Dante’s Sodomites
There are many scholarly articles addressing the presence of sodomy—a sin referring to homosexuality in Dante’s Divine Comedy, particularly in Inferno and Purgatorio. Scholars attempt to address many different questions, such as why there are sodomites in both Hell and Purgatory, and why those in Hell suffer a more lenient punishment than other sinners. Many of these questions also concern Dante’s respect for the three Florentines he encounters in Hell, as he states in Canto 16, “Had I been sheltered from the fire I would have thrown myself down among them and I think my Teacher would have suffered it; but since I should have been burnt and baked, fear overcame my good-will which made me eager to embrace them” (Inf. 16). Surprisingly enough, I was unable to find a scholarly article that specifically addressed Dante and Virgil’s [at times] questionable relationship. That being said, my purpose will not be to necessarily identify or question Dante’s sexuality, but to further comprehend the placement of sodomy in The Divine
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Dante never actually uses the word ‘sodomy’ or ‘sodomites’ in Cantos 15-16. Instead, he refers to the city of Sodom, which, according to the Bible, God destroyed by raining fire down upon, turning lush land into a “barren desert” for sins committed by the city’s inhabitants. As the story goes, two angels disguised as men were invited to lodge with Lot and his family. Before long, all the men in Sodom appeared on Lot’s land and called out to him: “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them” (Genesis 19:5). This quote comes from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. However, other versions of the quote exist in other versions of the Bible. In the New Jerusalem Bible, the men, instead of saying “that we may know them,” shout, “that we can have intercourse with them” (Genesis
God states that we treat each other with the love he gives to us as individuals; while us stating violent acts against love, fraud constituting a corruption and, greed becoming normal thing amongst people defines everything god had envisioned for mankind. Yet, while Inferno implies these moral arguments, it generally states very little about them. Dante discusses with each of the souls in the different circles of hell although it is not truly stated as to why they are specifically in that circle. Only because God justifies there sin belonged there. In the end, it declares that evil is evil, simply because it contradicts God’s will and justification, and since God is God, he thus does not need to be questioned about his morals. Dante’s journey of evil progressed as he winded down the depths of hell pitiless and was driven to make it to purgatory. Inferno is not the normal text that most people would read, then think about how it relates to todays morals; its intention is not to think about the evil discussed but, rather to emphasize the Christian beliefs that Dante followed through his journey.
In the beginning of the epic, Dante introduces the Lustful. The placement of the Lustful in The Inferno demonstrates the impact Lust has on the severing communal bonds, community, and consequent moral depravity. The Lustful are located in the second circle of The Inferno and their punishment, through Contrapasso, reveals the consequences of breaking trust and love related communal bonds. Beginning his journey into Hell, “[Dante] came to place stripped bare of every light/ roaring on the naked dark like seas/ wracked by the war of winds.” (5.28-29) Immediately Dante establishes the setting of the ...
Descending from the first to the second level of Hell, Dante witnesses the transition to greater agony and greater punishment for the damned. Overwhelmed by the sinner’s harrowing cries and the extensive list of seemingly innocent souls given to him by Virgil, Dante beckons for two lovers to approach him, desperate for some sense of comfort. The souls are known to be the historical figures Francesca de Rimini and her lover Paolo, forever trapped in the circle of lust due to their sinful adultery. Through her words spoken to Dante, Francesca shows how she feels she has been unjustly punished and is deserving of others’ sorrow, and Dante, despite his awareness that she is a sinner, pities her. A close reading of this passage is necessary to better understand Dante’s internal battle with showing compassion where it is not deserved and Francesca’s incessant denial of her sins.
In analyzing this gradient of morality, it is useful first to examine a work from early literature whose strong purity of morality is unwavering; for the purposes of this discussion, Dante’s Inferno provides this model. It is fairly straightforward to discover Dante’s dualistic construction of morality in his winding caverns of Hell; each stern, finite circle of Hell is associated with a clear sin that is both definable and directly punishable. As Dante moves downwards in this moral machination, he notes that
In Dante’s Inferno, those who never repented for their sins are sent there after death. Like the old Latin proverb says, “The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation.” (“Latin Proverb Quotes” ThinkExist) The punishments in his Hell are decided by the law of retribution, which according to Webster’s Dictionary is the total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny. (“Retribution” Merriam-Webster) Therefore, Dante creates a variety of reprimands for the three different types of sins: incontinence, violence, and fraudulence. These penalties can also be referred to as allegories because of their hidden moral meaning. The three best allegories in Dante’s Inferno describe the flatterers, fortune tellers, and suicides.
