Violent Against Art in Dante’s Inferno
When Dante uses the term "Violent Again Art" in the Inferno to label a section of the seventh circle, it can actually be interpreted to have two separate meanings as to what the sinners are being punished for. The first meaning of the phrase is taken in the context of the specific meaning of the word "art." This is the way that Dante most obviously meant it to mean. It is referring to artisanship, that is, the working of natural resources and the product of this labor. Going on this definition, it can be taken that abusing industry by cheating it out of money is the crime of the third round of circle seven. The term "usury" back during Dante’s time did not narrowly mean the charging of exorbitant interest for loaning money, as it does today, but rather the charging of any interest at all. Strange as it may seem in our own time, the idea that money makes money was offensive to Dante, who believed that profits should be the fruit of labor. Hence, the usurers are sinners against industry and punished accordingly.
The second meaning of the term "Violent Against Art" is quite different from this first one because it is referring to art in the context of the general definition of the word. Art, a personal creative expression that requires skill, is a word with a wide range of categories that fall underneath it. It can include painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and literature. Dante believed so strongly in his work as an artist (in this case poetry) that he created a separate section in the Inferno, the inner edge of the seventh circle, dedicated wholly to those individuals who had been violent against it. The fact that this sin is placed so close to the bottom of hell, the ninth circle, shows how much respect Dante held for art. He further goes on to explain this obsession with punishing those who abuse it in canto XI. Virgil explains the divisions of lower hell, but on Dante’s request goes into extra clarity on the issue of usury: Nature is the creation of the "Ultimate Intellect," and furthermore "Art strives after her by imitation…Art, as it were, is the Grandchild of Creation" (XI, 100-105). It is noteworthy to mention that the sinners that Dante meets at the end of the seventh circle are clearly guilty of the sin of usury, but they are all identified by the "art" that is found on the money purses that hang from their necks. Each sinner had a coat of arms in life, and now in death they are forced to stare at what should have been a reminder of God’s greatness but to them was a symbol of greed. Having established this it can be inferred that mocking art is the same as mocking God and his works, and in Dante’s eyes anyone who would do this must suffer in hell. However, this creates an interesting dilemma.
Dante wants two things, immortality in art and in heaven, but he realizes that he might not have the necessary ability to write his Commedia and still go to heaven. Despite his criticism of those figures in the Inferno who have sinned, Dante may be one of them. He may be blasphemous, fraudulent, harmful, or simply wrong. He is scornful of those who dare exceed their limits because these characters prove ultimately destructive. Three other characters mentioned in the seventh circle demonstrate this principle: Arachne hurts herself, Daedalus hurts his son, and Phaeton destroys much of the world. But Dante carefully distances himself from these figures. He hopes, and most likely believes, that his writing of the Commedia is divinely sanctioned. He stays within his limits as a poet. Therefore the steps and liberties that he takes are not a result of ignorance and pride, which were the causes of Arachne, Daedalus, and Phaeton’s failures, but of painstaking caution, which may be the cause of Dante’s success.
Dante relates to Arachne’s character because she was a talented artist. While she angered the goddess Minerva, he risks the anger of God. Arachne was a common woman who was not famous by birth or by place of birth, but rather for her exceptional skill in embroidery. The same is true for Dante. His fame derives from his skill as a writer, not from a privileged birth. Arachne demonstrates her artistic ability when, in a competition with Minerva, she weaves a piece of tapestry on her loom that depicts the gods unfavorably. Not only that, but her masterpiece is perfect and flawless in every detail, even upon the closest of examination. As a punishment, the enraged Minerva turns Arachne into a spider. Arachne does three things which make her appear arrogant to the gods: she claims to be Minerva’s equal by competing with her, she creates a piece of artwork that showed stories depicting the low moral integrity of the gods, and her finished product is perfect like Minerva’s. Like Arachne, Dante is trying to create a perfect piece of art, his Commedia. Is its very perfection an insult to God? Is its attempt at perfection an insult? Dante risks insulting God by representing nature too perfectly and thereby "defeating" it. Like Arachne, Dante may be foolishly competing with and therefore insulting God. If this is so, in his afterlife, Dante would suffer because of his talent and pride.
Dante writes with a skill, style, and power that go beyond almost every previous writer. The master knows his own mastery and sees no real point in being modest about it. For example, in canto XXV he calls for Ovid and Lucan to fall silent before his superior poem, the Commedia, "Now let Lucan be still with his history…Of Cadmus and Arethusa be Ovid silent" (91-94). Dante realizes that as a poet of extraordinary ability, he must use his power responsibly. His poem, in a figurative sense, "flies" beyond and above the writing that has come before him. To illustrate this point, in canto XVII he refers to many figures who fly: Phaeton, who rides in Helios’ chariot; Daedalus, who builds wings to fly with his son; a falcon; and Geryon. Phaeton and Daedalus both tried to fly and as a result harmed themselves and others. Dante may be like Phaeton, ignorant and incompetent and therefore destructive, harming himself and others. Or he may be like Daedalus, an artistic worker of great ability, but with followers who are unable to handle the power that he gives them. In this way Dante’s readers are like Icarus, Dante like Daedalus, and flight like the Commedia. Icarus killed himself because the great craftsman, Daedalus, gave him wings. The readers may harm themselves because the great poet, Dante, gave them his poem. Dante is aware of the harm that people can cause when they manipulate words, and cites many examples throughout the Inferno. Jason seduced women with his "honeyed tongue and his dishonest lover’s wiles" (XVIII, 91-92). Fraudulent counselors led their people to death. And while the words of Guido da Montefeltro led to the deaths of hundreds of Christians, because of the cunning words of Pope Boniface VIII Guido suffers in hell. What would prevent a falsifier or con artist, like Sinon, from perverting Dante’s work? Dante must be especially careful not to abuse his powers or people might hurt themselves and others by corrupting the meaning of the Commedia.
