Dante's work, in all its complexity and its value, was a contemporary landmark even only if we consider the admiration which Boccaccio sent to him; over the centuries, from Chaucer and Chateaubriand, to Miguel de Unamuno, all the great minds have turned to the model represented by Dante. Although Vita Nuova it is widely known as the most noble manifesto of Italian poetry (Hede, p.34), and the most perfect expression of the sweet new style, a mostly candid and ingénue story of Dante's love for the Florentine Beatrice Portinari, Dante’s name became synonymous with The Divine Comedy.
The writer began to write his masterpiece since 1307, before his exile years, and it was the capital work that Dante has developed until the last moment of his life (Raffa, 12). Based on the principles of the medieval poetic art, according to which tragedy has a happy beginning and a tragic denouement, and comedy, after a sad exhibition, evolves into a happy ending, Dante entitled his work Commedia, but Boccaccio attached the attribute "divine” which was then promoted and consecrated by posterity (Taaffe, 21).
This status is not random, but generated by the fact that this paper is a moral autobiography, a drama of the age, a work of synthesis in politics, an epic and, of course, an allegorical poem.
Even from the start there should be mentioned the existence of three distinct layers, merged by Dante in the building of his fictional universe. Usually when we talk about Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, we know that they are imaginary spaces, detached from faith. Religion is one that states the existence of these areas after death, where souls will go. It's where we are rewarded or punished for the way in which we lived our life.
But it's about a wo...
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...tinct. You make plans; you think about how to follow your steps. Or the gold counterfeiters of the Middle Ages were not operating because they could not restrain themselves. No, they calculated every one of their gestures. Not to mention treason, when you not only harm yourself, but you bring damnation to your entire country. It's the most outrageous wickedness that can be imagined.
Why? Reason - and this is where we recognize Dante as the rational artist! - is offered to us to seek good, not evil. And the highest good is represented by God.
Works Cited
Hede, J. Reading Dante: The Pursuit of Meaning. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, (2007), Print
Taaffe, J., A Comment on the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Oxford University, (1822), Print
Raffa, Guy P., The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy. University of Chicago Press, (2009), Print
Out of ever perplexity Dante faces throughout his journeys in Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, this one of merit and grace is the most significant one. This thought entails what the whole Comedia is about by essentially determining the principal matter of his revolutionary work – each one’s merit produced by God’s grace. His use of “merit” and “grace” brings the reader’s attention to focus on how this determines the measurement of understanding. The tension between merit and grace plays one of the most important roles in the Divine Comedy because it is seen everywhere especially when Dante finally learns to understand each step of his journey. Dante is enlightened on the judgment of souls and he devotes himself to reach grace and, ultimately, sanctity.
Movement is a crucial theme of the Divine Comedy. From the outset, we are confronted with the physicality of the lost Dante, wandering in the perilous dark wood. His movement within the strange place is confused and faltering; `Io non so ben ridir com'io v'entrai'. Moreover, it is clear that the physical distress he is experiencing is the visible manifestation of the mental anguish the poet is suffering. The allegory of the image is one of mid-life crisis, but it is physically represented by the man losing his way in a dark wood. Such an observation may seem far too simple and obvious to be worthy of comment. However, I would argue that it is from this primary example of the deep connection between the physical and the mental, that one can begin to categorise and explain the varying types of movement in the work. The first section of this essay will be a close analysis of several important moments of physical activity or the absence of such. The final section will be an overview of the whole and a discussion of the general structure of the Comedy, how movement is governed and the implications of this.
In Purgatorio, Dante’s journey continues under Virgil’s guidance from preparing to ascend the mountain of Purgatory until reaching the garden of earthly paradise, at which point Beatrice arrives to take on the role of guide through the rest of purgatory. However, along the way, Dante interacts with several other secondary guides on brief portions of his journey. Individually, Cato, Sordello, Statius, and Matelda serve as corrected counterparts to other characters in the Divine Comedy, classical mythology, and the Bible. Collectively, Cato, Sordello, Statius, and Matelda serve to bridge classical and Christian teachings, both of which are critical in defining the values of Dante-author’s Purgatory, and in shaping Dante-character’s will as the purpose of the journey through purgatory.
Thesis- Dante and Virgil have an interesting relationship that changes throughout Dante’s Inferno. They started off very different and Virgil didn’t care much for Dante. Dante looked at Virgil differently after he had heard Beatrice sent him to guide him. Throughout their travels, their relationship changed as they went through every layer of hell. Something happened in each one that changed their relationship either drastically, or barely at all. Their travels are very intriguing and their relationship is very complex. They become very close, so much that Dante acquires a deep trust in Virgil. They are no longer “just friends.” They are both poets and can communicate very well through words and Literature.
Ruud, Jay. Critical Companion to Dante: a Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On
Dante Alighieri, Inferno (trans. Allen Mandelbaum), In The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999)
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” This maxim applies to the poet Dante Alighieri, writer of The Inferno in the 1300s, because it asserts the need to establish oneself as a contributor to society. Indeed, Dante’s work contributes much to Renaissance Italy as his work is the first of its scope and size to be written in the vernacular. Due to its readability and availability, The Inferno is a nationalistic symbol. With this widespread availability also comes a certain social responsibility; even though Dante’s audience would have been familiar with the religious dogma, he assumes the didactic role of illustrating his own version of Christian justice and emphasizes the need for a personal understanding of divine wisdom and contrapasso, the idea of the perfect punishment for the crime. Dante acts as both author and narrator, completing a physical and spiritual journey into the underworld with Virgil as his guide and mentor. The journey from darkness into light is an allegory full of symbolism, much like that of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which shows a philosopher’s journey towards truth. Therefore, Dante would also agree with the maxim, “Wise men learn by others’ harms; fools scarcely by their own,” because on the road to gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, characters who learn valuable lessons from the misfortunes of others strengthen their own paradigms. Nonetheless, the only true way to gain knowledge is to experience it first hand. Dante’s character finds truth by way of his own personal quest.
Rudd, Jay. Critical Companion to Dante: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York. 2008. Print.
This source will provide a great wealth of knowledge and act as an authority for this essay. They provide a great insight to Dante's masterpiece.
Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno of Dante. Trans. Robert Pinskey. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1994. Print.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
...Commedia"" Dante Studies With the Annual Report of the Dante Society.90 (1972): 1-11. JSTOR. Web. 08 May 2014. .
Alighieri, Dante. "The Inferno." The Divine Comedy. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: First New American Library Printing, 2003.
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. Notes Allen Mandelbaum and Gabriel Marruzzo. New York: Bantam Books, 1980
The Divine Comedy is a poetic Italian masterpiece by Dante Alighieri composed of three parts which he called respectively: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso. As this edition’s translator, John Ciardi puts it, originally Dante simply entitled his works as The Comedy, however, in later years, it was renamed The Divine Comedy for the connections that the public saw it had with human behavior and morality (Ciardi, 2003). For the goals and purposes of this review, we will focus specifically on the portion of the book called The Inferno. At a time when religious and secular concerns were at their peak in fourteenth century Italy, a tone of conflict broke out between the church and the government. Beyond the commonalities of corruption