Category: The Divine Comedy

“Blessed are those in whom grace shines so copiously that love of food does not arouse excessive appetite, but lets them hunger after righteousness”. On the sixth terrace of Purgatory, a tree speaks these words, communicating a broader theme of The Divine Comedy, that our attention should be consumed by a desire for God instead of worldly pleasures and distractions. Through each canticle, there is evidence that salvation is more about effort to obey God and less about success in doing so.

In the Inferno are souls who busied themselves in life with the distractions of earthly existence, spending no effort on trying to live for God. They are left to their distractions for all of eternity, or at least for as long as they choose to continue pursuing them. In Purgatory, souls who made some effort to live by God’s will are given haven from distractions, so that they may focus solely on God and reaching Paradise. The differentiating quality between the souls in Inferno and those in Purgatory is a willingness to struggle and make the effort to live for God, regardless of failure. In Paradise, souls who successfully struggled to live virtuously are positioned so they are eternally focused on God, enjoying the beatific vision. For their dedication in life to the goal of doing God’s will, they may spend eternity with their wills as one with God’s.

Though under normal circumstances, Purgatory and Paradise are free from distractions so souls can focus fully on God, the process can apparently still be interrupted. In Purgatory, souls often stopped or even forgot what they were doing upon seeing Dante and Virgil:

“So all the happy souls of these Redeemed/stared at my face, forgetting, as it were,/the way to go to make their beauty whole” .

In Paradise, Beatrice is a distraction to Dante on his journey from the Garden of Eden to the Mystic Rose, where he sees God and has his revelatory vision. She is leading Dante toward God, however, so the distraction she creates for Dante is less damaging than Dante’s presence is to those souls in Purgatory who forget that they should be working eagerly to get to Paradise.

This conception of God’s mercy as rewarding effort and focus is demonstrated in each canticle of the Divine Comedy. The story of St. Francis, told by St. Thomas in Canto 11 of Paradise, suggests a pious way of life that makes one’s struggle to stay focused on God easier:

“In plain words/take Francis, now, and Poverty to be/the lovers in the story I have told./ Their sweet accord, their faces spread with bliss,/the love, the mystery, their tender looks/gave rise in others’ hearts to holy thoughts”. Francis, by marrying Poverty, gave up the pleasures and distractions of worldly goods. This lifestyle of selfimposed privation made focusing his life on God simpler. For choosing a distractionfree lifestyle, St. Francis is found among the wise on the Sun.

In Purgatory, tempting, fruit-laden trees shout exempla of temperance and gluttony at the starving sinners who run endlessly around the terrace. The shouts from the two trees and the tantalizing fruit they display are not a pain to the souls, as Forese Donati corrects himself, but they are a solace. The contrapasso of these sinners is to “make [themselves] pure thirsting and hungering”, since in life they distracted themselves from God’s will with excess. As St. Thomas says, such privation “[gives] rise… to holy thoughts”.

In the third circle of Inferno, where gluttons are punished, “Thick hail and dirty water, mixed with snow come down in torrents through the murky air” and Cerberus “rips the spirits, flays and mangles them’. Ciacco, whose name fittingly means ‘pig’ or ‘filthy’, is one of the souls who, as long as he is in the Inferno, will be allowed to wallow, literally, in the sin with which he occupied his life.

In Limbo, the souls don’t actively suffer, but they exist, “[living] on in desire”. In life, they didn’t know Christ, and so they could not live a life for God. As the Infernal sinners are left to their life’s distractions, the virtuous pagans in Limbo, too, are left to their life’s work, in the “splendid castle” which celebrates human reason and accomplishment unaided by God. There is an inferred possibility of upward mobility if a soul forsakes whatever distractions kept him from Purgatory or Paradise. This exception might even apply to souls of virtuous pagans in Limbo like Virgil. As Dante and the paradisial party prepare to enter Paradise, Virgil seems to be extended an invitation as well. The angels were “all shouting: Benedictus qui venis! then,/tossing a rain of flowers in the air,/Manibus, o, date lilia plenis!”. The first shout, “Blessed is he who cometh,” is a bible verse, followed by a line from Virgil meaning “Give us lilies with full hands.” The angels appear to be equating Virgil’s work with the Bible, but despite this high praise, he is sadly not able to forsake his Roman mindset and fatalistic confidence that he is forever relegated to Limbo. Virgil disappears to spend eternity with his fellow pagan poets.

The souls in Limbo and the Inferno, including Virgil, do not see beyond their own circumstances, but Dante, from the time he enters the Inferno, is different. Where Virgil simply observes the entire journey to Paradise, Dante experiences it. Virgil dutifully leads Dante on the journey, but along the way, Dante is constantly looking above and ahead. As Virgil and Dante emerge from the Inferno, they “came out to see once more the stars”. At the end of Purgatory, when Dante emerges “from those holiest waters”, he is “eager to rise, now ready for the stars”. Paradise ends with a reference to God as “the Love that moves the sun and the other stars”. This theme of watching the stars and of focusing on what is beyond our immediate lives is captured by Oscar Wilde in Lady Windermere’s Fan: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Throughout his journey, Dante is looking up at the stars. This focus and devotion to his pilgrimage are perhaps the reasons he is allowed to see Paradise. Regardless of why Dante is shown Heaven, though, his experiences seem to illustrate that God uses a more merciful principal to locate souls’ appropriate places in the afterlife than a surface reading of Inferno and Purgatory might suggest. Effort, attention, and love, it seems, are all God requires to be given a place in Purgatory, from which to purge oneself of sin. With the knowledge that even from the gutter, looking at the stars is enough, the message of The Divine Comedy is one of warning, but also of hope.

