Dante the poet makes his sentiment toward Virgil present in the pilgrim Dante. Throughout The Inferno, Dante depends on Virgil to escort him through the nine circles of Hell. In Canto Seventeen, Virgil institutes the help of Geryon, one of Hell’s beasts, to transport them to the next circle of Hell:
I did endeavor
(But my voice would no come the way I thought)
To say, “Be sure you hold me tight!” But he,
Who’d rescued me from other dangers, put
His two strong arms around me to steady me (Dante 17.80).
This scene is indicative of the entire book, and Dante even recognizes this through referring to Virgil as “he who’d rescued me from other dangers.” Dante depends on the older poet for guidance, following him throughout the descent into Hell and asking him for explanations of the things he sees. In this passage, a terrified Dante turns to his guide for strength as they ride on Geryon’s shoulders, and Virgil provides it. The reliance that Dante has on Virgil parallels the relationship between the two poets during Dante’s time. He borrows certain writing techniques from Virgil, further emphasizing the idea that his poetry was the prototype upon which Dante based his writings. Through his Inferno, Dante expresses his respect toward Virgil by allowing the pilgrim to fall under his protection and by using Virgilian literary elements in this work and others, respect that he may or may not have been able to convey in the years leading up to his death. This book not only represented Dante’s perspectives on people, but it also reflected his views on certain issues in society.
An underling theme of The Inferno is the idea of symbolic retribution, which Dante uses to express his idea on justice. Dante and Virgil encounter a variety of figures in Hell, all who have sinned and are now being punished for what they had done. The Eighth Circle of Hell is where cheaters, panderers, and the fraudulent are punished. Dante observes:
People immersed in filth that seemed to drain
From human privies. Searching it with my eyes
I saw one there whose head was so befouled
With shit, you couldn’t tell which one he was (Dante 18.105).
Symbolic retribution means that people pay for their actions through enduring a type of punishment that suits such actions. In the Eighth Circle, those who committed fraud were forced to live eternally covered in fecal matter. This is an example of symbolic retribution because these sinners were plastered in the very substance they were thought to be full of during their lives on earth. The punishment received by these people suited the sins they committed. This theme is present throughout the book, reflecting Dante’s beliefs on justice. Through his use of symbolic retribution, Dante clearly believes that those who sin must be punished, and that the punishment should correspond with the wrongdoing. All those found in Hell are guilty of a variety of offenses, suggesting that Dante thought that there are consequences to all crimes, regardless of their size. He conveys these beliefs through such ironic punishments as the one mentioned above, beliefs that he was unable to communicate to the society from which he was banned.
The Inferno also shows that Dante believed that the severity of punishment should be dependant on the type of sin committed. In the Seventh Circle of Hell, the violent sins are committed. Dante walks by people immersed in boiling blood:
On some it came so high
It covered their eyebrows. The mighty centaur said,
These are the tyrants given to blood and plunder.
Here they lament the merciless harm they did (Dante 12.96).
This is another example of symbolic retribution. Those that were responsible for killing other people during their lives on earth pay for their murderous ways through spending an eternity submerged in blood. However Dante notes that people are immersed in different levels of blood, observing that “on some it came so high it covered their eyebrows.” Further explanation reveals that the number of committed murders is proportional to the level of submergence. This variance of symbolic retribution seems to reflect another aspect of Dante’s idea of justice. Judging from the way people were punished in The Inferno, Dante must have thought that while people must suffer the consequences of their actions, they should endure a punishment only as bad as their crimes. Active in politics prior to his exile from Florence, Dante sought to restore political peace to the city by doing what he thought was right (Encarta). These actions not only caused his expulsion, but also suppressed his ability to voice his opinions. This created emotional tension that, according to Freud, was released via symbolic activity: conveying his ideas through written text.
Dante places his adversaries in Hell as an expression of hostility towards those who opposed his beliefs. In Canto Ten of the compilation, Dante encounters Farinata degli Uberti, a politician belonging to an opposing party. Upon discovering Dante’s ancestry, Farinata replies:
These men
Were enemies to me; they fiercely opposed
Me and my forebears and my party – so, twice,
I scattered them (Dante 10.42).
The Ghibellines, Farinata’s political party, were twice responsible for forcing the party of Dante’s family, the Guelphs, out of Florence (Freccero 320). Dante’s placement of Farinata in Hell shows his animosity toward political opposition and the misfortune of his party. Although the politician died a year before his birth, it is evident that Farinata’s actions affected Dante, indicative in the ambivalent attitude of pilgrim and the poet toward his punishments. The poet releases feelings of resentment over the tribulation of his political party through placing its past rivals in Hell, subjecting them to the torture and punishment that this place entails.
In addition to political adversaries, Dante also places those who oppose his spiritual beliefs in The Inferno. In the Ninth Circle of Hell, the sins of betrayal are punished. Dante recalls seeing the most horrific of punishments, focusing on a particular few:
Fastened upon him, he pulled open his chest
With both hands, saying, “Look how Mohammed claws
And mangles himself, torn open down the breast!
Look how I tear myself! (Dante 28. 29)
Mohammed was a prophet before Dante’s time. He was known as the founder of Islam, and declared a jihad shortly before his death to convert the world to Islam (Ross). A devout Medieval Christian, Dante was very faithful to the Church and believed in its power and authority. It is perhaps for this reason why he chooses to place Mohammed in the most severe level of Hell, forced to continually mutilate himself. Mohammed challenged Christianity’s existence, an aspect very central to Dante’s life. Disapproving of those who did not respect the Church, Dante expresses this toward Mohammed, who died long before the poet’s birth, by placing him in the harshest realm of his Inferno. Dante’s dislike for figures both political and religious was something that he could not outwardly proclaim due to his expulsion from the city. The Inferno served as a place for Dante to release the feelings that he was forced to repress.
Born and raised in Florence, Dante’s whole life revolved around the city. His family, his political activities, and some of his literary inspiration all stemmed from there. In 1302 he was forced to leave all of that and become completely isolated from the society to which he had grown accustomed. Without the technologies of a post office or electronic mail, Dante could no longer express his beliefs, no longer take part in the community; the only way to do so would be to return to Florence, a decision that would end in his death. Dante had no choice but to hold in all of his beliefs and frustrations over his isolation. Five years later, Dante wrote The Inferno, a story about the descent into Hell. However, developments in psychology centuries later would suggest that it was much more than just an epic tale. Freud’s belief that the bottling up of emotion would eventually lead to its release in an indirect or symbolic form, a process known as catharsis. This release of emotion is evident in The Inferno. The people he chooses to encounter in Hell reflect Dante’s opinion of such individuals during his life. The punishments that the people received shed light on Dante’s view of justice. Perhaps what would be even more evidence of catharsis is the fact that he placed figures who opposed his personal beliefs in the inner circles of Hell. Although Dante lived long before the time of Freud and psychoanalysis, he was proof of that the psychologist’s theories held merit. Dante wrote The Inferno in order to express himself during a time when he could not, a process that would later be defined as catharsis.
Works Cited
Dante. The Inferno of Dante. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1994
“Dante Alighieri.” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages
/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761564824&pn=1#s1. (2 Dec 2002).
Freccero, John. “Foreward.” The Inferno of Dante. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1994.
Freccero, John. “Notes.” The Inferno of Dante. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1994.
Glassman, William E. Approaches to Psychology. Philadelphia: Open University Press. 2000.
Ross, John. Personal Interview. 2 Dec 2002.
The Inferno of Dante: A Form of Psychological Catharsis
Allyson Aquino
December 5, 2002
Cultural Foundations I
