Tag Archives: Violence

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.

 

 

Canto 11 – A Brief Break to Explain the Organization of Hell/The Presence of the Number 3 and The Importance of Nature

Canto 11 reminded me of previous cantos where Virgil and Dante pause because Dante, the pilgrim, needs explanations and clarity from Virgil. This is a recurring technique of Dante, the writer, in which he allows the readers to mirror his character and gain answers to similar confusions that the pilgrim himself is experiencing.

While Virgil and Dante are resting, Virgil explains the organization of Hell in more depth. The organization also enables the reader to note how Dante, the poet, classifies the severity of certain sins over others. I thought it was compelling that the religious presence of the number three appears again in this Canto. First, Virgil tells Dante there are three smaller circles. Hell is separated into three parts. The first circle in middle hell is also divided into three subcircles where the sinners are separated into three groups based on the gravity of violence either committed against others, against oneself, and the worst, which is violence against God.

I was a little confused as to why Dante punishes sodomy as a worse punishment than the crimes committed by the lustful in Circle 2/Canto 5. But, when I reread Virgil’s explanations to Dante I gained more clarity. It is important to note that sodomy is a sin of violence. This means that Dante, the writer, does not punish sodomizers for their morality but more so because he views it as unnatural to the world. Dante the poet defines crimes against God as the most violent because they go against the natural will of life. Virgil states that sodomy and those who harm God scorn “nature and its goodness.” (Canto 11, Line 47). For Dante, something that contradicts nature is far worse and violent than engaging in lust. Above all, God is the most important, therefore going against him and harming what he created is worse than harming others.

Lastly, Dante, the writer, punishes the fraudulent at a lower place in Hell. Virgil tells the pilgrim that fraud, “seems to cut solely into the bond of love” and “forgets the love that Nature makes” (Canto 11, Lines 52-58). It is clear again how severe defying nature is to Dante, the poet. When one is fraudulent and deceitful, he is going against the natural trust and love people are meant to have for one another. Dante ranks fraud worse than violence because it directly contradicts natural trust.