“Abandon all hope ye who enter here” reads the Gates of Hell in Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno. After awakening at the bottom of a hill, Dante learns that he must descend through Hell, the Inferno, to reach Paradise. Virgil appears to Dante as his guide after Dante’s vain attempt to climb the hill. The duo begins their plunge through the underworld and it quickly becomes apparent that Dante is the only living soul in Hell. Despite this fact, the two continue their journey through the Inferno, providing the reader with an in depth tour to the Dantean design of Hell. As the two travel through the different levels of Hell, Virgil introduces Dante to the sinners and punishments in each circle. The reader witnesses the emotional ups and downs as Dante empathizes with the sinners and eventually becomes callous to their suffering. The Inferno is the most popular installment in The Divine Comedy, and its fame has survived for over six centuries. The poem is a multi-layered allegory, which exists in a literary reality and contains religious, political, and spiritual references.

The Inferno is full of references to historical and literary characters. The protagonist, Dante, is not only the poet and narrator, but also the personification of mankind. At times, it is difficult to distinguish Dante the writer from Dante the character. For example, Dante the writer chose how to punish the sinners, but the character feels empathy towards the damned. This creates a twofold perception of the story and facilitates deep thought. His guide, Virgil, also has a multi-layered identity. He is both Dante’s guide and the Roman author of the Aeneid, as well as a figure of human reason. Virgil also has firsthand experience in Hell because he spends eternity in Limbo, where all pagans reside. This, in addition to his ability to reason and persuade, makes him an excellent guide through Hell. Many characters from Virgil’s works also make an appearance in The Inferno. In the first level of Hell, Dante is introduced to Dido, who committed suicide out of love. Consequently, she spends her death being carried around by winds that symbolize how, in life, she was swept by her passions. Countless other characters from literature and mythology make an appearance in Dante’s poem.

An interesting feature of this work is the mixture of Christian, Greek and Roman references. The work primarily consists inside a Christian framework, but includes many Greek and Roman allusions. Dante opens his journey through a very Catholic version of Hell on the afternoon of Good Friday, both Christian references. However, he encounters many non-Christian characters from both literature and mythology. These characters include Charon, the ferryman, and Minos, the judge sins and assigns a level of Hell. Both of these characters originate from Greek mythology. It also includes many ancient literary figures, such as Virgil, Ulysses, and Homer. Dante introduces these characters to equate himself with their renowned literary skills.

Dante not only incorporates pagan characters but also mythological places, for instance, the rivers Styx and Acheron. These non-Christian allusions enrich the story and help it relate to a more broad audience that incorporates all human beings. This is due to Dante’s belief that his journey is one that all mankind should partake in.

Every soul in hell is justly penalized for the sins committed against God , just as with Dido’s punishment for her abandonment of reason for passion. Fortunately, Dido’s sin is considered the least offensive, so she is punished lightly. She probably should have belonged in the seventh circle, where people who committed suicide are converted into trees that can only speak while bleeding. Flatterers spend eternity submerged in excrement, while Traitors, the worst sinners, continually have their heads chewed on by Lucifer himself. Every sin is punished to the extent and severity at which it was committed. This shows that God punishes out of justice, not out of malice. The balance between sin and punishment shows Dante’s high reverence of God. Everything about The Inferno is exceptionally well balanced; whether it be structure, organization, or rhyme scheme.

Dante encompasses extensive political and religious symbols. He utilizes these representations even in the organization and structure of his poem. The Divine Comedy is comprised of three books, each with 100 chapters. The cantos symbolize the Trinity, three sets of thirty three cantos, with an additional chapter to represent the Holy One. The rhyme scheme is also a religious reference since the poem is comprised of tercets, which is another allusion to the number three. Based on the fact that Florence, Italy was in political turmoil during the construction of this poem, it is not surprising that there are also references that extend to politics. Every sixth and sixteenth canto has a primary political implication. These cantos typically portray Dante’s personal opinions and assumptions of his political opponents. The references to religion and politics show Dante’s intention for the literary work and creates an interesting aspect of the already multi-layered poem. It takes the poem from a entertaining story to a means of expressing religious values and political discontent. Through these symbols, Dante depicts the religious and political atmosphere of his life.

The Inferno is the zeitgeist of medieval Florence. According to Marriam-Webster, a zeitgeist is “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era”. Dante’s work accurately exposes the values of each of these categories. Not only does The Inferno precisely address these ideals in ancient Italy, but they also remain true to today’s society. This primarily explains why the poem remains exceptionally popular centuries after its conception. This popularity has inspired countless references to The Inferno. Pop culture is full of movies, music, and even video games that convey Dante’s personification of Hell. Many writers, both classic and modern, are influenced by Dante’s work as well. Classic authors, such as John Milton and T.S. Elliot, are known to cite quotations from The Inferno in their popular works. Evidence of Dante’s influence in today’s society is apparent in the #1 New York Times Best Seller, Inferno by Dan Brown. In this novel, Brown draws countless allusions, images, and citations from Dante’s work and applies them to his thrilling plot set in Florence, Italy. Dante captures human nature so accurately that people from all over the world and over time still admire this piece of complex literature. The impermanence of society makes it difficult for an author to transcend cultural and generational gaps; however, that is exactly what Dante Alighieri accomplishes in his poem The Inferno.

