Journal Critique: Dante Alighieri

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Question Two

The saying “by nature, men nearly resemble each other; in practice, they grow wide apart” reflects the true nature of humanity. Everyone is basically the same, composed of the same wants and fears and hopes that comprise human nature. However, by the actions that they take and their mental preconceptions, they grow farther and farther from the same starting point. 

Question Three

Another saying “he who does not know the divine law cannot become a noble man” also has truth. The concept of becoming a moral, virtuous person assumes that there is some sort of target to aim at, some sort of standard that must be met for those terms to be accurately applied. Of course, this also assumes that this standard is given out by someone who has the authority and knowledge to do so. This infers that divine law is a standard above any that man could concoct. Thus, someone who follows these divine laws can meet the standards and be moral. 

Question Four 

Allegories have been much used in moral or religious contexts. Examples are Aesop’s Fables or Pilgrim’s Progress, or even the famed parables of Jesus Christ. While allegories do not necessarily have to have a moral subtext, the definition of the word relies upon a hidden meaning that points to some greater vision or metanarrative. This is why allegories often have religious associations. There is hardly greater material for allegory than hell itself, and Dante knew this. The inferno itself has a grave allegorical message for would-be backsliders: hell is waiting to take your sins and make them into something even more diabolical. Instead of having the type of life and relationship to sin that often plays out in the real world, of people having neatly compartmentalized sins and virtues that often spill over into each other, the operating rules of the inferno are far different. People become their sins in this inferno, descending into agony and frustration over what they have become thanks to the all-consuming sins that define this inferno.

Question Five 

Two souls that Dante meet define the hideous nature of the inferno. One is Francesca, who carried on an affair behind her husband’s back. Her contrapasso is to be constantly caught in a hurricane of sorts, which is meant to be an allegory to the passion that caught her up for a full decade. Dante’s reaction is melodramatic: his sympathetic feelings are so strong that he faints. Ugolino—a betrayer, a hater, and a murderer—has a contrapasso of being mostly buried in ice and gnawing on his enemy’s head. Dante is far more pragmatic in this instance. 

Question Six

The word contrapasso is somewhat out of style in modern 21st century circles. The word comes from Latin, and its closest translation is the phrase ‘suffer the opposite’. It is a major theme in the inferno of Dante’s making, and one character in particular points this out. Bertran de Born, an occupant of the inferno who constantly has to cope with his punishment, makes the statement “in me you see the perfect contrapasso.” The inferno centers around a twisted version of justice, of people manifesting and becoming their sins and nothing more. In de Born’s case, he prompted a son—a royal son, no less—to rebel against his father. Thus, de Born’s head has been severed from his body in this twisted fictional version of the afterlife. 

Question Seven

In religious circles, Satan is painted as the ultimate evil, a supernatural force that is pitted against everything that is holy and good in the world. Dante takes a different angle, full of paradoxes. Similar to various celestial beings, Satan has more than one face. The majority of his body is frozen in ice, but he is permanently stuck in this inferno that Dante describes. Satan also has wings underneath his chin, an affixation that is something close to what a bat would look like. As part and parcel of his three faces, he has six eyes and three chins. 

Question Eight

Dante’s three loves are often mentioned in context of the inferno. His conceptions of love have to do with love being necessary for salvation. Love between humans and God is one type of love. Another is love in context of human relationships. His third love is worldly: being overly consumed with material things. These three loves play out in the inferno because of the consequences of the love that each individual either did or did not subscribe to. 

Work Cited

Alighieri, Dante.  Inferno. Chronicle Book, 2004.