Dante Alighieri 's Influential Late Medieval Epic

Throughout the Inferno, Dante as a character represents both good and evil. Dante represents good and evil with the sinners placed in Hell, and his reactions to their torment. He was sympathetic towards some souls because their sins were not as terrible as those of the other sinners. However, Dante was cruel towards sinners as well. In the ninth circle of Hell, circle of treachery, Brutus and Cassius were in the lowest level of Hell because of their assassination of Julius Caesar, who was the founder of the Roman Empire. Dante saw Julius Caesar as a necessary key to God 's plan for human happiness, so therefore Brutus and Cassius were severely punished (Aligheri, Canto 34). The

Reply to Objection I: It thus seems that Dante reveres Caesar. In the depths of the inferno, Dante depicts the three worst traitors in history; Brutus, Judas, and Cassius being consumed by Lucifer's three mouths (Dante, Inferno, Canto 34). As Caesar’s aspirations laid the foundation of the Empire, eventual home of Roman Catholicism. The prime conspirators of Caesar’s assassination; Brutus and Cassius are given the same punishment as the traitor to the son of God. Though both conspirators fought against Caesar in the civil war, they were pardoned and assigned high civic offices, an action equivalent to “turning the other cheek”. For Dante, the conspirators betrayal of Caesar, their benefactor and secular ruler, is comparable to Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus. Furthermore, in the ascendancy of Octavian, he honored his adopted father in deifying him and taking the name Caesar Divi filius Augustus. Furthermore, Ovid describes a comet that burned in the sky which was said to be Venus guiding Ceasar’s spirits to heavens in his chapter on the

Inferno is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri. In it, Dante the Poet creates a setting of Hell, a funnel divided into circles and rings, each circle assigned to house sinners guilty of a certain type of sin. Dante’s character in the poem, Dante the Pilgrim, travels down into Hell and encounters sinners in each level, many of which were people in real life that Dante knew. If Dante was alive during the twentieth century, there are two people who would have most definitely been put in Inferno: Heinrich Himmler and Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd. Himmler was a key leader in the Nazi Party, led the SS, and oversaw the operation of the German concentration camps that claimed the lives of millions.

Inferno, the first part of Divina Commedia, or the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is the story of a man's journey through Hell and the observance of punishments incurred as a result of the committance of sin. In all cases the severity of the punishment, and the punishment itself, has a direct correlation to the sin committed. The punishments are fitting in that they are symbolic of the actual sin; in other words, "They got what they wanted." (Literature of the Western World, p.1409) According to Dante, Hell has two divisions: Upper Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of incontinence, and Lower Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of malice. The

As Virgil leads Dante through the layers of Hell, they come across evildoers who are trapped in the personification of their own sinful personalities. Their tortures are extreme versions of their sins on earth. Dante imparts his own moral standards to the reader by portraying a hierarchy of evil that corresponds with his disapproval of the sin. As the pair of observers descends farther and farther into the pits of Hell, the punishments they see grow less and less bearable. While the evil in the first layers of Hell is simple, sometimes invoking pity in Dante, the lower levels of Hell punish souls for more complex and condemnable sins. It would be interesting to see a system of political justice based upon Dante's values.

Inferno, written by Dante Alighieri illustrates the idea of justice through the belief that with each action arise a consequence. What you sin above ground, you deal with under. Through this he gives examples of the sins done and the punishment that is inflicted from doing such thing as a disgrace to God. All through Dantes imagination and his views as to how it should be done, there is a punishment for each area of sin committed which is why a person who bribes will be in the further in the level of hell, as compared to someone who has killed an innocent.

Dante’s descent into Hell in Inferno, the first part of his Divine Comedy, tells of the author’s experiences in Hades as he is guided through the abyss by the Roman author, Virgil. The text is broken into cantos that coincide with the different circles and sub-circles of Hell that Dante and Virgil witness and experience. Inferno is heavily influenced by classic Greek and Roman texts and Dante makes references to a myriad of characters, myths, and legends that take place in Virgil’s Aeneid, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Some of the most important references, however, are the most obvious ones that are easily overlooked simply because of the fact that they are so blatant. Dante is being escorted through Hell by the