Identify and comment in detailed analytical manner on the content and style of the passage. Your commentary should follow the text sequentially, and you need to indicate in the margin the line number of the verse(s) under discussion. For Dante, the relevance of the extract to the canto to which it belongs should emerge from your analysis, which should also be enriched, where appropriate, by reference to the Purgatorio or the Paradiso as a whole. An essay or a paraphrase will not be accepted in lieu of a commentary.

Paradiso XI

The “Paradiso” is the third and final book which comprises the Divine Comedy, written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and 1320. The Canto on which I will be commenting is Paradiso XI and it is the eleventh out of thirty-three Cantos within the Paradiso. In this particular Canto, Dante the character has travelled with Beatrice and has reached the Sphere of the Sun, which is the fourth sphere on the journey to reach the Empyrean and for the soul to ascend to God.

In this sphere of the Sun, Dante meets the souls of the wise which include Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lombard, King Solomon, Paulus Orosius, and several other eminent philosophers and theologians from around Europe. These souls are said to provide light to the world and Paradise through their intellect. This intellect is brighter in this Sphere because it is closer to God, and at this point, Dante has also passed beyond the shadow of the Earth.

In the preceding canto, Canto X, Dante ascended with Beatrice and he became surrounded by a shining crowd of souls which we learn are wise spirits, but at first, are represented as twelve lights shining brightly which dance around Dante and Beatrice. The theologian Thomas Aquinas is the first to start speaking, which may perhaps suggest that he is among the most respected and admired by Dante the poet as a theologian himself. Aquinas serves as a main character in this canto. There is a line in this Canto, line 96 “u’ ben s’impingua se non si vaneggia” which Dante the character asks Thomas Aquinas to clarify in Canto XI. This is used by Dante the poet as an opportunity to portray his own religious and political agenda through Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure in the Paradiso in the two Cantos XI and XII in particular.

In Canto XI, Thomas Aquinas describes the life and biography of Saint Francis, the founder of the Franciscans and in Canto XII Bonaventure describes the life and biography of Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominicans. These two Cantos are specular and are constructed in a similar way. This consists of first praising the founder of the order to which the person does not belong, and then a criticism or condemnation of the order to which that person does not belong, respectively. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican and Bonaventure was a Franciscan. Dante the poet does this in order to show the harmony that exists in Heaven between these two orders, which was not the same on Earth at the time when the Paradiso was written.

Canto XI begins with a reflection by Dante the poet on his experience of being so far removed from the mortal world and now recognising how meaningless the actions and struggles of human beings are, now that he has journeyed even closer to God and is becoming more enlightened, both literally and metaphorically by the light of God. He seems to feel some relief from this, perhaps suggested by the “O” and the use of the exclamation point at the end of line 3.

Robert Hollander describes the beginning of the canto thus, “The opening nine verses of this canto summon images of ceaseless and futile human activity, from which Dante is happy to have been, at least temporarily, liberated.”[footnoteRef:1] Some scholars compare this epic beginning with that of the Latin poet Persius’s Satires, “O curas hominum, o quantum est in rebus inane” or translated as “O wearisome cares of men, o emptiness of the things we care for”[footnoteRef:2]. [1: (Hollander, 2007) p. 294 1-12. “In sharp contrast to both the opening six and concluding nine verses of the preceding canto…”] [2: Same as above]

The use of the metaphor in line 3 of downward facing wings can be connected to what Dante is saying about the futility of man’s actions; we are born as lowly creatures but nevertheless could hold the ability to fly like angels, i.e. become as enlightened with heavenly light as Dante is experiencing. However, because human beings are too preoccupied with small and less important matters, “si dava a l’ozio”, they do not choose to pursue this path. Dante the character feels liberated now that he has ascended with Beatrice, “da tutte queste cose sciolto”.

In order to describe the twelve souls who are surrounding Dante in a circle and the dazzling light of their intellects, Dante the poet uses the metaphor of a candle on its sconce, “fermossi, come a candelier candelo”. This helps to create a visual image for the reader who can more clearly imagine the brilliance of these lights.

One of the lights begins to speak, as previously mentioned, that of Thomas Aquinas in line 16, who is described as a “lumera”. This is significant because in the Heaven of the Sun, the souls, as stated, are described using the metaphor of light. In contrast to this, the same metaphor is used previously in the Divine Comedy in Inferno IV in Limbo where light was also used as a metaphor of intellect. However, the wise souls in the Heaven of the Sun receive their light directly from God and this means that they are theologians and also philosophers. In the Middle Ages, the distinction between being a theologian and a philosopher was not as strict as it is today[footnoteRef:3]. Therefore, it was considered that Thomas Aquinas was both. Dante himself also uses arguments and reasoning techniques that come from both philosophy and theology, such as syllogising which consists of a logical argument and consequence which stems from a major and a minor premise when both are considered together. [3: (Gilson, 2019)]

