Tag Archives: canto33

From Pitiful to Reverent

Dante the pilgrim continued to change throughout his journey through hell. Dante learns a little more about hell’s design and God’s intended justice with each encounter of different sinners. Dante’s journey through hell is successful because his response to the sinners throughout hell matures from pitiful to reverent.

To be able to recognize the change in attitude Dante has towards the sinners of Inferno one must analyze Dante’s initial attitudes at the very beginning of his journey with Virgil. In canto 5, Dante encounters the lustful sinners, Francesca and Paolo. Francesca and Paolo are adulterers who are now condemned to the circle of lust where they remain restless and stuck in the moment of their sin. Upon hearing Francesca’s story Dante is overcome with pity and grief. Dante genuinely feels sorry for the pair and this can be seen through the line, “While one spirit said this , the other was weeping so that for pity I fainted as if I were dying and I fell as a dead body falls” (Inferno 5, 139). This shows how faint-hearted Dante is at the beginning of his journey in response to the sinners. Dante is vulnerable to the emotion of pity and grief that it is too much to handle and he faints. Similarly, when Dante encounters Ciacco in the third circle of gluttony, Dante is also overcome by the emotions of pity and grief. Dante the pilgrim says, “Ciacco, your trouble weighs on me so that it calls me to weep…” (Inferno 6, 58). Dante’s reaction to Ciacco’s suffering is very similar to that of Francesca and Paolo. In these two encounters with sinners, Dante allows his emotions to dictate his judgement and attitude toward the sinners.

The initial change in Dante’s attitude towards sinners in hell can be found in canto 19. In the third bolgia of the eighth circle where simony is punished, Dante encounters Pope Nicholas III. Pope Nicholas III was guilty of selling indulgences and exercising overall corruption within the church. In this bolgia the former pope is face down in a hole, feet up and exposed to be burnt by flames that rain down like snow. In response to Pope Nicholas III’s story of how he ended up in hell, Dante the pilgrim says, “Therefore stay here, for you deserve your punishment; and be sure to keep your ill-gotten coin, which made you bold against Charles” (Inferno 19, 97). This line shows that Dante agrees with the punishment bestowed upon the pope and he comes to realize God’s intended justice for sinners such as Pope Nicholas III. Th reverence in Dante’s attitude toward sinners solidifies in canto 33 with the encounter of Ugolino in the ninth circle of hell. Ugolino betrayed the city of Pisa and in return he was locked in a tower with his two sons to starve. Ugolino watched his sons die of starvation and it is rumored that he also ate his sons but that part of the story is made unclear. Ugolino hopes to evoke pity from Dante when Ugolino says, “You are surely cruel if you do not already grieve… and if you are not weeping, about what do you usually weep?” (Inferno 33, 40). Dante the pilgrim does not weep for Ugolino and instead uses his tragic story to criticize the city of Pisa. In regard to the city of Pisa, Dante states, “… let Capraia and Gorgona move and make a barrier at the mouth of Arno, so that it may drown every person in you!” (Inferno 33, 82). Here we see that Dante the pilgrim has completely transformed his attitude toward sinners to be more reverent rather than pitiful. He does not weep nor pity Ugolino because he has come to realize that his punishment is just as meant by God.

Canto 33: Further Progression in Dante’s Callousness towards Sinners

             In Canto 33, we find Dante and Virgil pass through the 9th circle of Hell, where traitors to their country, guests, and hosts are punished. Canto 33 is a continuation of Canto 32. Betrayal is the major theme of Canto 33 and because of how deep these sinners are placed in Hell, it is evident how deeply Dante, the author, feels towards those capable of deception.

              Dante sees Count Ugolino, another historical figure, savagely eating Archbishop Ruggieri’s head, an image of cannibalism. Ugolino was a political nobleman in Pisa whose politics went wrong. Ugolino tells Dante his account of the past. Dante finds out that Ugolino was imprisoned for treason along with his sons and grandsons. Ugolino plotted to take over Pisa, an act of betrayal against his hometown. But Ruggieri betrays the betrayer, Ugolino. Ruggieri punishes Ugolino and his family and denies them food, so the sons die of starvation. Ugolino must watch his sons die for his crimes. It is not fully clear if Ugolino eats his sons or not but he states “Then hunger proved more powerful than grief”, which can indicate Ugolino actually eating his dead children. While this interpretation is certainly viable, Dante, the poet, does not necessarily place Ugolino there for eating his children, but because of the selfish betrayal of his hometown. As we have seen throughout Inferno, according to Dante, the writer, the place a person comes from is an incredibly important characteristic and makes that person who he or she is. Therefore, Dante, the writer, finds that the betrayal of one’s hometown must be severely punished.

As Dante and Virgil continue, they meet Fra Alberigo and Bronca. They live on Earth but their souls were sent to Hell, another example of duality in Inferno. Fra Alberigo invited his brother over for dinner and had his family assassinated. Branca’s sin is similar to Alberigo’s because he killed his father-in-law. These sinners are cold enough to kill family members, therefore they must eternally be frozen. They are punished by laying on freezing ice on the river Cocytus and when they cry, their tears freeze. This type of imprisonment is compelling because Hell is constantly represented with fire. The harsh freezing ice can symbolize the callousness of the sinners. Fra asks Dante to “stretch out your hand and open my eyes” but Dante gladly refuses to help him remove the frozen tears so he can cry some more. Dante, the writer, states, “I did not open them for him; and it was courtesy to treat him boorishly” (148-149), meaning being hostile towards this sinner was like a gift to Dante. Dante’s refusal to wipe away the tears mirrors the themes of betrayal and disloyalty in this Canto. Dante, the pilgrim, promises Alberigo that he will wipe away his tears when he states, “If you wish me to help you, tell me who you are” (115) but he is misleading because he readily does not fulfill those words.

It is important to pay attention to Dante’s lack of empathy in the final cantos. As he gets closer to reaching God, Dante’s comprehension of sins is stronger and he is gratified to let the sinners hurt in hell for eternity. From the start of Inferno, Dante, the pilgrim, is on a journey where his attitudes change as he progresses through Hell. He feels compassion and pity for sinners like Francesca, but as the sins grow in severity Dante, the pilgrim feels apathy and hatred towards the sinners. Dante certainly feels no empathy for sinners like Ugolino and Fra Alberigo because of the magnitude of their sins, according to Dante the poet. As Dante reaches the end of his journey in Hell, his pity lessens with each ensuing sinner he encounters. At the beginning of Inferno, empathy overcomes Dante, and he cries and literally faints for many hurting sinners, but by the end of Inferno, he does not even allow the sinners to cry for themselves.