The Inferno And Canterbury Tales

Within The Inferno Dante, the protagonist wanders off the moral path and gets lost in the dark woods. Almost attacked by wild animals he is saved by the ghost of Virgil, a popular Roman poet. Virgil guides Dante through the nine circles of Hell and through this journey Dante unveils his true feelings toward the political world during the medieval time. While Dante unleashes his hatred towards clericalism, in the epic poem of Canterbury Tales, Chaucer documents various social tensions in the 1300’s due to the explicit portrayal of thirty- four characters. Within The Inferno and Canterbury Tales, these vernacular writings illuminate anti-clericalism inspired by personal experiences during the medieval time.

Starting off with The Inferno, Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, Italy in 1265. He came from a moderate wealthy family who immersed themselves in the complex Florentine political environment. While his family had a tremendous impact on Dante, he started to study philosophy, which only intensified his political views. Dante’s personal life during the late thirteenth century parallels greatly with the comedy, Inferno. During this time period the struggle between the church and state for temporal authority affected Italy in various ways. Specifically in Florence, two parties were developed as a result to this crisis, one being the Guelph’s loyalty, supporting the papacy and the Ghibelline loyalty focusing on the imperial power. Dante being apart of the White party, supporting the independence of Florence from papal authority eventually has personal issues with Pope Boniface VIII, supporting the black party. This specific ground had individuals who were willing to work with the pope in order restore power; Boniface eventually exi...

... middle of paper ...

... inspire his future texts, such as The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer lived through brutal events during the 1300’s, such as English social sphere, the Black Death and the Hundred Years Wars. Due to the Black Death wiping out roughly fifty percent of England and remaining widespread throughout, social statuses were demolished creating new ones. The labor force took this opportunity to increase leverage resulting to resentment from the nobles and propertied classes. And while the nobles and others held resentment towards the labor force they will eventually have the same feeling when the peasantry revolts against them. As time went on merchants capitalized on demand for luxury, which resulted into a merchant oligarchy rule over London. Although Chaucer’s political views are unclear, social satire during the medieval era is undoubtedly relevant with The Canterbury Tales.