Tag Archives: canto 13

Dante’s tone towards sinners

In Canto 19, Dante and Virgil have reached the third pouch of the eighth circle called the simonists. Dante considers these sinners the worst kind because these corrupt clergy fornicate for gold and silver. The simonists are punished by being buried upside down in holes the size of baptism basins; their feet also protrude only to be burnt by eternal flames. In lines 103-105, Dante says “I would still use heavier words; for your avarice afflicts the world, trampling the good and raising up the wicked”. If Dante did not have respect for the papal office, he would have many more negative things to say regarding the simonists. Throughout the Inferno, Dante’s tone has varied with different sinners. In this particular canto, he feels no pity or sympathy towards Pope Nicholas II and unconsciously takes the role of a friar at a religious confession. Pope Nicholas II is unaware of this and thinks it’s his successor but Dante later on reveals himself. Dante’s attitude toward this sinner is nothing but rage; he does not sympathize with him whatsoever. Similarly, in Canto 8, Dante does not sympathize with the sinner At Filippo Argenti who was an enemy of Dante in the real world. He becomes infuriated with his ambiguous answer regarding why the sinner has become so ugly and pushed him back into the river. 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. Nevertheless, Dante does sympathize with some such as the sinners in Canto 20 whose heads are on backwards and they are forced to walk without seeing anything in front them or their future. Likewise, Farinata the heretic in Canto 10, who can dive into the future but know nothing about the present state of human affairs. This fourth pouch consists of diviners, astrologers, and magicians who all cry as they walk while tears trickle down their buttocks. Dante feels so much pity for them while Virgil only feels scorn for the sinners. Dante wept as he did for Francesca and Paolo in Canto 5 who both suffered from lust. Additionally, Dante sympathizes with Pier Della Vigna in Canto 13 who committed suicide due to nasty rumors and Brunetto Latini, his former mentor and sodomite, in Canto 15. Thus, Dante’s attitude toward the sinners in the different circles has varied depending on what sin they committed and who they mean to him.

 

Bleeding trees and the dehumanization of those who commit suicide.

Gustave Doré, The Inferno, Canto 13 from Wikimedia Commons

One terzina that struck a chord with me is from Dante’s Inferno Canto 13 lines 37-39. Dante and his guide, Vergil, have reached the second subcircle of the seventh circle of hell which is reserved for those who commit violence against themselves. Dante the pilgrim is confused by the dark woods that surround him which seem to bleed and cry. Dante assumes that there are people hiding in the bleeding trees and that the voices he hears are coming from the people hiding. Vergil urges Dante to break a twig off of one of the plants since doing so will allow the tree to answer Dante’s question of where the voices are coming from. The pain that Dante causes to the tree leads to one of my favorite moments this far in the Inferno when the tree questions why Dante would cause him such pain. The tree tells Dante and Vergil that:

We were men, and now we have become plants:

truly your hand should be more merciful had we

been the souls of serpents.” (Canto 13 lines 37-39)

 

I’ve been meditating on these lines for a few days trying to look through the layers Dante the writer placed on this verse. Our commentary mentions that to Dante there are three separate levels of living creatures. The lowest are plants which are living creatures with only vegetative abilities. Above plants are animals which have both vegetative abilities and what the notes call animal the animal abilities which include movement and senses. The highest form of living creature is humanity. Humans have all the abilities of animals but also have intelligence and the possibility of rational thought.

In the tree lines quoted above, Dante the poet has the tree take the soul of a suicide victim through the three levels of living creatures. First we are reminded that these trees were once men, the highest of all living creatures. In the same line it is reinforced that they have become trees, the lowest of all living creatures. In the next two lines, Dante the writer through the voice of the tree, reminds the reader that there is a middle level of living creature which is the animal.

In mentioning all three levels of living creatures within three lines, Dante the writer is making a point that the souls of those who commit violence against themselves become the lowest of all living creatures. The point is made crystal clear by Dante mentioning the middle level of living creature, the animal, showing that the souls of suicide victims don’t just go down one level but are placed at the lowest level. This is a clear indictment by Dante the writer of those who commit violence against themselves.

 

 

Violence Against Themselves

 

Dante about to rip off a twig off of Pier della Vigna, Illustration by Gustavo Dorè

In Canto 13, Virgil and Dante enter the 7thcircle, Second ring: Violence against themselves. Dante had noticed all these black trees and black leaves surrounding them; it had been the homeland of the Harpies. Virgil then asks Dante to break off a part of branch and as soon as Dante does it the tree cries out.

