Dante Alighieri Research Paper

Who is Dante? He was a man that had a desire to find the truths of heaven and earth even from a very young age; his goal was to understand the three worlds in his mind of hell, purgatory and paradise so that he could find the true everlasting happiness. In Dante’s age there was not really a separation between church and state. “Dante 's philosophical view was also a political view. In Dante 's time, there were two major political factions, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Originally, the Ghibellines represented the medieval aristocracy, which wished to retain the power of the Holy Roman Emperor in Italy, as well as in other parts of Europe. The Ghibellines fought hard in this struggle for the nobility to retain its feudal powers over the land and the people in contrast, the Guelphs, of which Dante was a member, were mainly supported by the rising middle class, represented by rich merchants, bankers, and new landowners. The enemy was politically, philosophically, and theologically wrong — and thus a Heretic” He was a supporter of the papacy which was a direct opposition to the Holy Roman Emperor, therefore putting himself in danger of his beliefs.

In Dante’s Inferno, Dante (the poet) targets the balance of power between the papacy and empire. The imbalance between the two is at fault of the papacy, according to Dante, which is understood to be due to the great refusal. With the great refusal, the papacy was able to fulfill its greed for power which ultimately resulted in Dante’s exile. However, unlike other poets and other influential individuals of his time, specifically Thomas Aquinas, Dante took the next step to show how all these sins came together to contribute to social disorder. Dante’s divine comedy infiltrates the corruption in the church and its contribution to the political instability in Florence and even all of Italy (which was not unified) at the time. Dante explores the

We begin in the 14th century, at the start of the Italian Renaissance. From 1308 to 1320, Dante Alighieri began and completed his Divine Comedy, a three part poem entailing his visionary journey through the realms of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. It intertwines aspects of Roman Catholic doctrine with Classical philosophy and contemporary politics, all in the dialect of Florence. He wrote this for a myriad of reasons, ranging from the inspiration of his muse to the politics of late 13th century Florence. The biggest political concern at the time was the struggle between church and state for secular power. The pope, along with other characters from Florentine politics, are represented in Hell, or the Inferno. Dante incorporates many references

Dante’s years of exile were years of difficult peregrinations from one place to another—as he himself repeatedly says, most effectively in Paradiso [XVII], in Cacciaguida’s moving lamentation that “bitter is the taste of another man’s bread and . . . heavy the way up and down another man’s stair.” Throughout his exile Dante nevertheless was sustained by work on his great poem. The Divine Comedy was possibly begun prior to 1308 and completed just before his death in 1321, but the exact dates are uncertain. In addition, in his final years Dante was received honourably in many noble houses in the north of Italy, most notably by Guido Novello da Polenta, the nephew of the remarkable Francesca, in Ravenna. There at his death Dante was given an honourable

Dante despised the church for this corruption. Most of his bitterness for the church though came from his disagreements with the church leaders. He made many enemies throughout his life from his opinions. The Divine Comedy was a way for him to send them all to Hell, figuratively. Dante knows a lot of people, and likes to talk with the politicians and clergy while he was down in Hell. One of the people in the poem that was mentioned was Pope Nicholas III who confessed to Dante that he tried to buy himself into Heaven. He hates himself for it and is full of grief but he mentioned that there are so many worse people on Earth who have a more horrible fate. Dante does not have any sympathy towards Nicholas. He believes that his punishment fits the crime. Then Dante breaks and tells his negative

Dante was a man with a vision. He lived in a world that was “Torn by discord” (Limentani,117). Born in 1265, Dante’s Florence was the center of a war ravaged Italy. He became involved in politics at a young age and before too long became a White Guelph, one who supported the Papacy in the fight against invading Germanic kings. 1301 was a tragic year because it marked the beginning of the Black Guelph regime and saw Dante exiled from his home town forever. These experiences made Dante quickly realize that this world is corrupt to the core. “Greed for material things is the main fault, greed which is allowed to dictate the actions of men. Only a cessation of strife, the establishment of universal peace can ensure the happiness of mankind and allow men to pursue the ultimate aim for which God has destined them on earth, that of exercising constantly and to the full their distinctive quality, the ‘Virtus Intellective’ (virtuous intellect)” (Limentani,117). He believed that all life on this earth has a purpose and meaning to it. This can be seen in the Inferno because during the long trek through Hell Dante does almost nothing but work to arrive a Paradise, the heavenly end to all those lacking wickedness. He traveled far trying to make his life purposeful by working his way up to Heaven.