In the extract, beginning on line 28 describes the “provedenza” which rules the world and how any creature created by God, meaning all human mortals, will always fail to fully understand this. We will see this demonstrated later on in the Paradiso when Dante struggles to express what he saw when he came face-to-face with God on lines 55-57 of canto XXXIII, “Da quince innanzi il mio veder fu maggio / che ‘l parlar mostra, ch’a tal vista cede, / e cede la memoria a tanto oltraggio.”. Robert Hollander describes this experience as “ineffable, not describable, and the vision cannot be remembered in any of its details … All that remains is the awareness of having had the experience.”[footnoteRef:4] [4: (Hollander, 2007) p. 924]

On line 35, the “due principi” that were “ordinò in suo favore” were the two Saints of Saint Francis and Saint Dominic who were chosen to act as guides for the Church and found the two Christian orders of the Franciscans and the Dominicans respectively. The fact that these two saints were chosen by God, by divine providence, is Dante the author’s way of introducing the main theme of their providential role and the fact that they could support and foster the Church as an institution.

This description of the two saints as guides can also be compared with the reference to the two wheels on the chariot of the Church, without which it could not grow and develop. This chariot is first referred to in the Purgatorio but it is not until the Paradiso that Dante really makes the meaning of this clear. In Canto XII, it is made clear that the Orders of St Francis and St Dominic are these two wheels and it is with knowledge and love respectively that the wheels help the chariot to move[footnoteRef:5], “in che la Santa Chiesa si difese / e vinse in campo la sua civil briga”[footnoteRef:6]. This can be connected to the spiritual unity of the Church and the theme of harmony between both orders, both working side by side towards the common goal of progress. [5: (Nichols, 2011) p. 140] [6: Paradiso, Canto XII, lines 107-108]

The repetition of “l’un” in lines 37, 40 and 41 can be compared to the repetition of “l’uno e l’altro” in preceding cantos as Rachel Jacoff refers to, “The two groupings of sapienti in the circle of the Sun are one component of a series of “doublings” that informs these cantos. The sun’s double motion on its daily and its yearly path becomes the model for other pairs in equipoise, with the repetition of the phrase “l’uno e l’altro” underlining the theme of reciprocity”.

This theme and the structure, both lexical and thematic of Canto XI and the few cantos just before and after it in the Paradiso are described as the following also by Rachel Jacoff:

The intricately analogical construction of these cantos operates on several levels,

from the lexical to the thematic, with the parallel narratives of St. Francis

and St. Dominic also structured to conform to the pattern of equipoise. The

Dominican Thomas praises Francis who was “seraphic in ardor,” while the

Franciscan Bonaventure praises Dominic who was “cherubic in splendor.”

As mentioned, on line 37 St Francis is described as being “serafico in ardore” while St Dominic is “di cherubica luce uno splendore”. This is referring to the Seraphim, the highest order of angels in Heaven which are encountered at the end of the Paradiso, while St Dominic is compared to the Cherubim, the next order down of angelic beings who attend directly to God Himself. It is interesting that St Francis is compared to a higher order than that of St Dominic. While both are laudatory comparisons, Dante was closer in his own beliefs to the Franciscans and what would be the current Spirituals. This is due to their and Dante’s shared belief of wanting to restore the Church to its original purity, because of the corruption seen during the Middle Ages. We can see examples of this and Dante’s condemnation therein throughout the Divine Comedy, such as Pope Boniface VIII’s portrayal in the Inferno as being condemned for his sins and guilty of simony, particularly in Inferno XIX but also in other works from the same time period. For example, in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in particular, The Pardoner’s Tale which features the hypocritical character of the Pardoner, who preaches against greed and avarice and yet he tricks and extorts the poor and sinners by the selling of fake relics without caring about the fate of the souls of those he has deceived[footnoteRef:7]. This is the kind of deception and corruption that existed in the religious climate of pre-Reformation and it is the type of behaviour that Dante and the Franciscans wanted to stamp out. [7: (Ginsberg, 1976)]

St Francis was also known as the champion of poverty throughout his life and Dante seems to greatly admire this. In fostering the return of the Church to its original spirit it would also include its original poverty, criticising the immense riches which had been acquired by the institution at this point through mostly corrupt means[footnoteRef:8]. [8: (Logan, 2013)]

In line 42, the single end that is referred to, “ad un fine fur l’opere sue” to which both saints, Francis, and Dominic work, underlines again the theme of harmony between the two respective orders who have the joint aim of fostering the development of the Church. As previously referenced, the reciprocal praise for the Dominicans coming from a Franciscan and vice versa, and this is partly due as well to the fact that the souls in this Sphere are enlightened, including Thomas Aquinas.

Lines 43 to 48 include a geographical description of where St Francis was born in Umbria, in Italy. In line 50, the rising of the sun on the world is described, employing the use of a metaphor for St Francis himself, “nacque al mondo un sole”. Some, including Robert Hollander, have even compared this new sun – or new son – to the metaphor of the birth of Christ, representing a new beginning for the Church, “[St Francis] was indeed often portrayed as a “second Christ” (see Auerbach), each takes on the role of Christ in husbanding the Church through her many tribulations both in his lifetime and thereafter, by instrument of the mendicant order that he, having founded, left behind him”[footnoteRef:9]. [9: (Hollander, 2007) p. 297 28-36. “This convoluted and difficult passage…”]

In line 52 to 54, finishing the extract, are significant because Dante the author refers to the usually prescribed birthplace of St Francis “Ascesi” or Assisi as it is known today as being insufficient, “ché direbbe corto”. Instead, Dante suggests that one should use “Orïente”. This is an extension of the metaphor of St Francis as a second Christ. The second sun or son begins to move and rises in the East like Christ rising to glory and to Heaven to lead humanity.

