Tag Archives: beasts

Reflection Post 1

 

After reading all my posts about the Inferno, I noticed numerous similarities and distinctions throughout them. My first four blog posts were more like summaries rather than reflective posts. They all included images with a short description of them but, I mostly summarized what the canto was about. However, my blog posts five and six had more connections, comparisons, similarities and changes in style. These two posts didn’t include images but made various connections between all the cantos we have read so far.

In my blog post 2 about gluttony, cerberus, and ciacco, my style was repetitive and colloquial. I included an image and a terzina but simply summarized what Canto 13 was about. I tried to include some imagery in my post but did it very poorly; I did the same thing with my first blog post. My first post included a picture of Virgil and Beatrice in paradise which I have not read at all but I thought it was related to Canto 2. I introduced who Beatrice was and how important she was to Dante. Moreover,  in my first two blog posts I  had countless grammar mistakes such as punctuation and fragmentation. In my fourth blog post, I was trying to use imagery to best describe Geryon but it sounds like a huge summary. For example, “ 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”. Instead of summarizing what Canto 17 was about I should have made more comparisons and similarities with Geryon and the other beasts introduced in the Inferno. Also, I should try to include more outside resources rather than just quoting from the Inferno to support my posts. Lastly, my lack of present tense is evident throughout my posts but gets better toward my most recent post.

My most recent blog posts five and six are my most clear and concise posts so far. My fifth blog post I compared how Dante has treated the sinners and how Virgil has treated Dante from this throughout the Inferno. I made good comparisons and similarities between Cantos 5, 8, 13, 15, 19,  and 20. For instance, “ Like in Canto 19, Virgil is very pleased with Dante’s attitude towards these sinners because it is showing him not to sympathize with them anymore. He joyously hugs and kisses him in Canto 8 and happily carries him like a baby across the bridge in Canto 19”. Additionally, in my most recent blog post I wrote about how Virgil babies and reassures Dante like a mother throughout the Inferno. I made countless clear and concise similarities among Cantos 2, 8, 19, 23, and 24. I used many quotes to support my theme about Virgil and Dante; also, my writing style is not as repetitive as before.

Beasts vs Sinners (Parallel)

In Canto 22, the fraudulent nature of sinners parallels the deceptive nature of the Evil Claws. Even though it’s revealed in the later Cantos that Malacoda intentionally misguided Dante and Vergil to take the wrong path, the deceptive nature of Malacoda and his beasts is hinted at in the descriptive imagery used in the 5th pouch of the 8th circle. In the 5th pouch Dante describes the submerged sinners as “ dolphins do, when they signal to sailors, arching their spines, to take measures to save their ship”(Canto 22, lines 18-20). The simile has a dual meaning because it’s not only acknowledging the behavior of the sinners but also the behavior of the beasts. The demons are pretending to help Dante cross the 8th Circle hence they’re acting as “dolphins” leading Dante and Vergil who represent the sailors however, the beasts are really like the sinners themselves who trick and deceive people.  Dante elaborates that “so from time to time, to lessen the pain, a sinner would show his back and hide it in less than a flash.” (Canto 22, lines 21-23). Dante implies that a sinner shows glimpses of their true nature.

Both, the beasts and the sinner from Navarre show that they can’t deny their nature. The beasts are compelled to sadistically torture the soul from Navarre. They say “O Ruby Face, see you get your nails in him, and tear his skin off!’ All those cursed ones were shouting at once.” (Canto 22, lines 39-41). The moment that the beasts first saw the damned soul, their first instinct was to tear the soul apart. This raises the questions that if the souls have this little patience with the damned soul, how long will it be before they succumb to their  violent nature and do the same to Dante and Vergil. The sinner from Navarre also can’t help but use trickery to escape his circumstantial problems. In the real world, he “took to barratry” (Canto 22, line 52) to escape the financial problems caused by his “wastrel” (Canto 22, line 50) father. Likewise, he tricks the Claws into hiding near the back and escapes. Dante narrates that “The Navarrese chose his moment well, planted his feet on the ground, and escaped their design.” (Canto 22, line 120-122). The Navarrese previously denied any intentions of running away or procuring  any more “suffering for his own kind” (Canto 22, line 109). However, when he was presented with the opportunity to escape, he took it, true to his nature. Both the Beasts and the Navarrese are susceptible to their deceptive natures

Both the Navarrese and the Claws have the capacity to betray their own accomplices. Dante uses an extended metaphor that “as sometimes one frog stays while the other jumps” (Canto 22, lines 29-31) to foreshadow that the beings will deceive or turn against their own kind. In the metaphor, Dante specifies that these frogs are “at the edge of a ditch” (Canto 22, line 24). The frogs have a dual meaning. They represent the sinners in the pool pitch who are physically turning but also reflects their nature to turn against people that trust them. The frogs are at the edge because the depth of the edge is unknown just as their true is unforseen. The Navarrese sinner betrays his accomplices when he says “Tuscans or Lombards, I can make them come;” (Canto 22, lines 96-98). He offers his friends to the beasts so that they can reduce his punishment. He claims that “for one that I am, will make seven come as I whistle, as is our custom to do so, when one is a lookout.” (Canto 22, lines 102-104). There is an obligatory and almost militaristic bond between these men, yet he’s ready to violate that trust and betray them for his own safety. Likewise, when the sinner escaped, the Beasts turned against each other. Dante narrates that “The heat was a quick ungrappler; but not for that could they come forth, they had so enlimed their wings.” (Canto 22, lines 141-143). They were so physically tangled in their fight that even the heat from the pitch couldn’t pull them apart. They demons attacked their own fellows instead of working together. Thus, the sinners and the Claws don’t have it in their nature to be loyal to their kind.