Dante’s Inferno is an epic poem that is clearly centered on his hate for Pope Boniface VIII. Dante’s “circles of hell” described so vividly in his poem are the result of Dante’s angst toward Boniface as he was once on top of the world until Boniface exiled him only because of his political opinions. Although, he does not clearly name Boniface in the epic he makes sure to include him in five obscure allusions. The first instance alludes to the incumbent pope before Boniface, Pope Celestine V, as the one “who made the great refusal” in the circle of neutrals; as he allowed Boniface to plant seeds of doubt in the months before he suddenly and unexpectedly resigned, leaving Boniface the Pope. The second allusion would place Boniface perfectly in the eighth circle, sixth pouch as the fraudulent sinner he was to prey on Celestine with his utter gift of fraudulent gab to gain a political position of power. The third, fourth, and fifth instances all point to his questionable practice of selling indulgences or absolution. So, therefore, just because he cannot directly mention Boniface in his epic due to him still being alive during the time of his writing, he still manages to make it a point to let him know there is a place for him in Hell.

However, this soliloquy dose reveals a fact that Brutus is fighting for public benefits, but it also shows the logic mistake in his argument. His metaphor of serpent and egg shows his syllogism. The major premise is that autocrat to Roman Republic is like the serpent to human, so we should kill them or we will been killed, and the minor premise is Caesar is the autocrat. So the conclusion is we should kill Caesar. Many people can find the logic mistake in his argument, even in the Elizabeth Age that Caesar was not an autocrat yet. This

Dante also shows which sins he sees as the worst of sins, putting betrayers in the lowest circle of hell. Dante employs some common sense while discussing hell, putting obvious sinners in the lower circles and prone to harsher punishments, but he also puts the not-so obvious sinners in hell. Even though one may think he is doing the right thing, all motives are evaluated upon judgment and even a trace of selfishness or greed may threaten one’s chance in heaven. This is why Dante’s hell is rife with politicians and leaders. Although they may have the community’s best interests at heart, politicians become obsessed with fame and glory, often forgetting that they are representatives of the people.

Dante however proves himself to be a hypocrite and often reflects his own sins and hubris in his work. His guide throughout hell, and later purgatory, is none other than Virgil, one of history’s finest and most accomplished epic poets. In the very first circle of hell, Limbo, he places himself among the other great epic poets: “He is Homer, sovereign poet, next comes Horace the satirist, Ovid is third, the last is Lucan. ‘Since each is joined to me in the name the one voice uttered, they do me honor and doing so, do well.’ There I saw assembled the fair school of the lord of loftiest song, soaring like an eagle far above the rest. After they conversed a while, they turned to me with signs of greeting, and my master smiled at this. And then they showed me greater honor still, for they made me one of their company, so I became the sixth amidst such wisdom.”-Divine Comedy, Dante’s Inferno, Canto IV, lines 88-102.

The notion that the sinners Virgil and Dante meet are historical figures tempts readers to interpret Dante’s symbolism in a historical sense. Paul G. Chevigny, for example, argues that Dante’s view on betrayal originates from his ethical concerns in a “political milieu” (Chevigny, 790). For Dante, the most severe crime was the most human, the one that most clearly exhibits the misuse of free will: the betrayal of trust. Dante believes that crimes of betrayal were the most serious not only because they required the most deliberate practice of free will, but also because they did the most damage to the ethical net of obligations in society. As previously mentioned, Dante’s political role in Florence established his ideal of a stable society built among the trust of political leaders and their followers.

     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

Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet and writer of the 13th century, creates a fictional account of his visions of his journey through Hell. His background as a Catholic influences his life and his writings, including The Inferno. He uses the historical and political events of his lifetime to influence his writings as well. Dante is educated and very familiar with the history and literature of the classical world. In The Inferno, he expresses his admiration for Greco-Roman history, literature, mythology, and philosophy, but he also places limitations on the ability of the classical world to gain salvation as taught and believed in Christian doctrine.

By his noble speech the reader learns that political corruption can damn a man's soul. The punished sinners who suffered death for political reasons are of paramount importance to Dante. Accordingly, he shows in the suicide's circle of hell the extreme consequences of failure in political life. Pier committed suicide for the shame of losing his favored position as Frederick's counselor. This illustrates the ancient Roman concept of honorable suicide, which protests any unjust action that robs one of reputation.