Hollander also describes this metaphor in a grammatical sense, in terms of verbs and participles. “Ascesi” as well as being the name for Assisi in the Middle Ages is also the Latin for “I have risen” which can clearly be connected to Christ but note that it is a past tense verb. The preference being given to “Orïente”, however, means that it can be translated as “rising” which, being in the present tense means that it is not confined to the past. “Francis, like Christ, is always rising, leading us Heavenward”[footnoteRef:10]. [10: (Hollander, 2007) p. 297 53-54. “Ascesi”]

To conclude, this extract is very significant within Canto XI because it introduces some of the main themes and points Dante wants to show to the reader, including that of returning the Church to its original purity and poverty, harmony between the Franciscans and the Dominicans and the roles of St Francis and St Dominic who were chosen by God to bring the Church forward through their work. The extract is also important in the Paradiso as a whole because Dante the author uses it as an opportunity to bring forth his own religious and political agenda and to push this message about the Church, in order to make the Divine Comedy a prophetic book and cause change. Furthermore, this point in the Paradiso represents a continuation of Dante’s journey to full enlightenment as he is journeying increasingly closer to the Empyrean where he will have a vision of God and the Holy Trinity.

Bibliography

Primary sources

1. Alighieri, D., Hollander, R. and Hollander, J., 2007. Paradiso. New York: Anchor Books.

Secondary sources

1. Gardner, E.G., 1913. Dante and the Mystics: A Study of the Mystical Aspect of the Divina Commedia and its Relations with Some of its Medieval Sources. JM Dent & sons Limited.
2. Gilson, E., 2019. History of Christian philosophy in the Middle Ages. Catholic University of America Press.
3. Ginsberg, W., 1976. Preaching and Avarice in the Pardoner’s Tale. Mediaevalia, 2, pp.77-99.
4. Hollander, R., 2001. Dante: A Life in Works. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
5. Jacoff, R. (2007). Introduction to Paradiso. In R. Jacoff (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Dante (Cambridge Companions to Literature, pp. 107-124). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521844304.007 [accessed 5/5/20]
6. Logan, F.D., 2013. A History of the Church in the Middle Ages. Routledge.
7. Nichols, A., 2011. Lost in wonder: essays on liturgy and the arts. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
8. Reynolds, B., 2006. Dante: the poet, the political thinker, the man. Counterpoint Press.
9. Shaw, P., 2014. Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity. WW Norton & Company.

There are 34 cantos with about 140 verses each. Look at a matrix that mixes the organization of hell, as classes and as subclasses of sins. The Divine Comedy is Dante’s greatest work. This work waswritten in 1310 and was completed shortly before Dante’s death in 1321. The work is a narrative poem fully planned within symmetry and algebraic logic.The story tells Dante’s Odyssey goes through the 3 spiritual planes: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. Dante is guided by the Roman poet Virgil. The story begins when Dante finds himself lost in a dark and frightening forest because his life has failed to go the right way. After some attempts to escape, Virgilappears to Dante at the behest of Beatriz, who descended from the heavens to limbo to ask Virgil for help and proposes a different route.

The Divine Comedy is characterized by a very strong moralizing meaning, the reaffirmation of Christian principles and the desire for spiritual renewal. Its narrative strength lies in Dante’s sfirmness of character as a character in dealing with some of the most fundamental questions of the human condition. Even in the face of the greatest challenges, the poet follows with conviction his belief in the existence of eternal life and that which would be the purpose of our existence: the pursuit of union with God through purification. Hell is divided into 9 circles; each circle corresponds to sin and how the sinner will suffer throughout his eternity. Hell grows deeper with each circle and more punishments are performed. The dead are tortured by hundreds of demons, obscure objects, forces of nature and situations that affect the spiritual and mental body. The ninth and last circle of Hell is reserved for traitors. It has large fluttering wings, feeding the freezing winds of Hell’s ninth level. This wind represents the exhalation of all evil in the world.

The souls who were traitors to their masters are kept there, trapped in blocks of ice. Lucifer stands in the middle of the level, where all the rivers of guilt flow. He flaps his wings to escape, but the freezing wind freezes him even more in place. Lucifer has three faces. In his mouth, he chews Judas, Brutus, and Cassius, all eternal traitors to their masters who trusted them. Virgil and Dante watch the horrible sight and begin to rise through the center, rising over Satan himself, where they pass through the center of the earth’s gravity and out of Hell. The Mount of Purgatory appears before them, and they go on, unwilling to waste time. To sum up, The Divine Comedy makes people realize that while the church exercised state power and that Christian morality classified behavior and thinking, theoretician religious guidelines were based on classical culture. Thus, we have a situation in which the’scientific’ conception of the world was grounded in Aristotle; part of Christian conceptions in Plato. I can understand Dante’s work as a summary of the conceptions of the Middle Ages.