Phaeton and Daedalus ignorantly tried to transcend the role of humanity with flight, an ability that god had not given to man. Their flights are symbolic of futile human attempts to go beyond their limits. Although the spirit of adventure and glory is present in their awe-inspiring acts of courage, Dante is not in the slightest way moved to sympathy by either tragedy nor shows praise towards what they tried to accomplish. To the contrary, he downgrades the actions of Phaeton and Daedalus by writing of two other figures that fly: the falcon and Geryon. Dante’s metaphoric falcon is used to describe the fight of Geryon as he sinks bit by bit, unable to remain in the air: "As a flight-worn falcon sinks down wearily though neither bird nor lure has signaled it, the falconer cries out: ‘What! spent already!’" (XVII, 121-123) Phaeton and Daedalus fly, but so does a falcon, which cannot remain in flight and eventually falls from exhaustion. Geryon is also able to fly, noted with having majestic power and agility at the end of the canto when he flies off without his burden, "And once freed of our weight, he shot from there into darkness like an arrow into air" (130-131). However, while Geryon is an expert at flight he is also clearly stated to be "the filthy prototype of fraud" (XVII, 7). Even Lucifer has "Under each head two wings…their span proportioned to so gross a bird" (XXXIV, 46-47), but he is unable to fly because he is eternally stuck in ice as punishment for his treachery against God. While Phaeton, Daedalus, the falcon, and Geryon eventually descend, and Lucifer cannot even rise, the flights for which Dante hopes are everlasting: the flight of immortal, artistic excellence and the flight to heaven of a pious Christian. But to succeed, Dante must have the caution that Phaeton and Daedalus lacked. By recognizing and describing the faults of these characters, Dante distances himself from them. Dante believes that these characters lack the power that he has; the power to achieve greatness in life and in the afterlife.
In these instances Dante describes the "wretched" people, those who, in striving to be more than humanly possible, do not realize that it is not man’s place to "presume to flight." Aside from not being Christian, their intellects are blind because they tried to fly without the help of God. Dante, on the other hand, claims that he descends into hell only because Beatrice, Lucia, and Mary said that he should. Virgil asks Dante near the beginning of the Inferno, "Why do you lag? Why this heartsick hesitation and pale fright when three such blessed Ladies lean from heaven in their concern for you…" (II, 119-122). Dante’s mind "presumes to flight" because, Dante claims, those in heaven wish it to do so. Because he has found the favor of these heavenly women, Dante feels "born anew" (II, 129). Dante has been freed to write in his Italian dialect instead of Latin, freed to write such powerful art, and even freed to write of the Inferno. Like a priest preaching to his congregation, Dante uses his freedom in the Inferno to advise and to criticize his readers.
He further demonstrates his similarity with religious figures when he compares himself at one moment to "he the bears avenged so fearfully" (XXVI, 34), the Christian prophet, Elisha. The preceding quote refers to the section of the Bible dealing with Elisha after he succeeds Elijah, which is located at the end of the second chapter of the Second Book of Kings. Dante believes himself to be like Elisha, and Dante surely knows that "’The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha’" (2 Kings 2:15b), this having been mentioned in the same chapter as the incident with the vengeful bears. Therefore, by relating himself to Elisha, Dante is relating himself to Elijah, who went up into heaven in a flaming chariot. This is in contrast with Phaeton, who could not control his chariot and therefore destroyed himself and much of the world. Dante claims that he is writing because of a mandate from heaven. Thus, he can claim that his soul is filled with sound humility and not over-swollen pride, while simultaneously daring to take such liberties, while daring to "fly," like no other previous author.
Arachne, Daedalus, and Phaeton tried to go beyond their limits, and therefore suffered. Dante must do what they did not. He must be brave and use the gifts given to him, yet remain in control of his powers. In order for Dante to succeed, by demonstrating his artistic power before men and his humility before God, he must stay within his limits as a human, artist, and Christian. If he does this, then he might be able to be forever remembered as a great poet and to fly like Elijah to heaven. The reader must follow Dante’s example of good judgment and self-discipline, being careful not to exceed his own limits. Because, if the reader goes beyond the limits of the poem, corrupting and perverting its meaning and message, then he too will suffer the consequences of ignorance and pride: failure.
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