the earth stinks that receives them.” Dante continues his description of the third circle of hell presenting in as frozen and odorous swamp. It becomes obvious for the reader that there is a shift in the pilgrim’s perception of hell. There are no feelings of compassion or sorrow anymore, just overwhelming repulsion.

Florence and its political affairs

 

“…Your city, which is full of envy that the sack already overflows, kept me with her during my sunny life.” (Alighieri, 49-51)

 

As Dante continues his journey with a guidance and help of his master Virgil he enters lower circles of Hell where he encounters new characters that represent different categories of sinners. By meeting those various characters face to face Dante refers not only to sins they committed but also to the political situation in Italy – the city of Florence, in particular.

In the Third Circle of Hell, the circle of the Gluttons, Dante meets Ciacco – the native of his own city –Florence. Ciacco probably died a few years after Dante (the author) was born and was a member of a rival party. He predicts the future of Florence, the events that will take place between 1300 and 1302. He is truly concerned that Florence will be divided due to jealousy, aspirations and hunger for wealth and success. Ciacco also informs the Pilgrim that many of important politicians of his time are situated and suffering in the lower circles of Hell. Just before lying back down in a muddy swamp he begs the Pilgrim to remember his name when he leaves Hell and goes back to the world above.

In the Fourth Circle of Hell Dante sees the sinners (The Avaricious and Prodigal) who constantly, without a break push heavy wheels of weights around in a big endless circle. Although Dante tries to recognize any of the sinners it is impossible because their faces (identities) are covered in dirt.

In the Fifth Circle of Hell Dante encounters the souls who are forced to fight in the muddy river without a break. These are the wrathful and sullen, who lived their life in anger and consequently wasted it. After crossing the river Styx Dante is being directly confronted by another Florentine – Filippo Argenti, who was the author’s major political enemy and a member of the powerful Adimari Family who was responsible, along with others, for exiling Dante from Florence. Filippo’s brother took all of his possessions The Pilgrim gets furious with Argenti and has a sort of verbal revenge on him. It was a completely different reaction to a sinful soul comparing to usual crying or fainting. This particular behavior of the Pilgrim made Virgil very proud.

To sum up both characters whom Dante meet continuing his journey through Hell -Ciacco and Filippo Argenti – are real people who while alive were directly connected to the political situation of Florence.