Dante, a famous Italian poet, gained his fame from his most important work The Divine Comedy. He grew up in Florence until he became exiled forever by the leaders of the Black Guelph. During the time he spent outside of Florence, he entered his most successful period as a writer. He writes the trilogy, The Divine Comedy, while he travelled around to many different places. Along with this work, he completes many other stories during his travels taking ideas from the places he went. The Divine Comedy, gained popularity because of his use of references from the time period he wrote from and controversial events and people that were present at that time. Dante even chose to write himself as the main character in these stories. This work shows Dante’s journey through three different spheres of the dead as seen in Christian teachings: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. His journey helped people to obtain a better understanding of the concepts of afterlife and what actions Christians consider to be sins. This understanding helped influence the way people saw basic Christian teachings. His works also influences the community of Florence and the cinema in several different ways.

Through the Comedy, Dante had a major impact on Christian beliefs and the ideas of the afterlife. In his story, the Inferno, the concept of immortal souls disconnected from their bodies until the time they reunite with them emerges. This idea gave people more of an interest into the Christian religion, and it also influenced the way people think about the severity of some sins. In the Inferno, he explains what souls reside in which layer of hell based on their sins. For example, he gives a harsher punishment to prostitutes than murderers. This view does not seem consistent for every person, but can persuade others to believe it. He put his own views into his work, changing the way some people view these sins. He goes into better detail about how hell looks and feels, giving people a clear visual of the horrific atmosphere repeatedly mentioned in their faith. The descriptions of the sights and smells he encountered in hell shows people a better understanding of a place they have always known, but have not experienced themselves. According to Christian History Magazine #116, “The image he left us not only made an indelible mark upon his readers, but on Western civilization itself” (Janney, 23). Because of this imagery, it can lead to the betterment of others who realize the terrible punishment they could possibly receive if they continue down the wrong path. Dante influenced Christian teachings and the way people saw the different realms of the dead. Found in Florence and Its Church in the Age of Dante, Dante showed through his Comedy that a city of God yields a prosperous Florence. He continues to worry about the wellbeing of Florence even though he got exiled by the Black Guelphs.

Dante spreads his influence through his community of Florence. Boccaccio, one of the people who helped the poem become an influence in the community, talked to many about the Inferno. David Lummus states in Dante’s Inferno: Critical Reception and Influence, “Convinced that the poem could have a profound practical effect on the Florentine community, the commune of Florence paid Boccaccio to lecture on the poem in the church of Santo Stefano in Badia” (Lummus, 65). Boccaccio’s fascination with Dante’s Inferno gave him the urge to spread Dante’s poem to many people. Dante soon became seen as an essential and important character in the identity of Florence. As seen in Christian History Magazine #116, “In Italy he is still hailed as the nation’s ‘Supreme Poet,’ as well as the ‘Father of the Italian Language’ (Janney, 23). His use of real life events and people relevant to Florence helped the people who lived there relate to the story and spark up conversations between people with different views. He influenced the political opinions of some others by writing in aspects of the current politics and slightly displaying his views in his stories. For example, in the Inferno he puts characters in hell based on where he thinks they belong. He also put references of people without saying their real name, but the Florentines would understand. Dante has a very strong connection to his hometown that even though exiled, he continues to write and review the events occurring there. His connection brings gives the Florentine people with that strong of a connection to their home a sense of trust and relate to his works on a more personal level than others.

Dante’s works have a great impact on the world of cinema. Many films have drawn ideas from his stories for decades. His detailed descriptions and imagery used in his poems give people a good idea of what it would look like to actually be there. Films made using his stories start as far back as the silent film period. One of these films, Dante’s Inferno, “…attempts to stage the entire Dantean Inferno…” (Iannucci, 6). It makes the story pictured in peoples’ minds a real visual that they can see. In later times, he influences many popular films. As seen in Dante, Cinema, and Televison, “Moreover, Tim Burton in Batman (1989) has created a Dantean-like ‘comic’ pastiche of the great battle between good and evil, played out in a Gothsm city that looks precariously like the visions of Hell conjured up by earlier cinematic pioneers” (Iannucci, 11). He also has influenced the mood of films such as David Fincher’s Seven. Iannucci explains “Dante’s classification of sins in the Purgatorio is invoked repeatedly to provide an underlying explanation, and there is a scene near the beginning of the film in which the older detective photocopies a drawing of the Dantean classification of sins and sends it to his young apprentice” (Iannucci, 15). Iannucci also explains that Dante’s explanations of harsh sufferings in Hell become references in this film by the showing of graphic torture and scary scenes of the murder victims. Many films use the very familiar ideas and description of Hell in Dante’s Inferno in different ways. Some make subtle appearances like the movie Seven. More apparent ones, like in the movie Purgatorio, also exist. Dante’s ideas appear in many films because of the interesting details written in them.

Dante’s works influence many different categories such as Christian beliefs, the Florentine community, and the cinematic world. Dante’s Divine Comedy describes and gives people a visual of the afterlife in the three different realms. It also gave people different opinions on the severity of sins based on the punishment they received in Hell. His works influenced the Florentine community by him voicing his views in his poems. Boccaccio, an Italian poet, helped to spread his Inferno to many people in Florence. And Lastly, his stories greatly influenced many films in the cinematic world. Some of these films range from the silent film period to current day films such as the film Seven. Films that use the ideas in his poems range from very subtle to an exact replica of the story. His influence comes up everywhere even if it is not apparent. His ideas from the Inferno disturb some people, but make for good concepts for interesting movie ideas. His work influences many things and people throughout the world and give the world a better understand of basic Christian beliefs.