“Then I stretched out my hand a little way and from a great thornbush snapped off a branch,
at which its trunk cried out: “Why do you tear me?” And then, when it had grown more dark with blood, it asked again: “Why do you break me off? Are you without all sentiment of pity?” (Inferno 31-36)

When reading through this canto you immediately picture entering a dark place, filled with tall black trees filled with black leaves bleeding black blood everywhere. Along with seeing this you hear the loud moans of something sounding like humans, almost like loud cries. With all of this dark and gloomy imagery, the reader can sense the feelings of loneliness, disparity, and melancholy as described in canto 13. When reading through these two terzinas, I thought to myself how sad it was to be stuck inside a tree for the rest of your life for the sin you committed. Since, committing suicide was one of the biggest sins, they received a very harsh punishment. They are punished to feel as inhumane as possible; they’re stuck inside trees with no voice whatsoever. They even get tortured when harpies eat their leaves. Moreover, the tree that talked to Dante was Pier della Vigna, who was the private counselor to Emperor Frederick the Third. Pier goes on to explain that he and the rest of the forest used to be men and they deserve greater mercy by men like Dante. Pier was stuck in the 7thcircle because he had committed suicide after hearing nasty rumors about himself and the Emperor. After Dante hears his story, Pier asks Dante if he could clear his reputation in the living world by clarifying that he never betrayed Emperor Frederick the Third. Lastly, Dante’s use of imagery was very effective throughout this canto because you were vividly able to picture the forest in your mind. It makes it more pleasurable to read because you start to imagine everything in your head making easier to follow.

the appearance of souls in canto 13

In Canto 13, Vigil and the Pilgrim enter the second ring of the seventh circle of Hell.  The souls being punished here are the only ones so far that are represented as a manifestation of something other than a human form.  Even though none of the souls the Pilgrim has seen on his journey have been attached to their former bodies, they have always appeared as though they had bodies.  Many times these souls even look as they did in life, since the Pilgrim tells us on multiple occasions that he recognizes them (as in canto 12, line 123 for example).  There have been a few occasions where the souls are unrecognizable: the instance in canto 6 where the Pilgrim encounters Ciacco who asks if  he can recognize him, the Pilgrim responds “”The aguish that you have perhaps drives you from my memory, so that it does not seem I have ever seen you”” (lines 43-45); the Pilgrim’s response shows the reader that in this case (gluttony) the suffering has altered the appearance of the soul so that it no longer looks like the body and can not be recognized from life on Earth to life in Hell.  Even the cowards in canto 3, who are unworthy of remembrance even, are recognizable (canto 3, lines58-60).

So it is a great shock for the Pilgrim when he encounters the souls in canto 13, who do not appear in even a remotely human form.  When they arrive in this circle, the Pilgrim can hear the sounds of suffering all around him but can not make out where they are coming from–the voices are disembodied, quite literally, although this may make the reader realize that all the voices (including the voice of Virgil, who represents the voice of truth and reason throughout the poem) are disembodied.  The eerie feelings surrounding the Pilgrim at the beginning of this canto are a reminder of his mortality and the fact that he should not be in this world that belongs only to the dead.  The reader is just as confused as the Pilgrim here, as we find out the truth through his actions just as he does–since we are human and we are alive we feel the same uneasiness at the disconnect of our souls and our bodies.  The souls in this circle are manifested as bushes and plants–a fitting punishment since they did not respect their bodies while they were alive.  In death, the other inhabitants of Hell have been granted an illusion of a body, a connection to their visual representation on Earth.  Though it is not much consolation, these souls who look like their bodies are able to maintain more of their identity in death since the physical appearance remains at least similar (the soul the Pilgrim speaks with never tells us his name, as though he no longer has a right to his identity associated with it just as he no longer has the right to the identity associated with his body).

It is important too that the souls are plants and not animals.  The souls here are being punished for violence towards themselves–they used their free will, their agency, and their bodies against themselves; so it is fitting that as punishment they take the form of something with  no agency–no hands to hurt themselves with.  In life they were confronted with pain or problems and rather they chose to destroy themselves in order to escape what they feared on Earth.  Now they have no ability to stop the physical pain they are being caused by the Harpies (as they have no defense system) and no ability to escape the pain as they did in life (since they are without agency and limbs).

The soul the Pilgrim speaks with explains that even after the last judgement, when all the other sinners will have their bodies reconnected with their souls, the souls here will have the cruel privilege of their bodies being returned to the plant which now houses their souls.  Since the last judgement is the perfection of their punishment, these sinners will be forced to see the bodies they destroyed, disrespected, and took away from themselves and be unable to return  to them.