In the Inferno we follow the journey of Dante as he wanders off the path of moral truth and into Hell. The Virgin Mary and Santa Lucia ask Beatrice, Dante’s deceased love, to send some help. Thus, Virgil comes to the rescue and essentially guides Dante through Hell and back to the mortal world from which he came. However, things begin to seem kind of odd. When reading the Inferno one may begin to question the way Dante describes Hell and the things that occur within, or even the things we have always believed about Hell. Despite the way it is described and well known in western civilization, Hell is not at all how we expect it to be because of Dante's use of irony throughout this poetic masterpiece.
Dante’s definition of justice is fascinating because it incorporates many aspects of Philosophy and Catholicism. According to Dorothy L. Sayers, Dante classifies sins into 3 categories which is heavily based on Aristotle. Dante’s classifications are Incontinence, Violence, and Fraud. Incontinence is an uncontrolled appetite, in other words, people pursue bodily pleasure while thinking that they should not do so. This includes gluttony and lust. Violence is a perverted appetite which means people pursue acts that are especially wicked. Fraud is the worst type of sin because it harms reason. These sins create Dante...
(XXIX. 107-108). Dante calls out the sinner’s sins, as a man of the Church, Dante the pilgrim and Dante as the poet despises what they have done, after all what they did was a direct offense against
Sinners in this section are punished for their lust. The punishment that they have to endure is to be ripped apart by vicious winds (Dante 41). This circle has people included in it that shared a mere kiss with a married person. One lady that is being punished in this section fell in love and kissed her husband’s brother while reading a steamy romantic book (Dante 43). The sinners in this circle are unjustly punished and there should be more fitting punishments. Along with more fitting punishments there should be different levels of punishments based on how severe of lechery was committed. Dante had a lot of different reasons for putting the lustful sin in this order. One reason that he had for doing this is because of self-pity for himself. His love for Beatrice would have placed him in this circle and he realized this. He placed this sin really low on the scale because he knew he was prone to committing this sin. Dante’s own personal experience influenced his decision to put the lustful as only the second circle in the organization of
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
This notion of the suitability of God’s punishments figures significantly in the structure of Dante’s Hell. To readers, as well as Dante himself (the character), the torments Dante and Virgil behold seem surprisingly harsh, possibly harsher than is fair, Dante exclaims this with surprise. He doesn’t actually wonder who decided on these tortures. He knows it was god. What he is questioning is how these punishments are just, since they don’t appear to be just from a human’s point of view which views each punishment together with its conjugate sin only superficially. For example, homosexuals must endure an eternity of walking on hot sand, and those who charge interest on loans sit beneath a rain of fire. At first glance, each one seems too terrible for any sin. However, when the poem is viewed as a whole, it becomes clear that the guiding principle of these punishments is one of balance. Sinners suffer punishment to the degree befitting the gravity of their sin, in a manner matching that sin’s nature. The structures of the poem and of hell serve to reinforce this correspondence.
Despite the obvious flaws of Dante himself, he does give a clear vision of how punishments will be taken forth in the afterlife. He gives reason to fear and respect the law of God lest eternal punishment be your only promise in the afterlife. These punishments are as relevant as can be, so he offers a very vivid picture of hell. The men that he puts in hell give it a realistic twist, enhancing the fear that is felt upon reading this work
“How stern the power of Almighty God who crushes sinners with such righteous blows(Canto XXIV lines 109-110)!” In Dante’s Inferno, Dante Alighieri describes a trip through Hell, visiting the various sinners and circles of Hell. Dante also uses many experiences and beliefs from his real life to enrich his views of Hell and his idea of Divine Punishment. Dante’s perception of Divine Justice includes sinners whom he places in Hell for committing crimes without regret, they are placed lower in Hell according to the severity of their sins. Dante is not always just in his placement of sinners, his personal grudges and archaic Catholic beliefs get in the way of true Divine Justice.
And if it is not, why do they suffer such a sorry fate?” (Canto XI 70-75). Dante’s questions can be viewed in two ways. First out of condemnation of all sinners, “Why are they not punished in this charred city” (Canto XI 73).... ...
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 divisions of Hell are likewise split into levels corresponding to sin. Each of the levels and the divisions within levels 7,8, and 9 have an analogous historical or mythological figure used to illustrate and exemplify the sin.