Abstract

This thesis sheds light on the characters portrayals of women in Dante’s Divine Comedy and The Thousand and One Nights. In acquiring this information, we explore the different characterizations of women involved in the text and use it to assess the writers bias and conception of women. This can consist of their societal placement and their specific traits and behaviors as their roles are looked at in society. Both works represent women as lesser than standard and viewed as “slaves” needing a male figure in order to find a sense of worth or purpose or even to be valued in society. This is supported by many biblical and historical references. The epic poetry of Dante’s Divine Comedy and the tales of The Thousand and One Nights exhibit the old folklores of the 9th century thru the 13th century. The incorporation of the historical and biblical classification on women’s status in the male oriented worlds they live in. Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: explores Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: characterizations Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: opinion Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: included and incorporated Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: incorporated Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: demonstrate, lack, represented

In the 5th Canto of Dante’s Divine Comedy, it can be said Dante considered many women to be less rational and reasonable. The “Lady of Heaven” known as Mary is dramatized along with Lucia who is identified as St. Lucy, a 3rd century martyr and the patron saint of those afflicted with poor or terrible sight and Beatrice, Dante’s love and inspiration and glorified as a heavenly figure. Beatrice confronts Dante in Canto 2, where she appears in Limbo as “Divine Love”. Dante is about to abandon his first purpose when she appears as a comforting figure and prays that the poet Virgil can rescue Dante. She then reappears in Canto 30 of Purgatorio, when Virgil disappears. Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: descends

At first sight of her in Purgatorio, he is as overwhelmed as he was at the age of nine and is dazzled by her presence throughout the journey until she ascends again to her place in heaven, the point closest to God that he is allowed to reach. In contrast, in the Inferno, the circle of Lust is predominantly full of women, including Cleopatra, Dido, Helen of Troy and Francesca. Dante evokes women to be more of a temptation and show enticement than man. This means women can punish more men to the circle of Lust. Dante explores Eros, a sinful type of love, and perverted punishment of sin when one surrenders themselves to the highest temptation. Dante highlights the use of tarnished female body to emphasize the perversion punishment of sin along with the dangers of the female sexuality. Francesca’s story is related to the plotline of The Thousand and One Nights in relevance to Francesca being by her husband when he caught her having an affair with her brother. Francesca had her individuality connected to two male roles. Caïna is the circle of Cain where those who killed their kin are punished: “Love led us to one death. In the depths of Hell / Caïna waits for him who took our lives.’ / This was the piteous tale they stopped to tell. / And when I heard those world-offended lovers/ I bowed my head. At last the Poet spoke: / ‘What painful thoughts are these your lowered brow covers?’” (103-108). Dante displays Francesca as a gentle, magnificent, woman who is able to seduce men with her enthralling, captivating voice. Dante uses females prominently for sexual temptation and lust. This makes the female characters identified as flat characters and lack power and deep purpose. Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: Beatrice is a heavenly figure Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: evokes Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: enchanting

In contrast, this 14th century Syrian manuscript paints the main character Shahrazad as cunning, smart, loyal, powerful, daring and confident. These adjectives are embedded within the text as Shahrazad uses her determination to take risks and change the male dominated lifestyle to her own terms. Shahrazad saves the women in her country by taking the risk of sleeping with the King Shahrayar in order to make him fall in love and spare her life. King Shahrayar was originally spiteful of all women because of what his previous wife had done to him by cheating on him. The reader could assume King Shahrayar’s wife cheated with the cook for a sense of normalcy and relieve the pressure of high status or to make the egotistical, selfish, “towering-knight”, feel low self esteem and undervalued. Throughout the story of the King Shahrayar and Shahrazad, the reader notices a pattern of the King taking his anger out on women and generalizing all women to be sex-slaves and concubines. The King takes pleasure in making women appear to have little value and worth. The King Shahrayar takes pride in getting “revenge” in all women because of something that only happened to him and his vizier. The King’s vizier exclaims: “Take that wife of mine and put her to death” (1093). The King generalizes all women to be unfaithful and unworthy of being treated like reasonable, honest human beings. Further on the Tale of the Merchant and His Wife, the merchant must not reveal what the ox said to the donkey in order to save his life, yet his wife is very persistent. She claims: “I insist and will not desist” (1096). She stands firm and will not be swayed by her husband’s begging and pleading. This is a strange and bizarre example of female empowerment. The story continues to undermine female existence. This is shown when the rooster replied: “Our master and friend claims to be wise, but he is foolish for he has only one wife, yet he does not know how to manage her” (1097). Then the dog continues to discuss how the wife must be punished and beaten. This form of mistreatment is dehumanizing and shows the male’s need for control and domination and women must show submission. Towards the end of the story Shahrazad leads the reader into her witty plan. She uses her knowledge of how men want to manage and have authority over women to make him fall in love with her submission and “respect”. Yet Shahrazad was shedding light and exposing the men’s fight and eagerness for supremacy. At the end of the play, Shahrazad reveals her strength by achieving her intentions. She uses her mental ability against the King and not sex. This is honorable and note-worthy because this stands against the status-quo of women only being good at sex.

