How Does Florence Influence Dante's Inferno

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

In St. Augustine’s Confessions and Dante’s Inferno, the central characters in their respective narratives are presented a message from which induces distinct reactions. More importantly, their reactions are reflections of their perspective concerning the Christian outlook

The theme of equilibrium between reason and faith is one of the core messages of Inferno and it is essential in conveying the main idea of the Divine Comedy and of the pilgrim’s journey that the exploitation of intellect and the misuse of will is the cause of sin, and that through faith, those who are morally lost find their salvation in God. In Inferno Dante makes it clear that he greatly values knowledge and reason in a way that is more characteristic to the Renaissance rather than of his own Medieval time. However, throughout this first book, the author reminds the audience of the Christian nature of his poem as he uses the stories of the sinners he encounters to stress the idea that without faith, the intellect is not sufficient to achieve divine salvation and that the misuse of reason can often lead to terrible sins.

American Educator Susan Blow studied Dante’s Inferno with great respect to the implements of ethics and theology. “In the following excerpt, she discusses the Inferno from an ethical and theological point of view, explaining that divine retribution implies man's fundamental ethical responsibility, and that ‘Hell is the Creator's final tribute of respect to the being he made in his own image’ “ (Blow, para 1). Blow clearly understood Dante’s views and states, “His poem is not individual but universal; he utters not his own thought, but the unformulated creed of Christendom. Nay, he reaches beyond Christianity and speaks to the universal conscience of humanity—that inward witness which is always calling upon man to rejoice in his freedom and tremble before the responsibility bound up with it” (Blow, para 2).

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.

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's Inferno shows a vast variety of different religious implications within the story. Showing as the most obvious is Christianity. Dante is a major Italian poet, hence the idea that Inferno is Italian for hell, and this epic poem is one that tells the journey of Dante through hell. While on his journey he is being guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. Dante Alighieri’s epic poem the Divine comedy was written in the 14th century. Specifically, he completed the epic in 1308, and during this time period roman Catholicism was at its peak of popularity in Rome. Dante is known as a strong believer in Catholicism, however he believed that the pope at the time, Pope Boniface VIII, was an arrogant and power crazed ruler. (Thompsett) Dante’s personal views of church was that it was too involved in government and political affairs. He believed in the separation of church and state. This meaning that the state should not be dictated by the church, and the church should not be dictated by the state. And Boniface's ruling as Pope did not quite follow Dante's beliefs. Christianity was the overlooking religion of the epic poem as that was Dante's religion, but many other religions played their own parts. Some being Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism. (Burky)

     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.

Often when we set out to journey in ourselves, we come to places that surprise us with their strangeness. Expecting to see what is straightforward and acceptable, we suddenly run across the exceptions. Just as we as self‹examiners might encounter our inner demons, so does Dante the writer as he sets out to walk through his Inferno. Dante explains his universe - in terms physical, political, and spiritual - in the Divine Comedy. He also gives his readers a glimpse into his own perception of what constitutes sin. By portraying characters in specific ways, Dante the writer can shape what Dante the pilgrim feels about each sinner. Also, the reader can look deeper in the text and examine the

Dante's `Divine Comedy', the account of his journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is one of the worlds great poems, and a prime example of a most splendidly realized integration of life with art. More than being merely great poetry, or a chronicle of contemporary events, which it also is, the `Comedy' is a study of human nature by a man quite experienced with it. The main argument I will make in this essay is that Dante's `Comedy' is chiefly a work of historical significance because in it lies the essence of human life across all boundaries of time and place. I feel that such a reading is justified, nay invited, by Dante himself when he says;

The Divine Comedy is much more than an epic poem depicting a man’s interpretation of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Written by Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, the Divine Comedy frequently alludes to the political turmoil that was prevalent throughout 14th century Italy, specifically, the city of Florence. During this period of Italian history, there was a lack of a stable government and a power struggle between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor. This paper will analyze the political aspects within the Divine Comedy and its connection to religion, focusing specifically on the Inferno.

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.