First, Dantes’ future wife, Mercedes, was no longer with her one true and only love, Dantes. In a way, she was forced to marry Fernand Mondego, her childhood friend. Because of the fact that Fernand was in love with the young Mercedes, he was part of the evil scheme to keep Dantes locked away. In no way was she in love with Fernand, but Mercedes had almost no say in her choice. To add to his despair, whilst Dantes was imprisoned, his father, Louis Dantes, passed away due to starvation. He didn’t take his son’s imprisonment well, so Louis Dantes committed suicide. People claim that Dantes should be found guilty since after his escape, he discovered a large deposit of money, which he could have used for an exceptional purpose: to start a new life. But as someone once said, “Money can't buy happiness. It instead brings a pleasant form of misery.” This is exactly what occurred to Dantes. Also, Danglars left the Pharaon to own a large business; and Fernand, the luckiest of them all, deceived Ali Pasha in Greece to get his noble name, Count Mondego, and to get his wealth and his wife, Mercedes, who he stole from Dantes. But for Mercedes, it was too late, Dantes had already stolen her heart. Still. Dantes wasn’t happy in the first place, and this money that he had acquired made him even more despicable.. So in the end, the most astounding reason why Dantes is impeachable for his revenge is that his family

Dante was born in Florence, Italy to Alaghiero and Bella. His mom died before Dante turned 10 years old, and he soon had a new stepmother and two new siblings. He once lived in Bologna for a couple of years until his exiles were banished then he moved to Padua. He took his name from his teacher, a carver in bone and ivory named Michelino. He was elected to the Compagnia di San Luca (painter 's guild) in 1442 and joined the Arte dei Medici e degli Speziali in 1444. Dante’s last works dates to 1484, two images of St. Luke for the banner of

Dante has experienced many different things while exploring the Inferno that help him realize his full potential and his true self. The biggest change Dante made was the amount of courage he had while going through the Inferno. This can be seen through the way he acts throughout the book. This is shown when Dante in the beginning of the Inferno faints due to fear. While in the first circle of Hell after entering the gates of Hell Dante faints after seeing “[a] whirl burst out of the tear drenched earth, a wind that crackled with bloodred light” (III;133). If Dante was more courageous by this point in his journey Dante wouldn’t have fainted. However, as Dante continues on his journey he runs into more things that

The Guelphs assumed power but split themselves up into Whites and Blacks, the Whites taking the antipapal position of the Ghibellines. Dante eventually cast his lot in with the Whites. When the Blacks seized power in Florence in 1302, they condemned him to death, forcing him to leave his wife, Gemma Donati, and their four children in his beloved native city for the rest of his life. Dante spent most of his time in exile writing new pieces of literature (Siegal). It is believed that around 1307 he stops work on Convivio to begin The Comedy (later known as The Divine Comedy). He completed it shortly before he dies in 1321. The Divine Comedy is

Dante and Machiavelli define opposite sides of the Renaissance in several ways.  Certainly the former believes that God will reveal all and call people to account for their behavior, while the latter gives every sign of believing in no God and supposing that scrupulous behavior only makes one a target for ruthless exploitation.  This difference in the two could be expressed in terms of religious faith—but they could also be said to have differing views of human nature.  Try to get to the heart of the distinction.  Why is Machiavelli’s sense of right and wrong so opposed to Dante’s?

     Dante Alighieri was a very well known and influential poet in early literature. “He was not only a poet, he was also a philosophical thinker, an active politician, and a religious visionary'; (Holmes 1). Dante was born in Florence in 1265, into the Guelph political party, one of the two main parties in Florence. The Guelphs were aristocrats and nobles. They supported the church and papacy and were against the Renaissance. Their opposition was the Ghibellini Party who consisted of the rising merchant class. They supported the emperor and wanted to gain power from the pope (Holmes 22). During his earlier years Dante was neutral politically, but he

During Dante’s lifetime, two factions were in constant conflict amongst each other over control of his home of Florence; the Guelphs, supporters of the

Dante was a poet in Italy in the 13th century and the events in Dante's life shape Dante's Inferno. There were political problems in Florence, Italy, and there were two groups, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.

     Dante Gives off a obvious bias in the story that he is a Christian. One way he shows that is that fact that the story is a journey through hell which shows a obvious relationship to the bible. Another clue that he has a Christian bias is the he believes that people in limbo “were born without the light of Christ’s revelation” (Ciardi 49). This show that he obviously believes in Jesus Christ. Another way that he leads the reader to