In both works of literature, Divine Comedy and The Thousand and One Nights, women portray submissive and superior traits. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, most women are described fully based on beauty, yet Shahrazad plays a heroic figure based on her progressive intelligence and wit. During the time periods of both stories, women were only accounted for as sex-appealing figures without any powerful positions. Shahrazad stands out as a heroin of the tale by overpowering and refining the evil patterns of the King. In a region known for male-domination, Shahrazad exhibits female-empowerment by “dominating” the King’s mind and time. Shahrazad upholds the title of a hero because she refuses to follow her father’s wishes and marries the King to save other women from being killed. In other words, she put her life on the line to protect others from the danger. Comment by Aubrey Makayla Ebron: uphold

Works Cited

1. Verdicchio, Massimo. “Irony and Desire in Dante’s Inferno 27.” Italica, no. 2, 2015, p. 285. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.497860222&site=eds-live.

Many parts of the Divine Comedy feature cosmological and theological themes. A prime example of this is Canto 29. Here, Dante engages in biblical and theological interpretation about heaven, God, and hell. During his journey through Inferno, for example, Dante discovers the physical horror and the grotesque nature of Hell. At the opening of the Canto, Danta laments, “the many people and the divers wounds these eyes of mine has so inebriated that they were wishful to stand still and weep”. Accordingly, Dante sees how disease was rampant in the Eight Trench. He notices the foul smell of rotting limbs, putrid skin, as well as all the stench of dead patients in a plague-stricken hospital. Soon, Dante finds out that this smell comes from the falsifiers or those who were punished for forgery, the seducers, flatterers, perjurers, and false prophets.

This part of Divine Comedy presents important themes of Hell and punishment. More specifically, Dante suggests that the punishments are fitting for the actual sins committed. These all goes back to the theological idea of hell as a place of pain, despair, and hopelessness. More than this, Dante’s conception of Hell reflects the biblical idea of a place where people are damned for acting out against God’s will. Inferno, therefore, is a place that portrays, “the perfect execution of God’s justice”. Another theological and cosmological theme present in Cantos 29 is the presence of demons. In this Canto, Dante explains how each section of Hell is guarded by different demons. What is interesting to point out is that the demons are portrayed as creatures that punish souls not out of anger but simply because that is the natural thing assigned to them. This therefore means that in Canto 29, Dante is presenting and explaining Hell. Scholars note that Dante presents these theological themes in order to make this abstract theological concept and makes it more tactile and real to people by expounding on traditional notions (Pertile).The text Vita Nuova is a work specifically to create to express the author’s love for a woman – Beatrice. In this work, Beatrice serves as Dante’s love interest. In fact, a number of scholars note that the text presents Beatrice as an embodiment of absolute and pure love. Such is evident at Dante’s composition and construction of his poetry and how it is aimed more towards love. This love becomes all the more evident in many parts of the narrative and, in many ways, symbolizes the different types of love that Dante experiences. For example, Dante describes the first time they meet at the age of nine and continues to relay several events that shows his love for Beatrice. Accordingly, Dante recounts the time when Beatrice dies and how her death caused him to grieve deeply. In other words, Beatrice in this piece is the focus of Dante’s affective and romantic feelings.

An important point to note, however, is how Beatrice is a passive character in this text. Despite Dante’s positive and almost virtuous portrayal of her, Beatrice remains a silent and passive figure. Throughout the piece, Dante does not give Beatrice a voice and instead acts as the author’s passive object of love and affection. Simply put, Beatrice passively inspires Dante as he presents her as a silent, demure, and ideal courtly woman. Part of the reason for this is that Dante and Beatrice only met twice. And despite of the two’s brief encounter, Beatrice was able inspire Dante.

While Beatrice epitomizes the idea of a passive character in Vita Nuova, Dante changes this in Divine Comedy. In Purgatory, particularly, Beatrice changes from a silent courtly lady into an authoritative speaking character. In fact, this power and voice holds the capability to point out and direct Dante’s journey to heaven and provide him with absolution. Beatrice’s active role in Divine Comedy, for instance is evident at how she petitioned to fund Virgil and asked him to guide Dante through Hell. In the same way, Beatrice also became one of the main reasons for his soul’s journey towards God or Paradise as she is the one who prays for the salvation of his soul.

While Beatrice remains silent in Vita Nouvo, she is given a more authoritative voice in Divine Comedy. For instance, Beatrice reprimands and talks sternly to Dante for viewing the heavenly vision of her divine beauty as an illusion. She asks, “and if chat perfect beauty disappeared, when I departed from the world, how could, another mortal object lure your love?” (Musa). In addition to interceding for Dante, Beatrice also assumes the role of Dante’s mentor as she educates him about the truths of faith after Virgil has enlightened him with wisdom. Throughout this part of the book, Beatrice teaches Dante about heaven and its virtues. In one of the passages, for example, Beatrice explains to Dante about the law of love and how it resembles the physics of light. She states that just as a mirror receives and reflects light, “Like sunlight in a mirror, shining back, I saw the twofold creature in her eyes, reflecting its two natures, separately” (Mark Musa). These passages therefor mean that Beatrice not only gained a voice in Divine Comedy, but has similarly changed from a passive character into an important figure that steers the journey of the protagonist.