What inspired Dante Alighieri to write the slightly disturbing, dark writing that is “Inferno”? What caused Alighieri to write this piece on the journey of his own version of Hell? Dante Alighieri’s historical implications in “Inferno” were influenced by many factors in his life at the time. “Inferno” is a part of the series called The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy is an example of an allegory. An allegory is a deeper meaning that is expressed through characters or events in the writing. Allegory was a widely used literature tool throughout the medieval times, in which Dante lived ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 3). Alighieri’s “Inferno” displays allegory in many different ways in order for problems on earth to be acknowledged, such as church corruption throughout the Catholic Church and political upheavals in his own life. Many of these factors were helpful in Alighieri’s writing of The …show more content…
Divine Comedy, especially “Inferno.” Influential people, a strong religious background, along with the politics of Florence impacted Dante Alighieri in his writing of “Inferno.” Many people, such as Beatrice Portinari, Guido Guinizzelli, Thomas More, and Aristotle inspired and helped Alighieri to develop many of his writings, especially “Inferno”. Dante began studying philosophy at a young age, his mid-twenties. He looked at many former philosophers’ works, who have also written poetry and pieces of literature, as a precedent to follow. Similarities can be found in both Alighieri’s works and many of these philosophers. Beatrice Portinari was an inspiration that was close to Alighieri’s heart throughout his life as he wrote literature. Guido Guinizzelli, Thomas More, and Aristotle are just a few of these philosophers and poets who helped develop Alighieri’s writing style. Dante Alighieri’s main muse was a woman, Beatrice Portinari, who happened to be the love of Alighieri’s life.
Dante first met Beatrice when he was nine years old and she was eight years old (Wetherbee 1). Alighieri and Beatrice were never lovers ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 9). In fact, he had a family of his own (Wetherbee 1). Yet, that did not stop Alighieri from writing about Beatrice in various writings. While Dante mentions Beatrice in most of his writings, he most prominently does so in The Divine Comedy. Beatrice guides Dante through the stage of “Paradiso,” which is Heaven in The Divine Comedy. Beatrice, in many of Alighieri’s writings, is a symbol of purity and inspiration for Dante ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 9). In 1290, Beatrice died and that was the turning moment in Alighieri’s writing career. It inspired him to write poetry, especially religious poetry (“Dante Alighieri”1). Beatrice was one of the few good things in Dante’s life that kept inspiring and pushing him to become the writer he
became. Not only was Beatrice Portinari an inspiration, but so were three very important philosophers, Guido Guinizzelli, Thomas More, and Aristotle. Guido Guinizzelli was a poet and philosopher during the time of 1230-1276. Many of Dante’s early writings exemplify many of the things Guinizzelli used in his writings (Wetherbee 2). Just like Guinizzelli, Alighieri shows a woman figure in a lot of his writings, who is shown as a love interest, Beatrice (Wetherbee 2,4). Alighieri looked to poet and philosophers, Thomas More and Aristotle as models for his writings. They both showed great knowledge and natural philosophy (Wetherbee 4). Virgil, a Roman poet lived during the time of 70-19 BC ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 1). He led Dante through Hell. He was an inspiration to Alighieri in the literature sense but not a religious sense, considering he was a pagan. Even though Virgil was a great inspiration and guide to Dante in “Inferno,” Virgil cannot guide him through Heaven because he was a pagan and born before Christ. In many of Dante Alighieri’s writings, especially ¨Inferno¨ of The Divine Comedy, Alighieri’s strong religious background is displayed to the audience repeatedly. “Inferno” is Alighieri’s trip through his own version of Hell. Alighieri uses references to God as a presence to help Dante journey his way through Hell as “Divine ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 1). The purpose of Hell for Dante is to journey through it to reach Salvation in Heaven with God and overcome the dark woods he was stuck in for many years. One of the ways Dante gets through Hell is by focusing on the main goal at hand. Instead of human understanding, Dante focuses on paradise, the ultimate salvation (Wetherbee 13). Alighieri makes many religious references from the bible, such as the “wicked woman” and a “beast.” In the Book of Revelations, the end of the word is described and it talks about the blasphemous relationship between the wicked woman and the kings of the world. In “Inferno,” Dante uses this “wicked woman” as a symbol for the corrupted church. He also uses the image of a beast with seven heads and ten horns, as seen in the Book of Revelations ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 4). Church corruption is a direct correlation to Dante Alighieri’s political background. All of the church corruption that Alighieri mentions in “Inferno” roots back to the popes of the Catholic Church at the time. In “Inferno”, Dante encounters many church figures and has discussions about and with them. One pope that Dante comes across is Pope Nicholas III. Pope Nicholas III thinks that Dante is Pope Boniface VIII at first. He ruled from 1294-1310 ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 4). Next, Pope Nicholas III says there will be an even more corrupt pope after Boniface. This fraudulent pope is Pope Clement V, who ruled from 1305-1314. He moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon, France to show submission to the King of France ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 4). At the time, this was unheard of and disgraceful to the Catholic Church and personally offended the Catholics in the world, especially around Europe. Pope Clement V is compared to a biblical figure named Jason, who was a high priest during 100s BC and tried to force Jewish people to take on the Greek Religion ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 4). All of these popes that are called out in “Inferno”, committed the sin of simony. Simony comes from the magician Simon Magus, who is told about in the Acts of the Apostles, in the New Testament. He tries to pay Peter and John to gain the Holy Spirit’s power to heal. Peter curses him for thinking holy gifts can be bought or sold ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 8). From an excerpt from The Divine Comedy in “Inferno,” Dante says, “Beneath my head, the others are dragged down/ Who have preceded me in simony, / Flattened along the fissure of the rock.” In this quote, Dante is expressing that those who commit the sin of simony will be pushed headfirst into a bottomless hole ("Dante Alighieri: Excerpt from The Divine Comedy” 2). This sin was extremely wrong and Dante believed those who have committed simony should be punished harshly in Hell. In “Inferno” Dante felt that what the people residing in this circle of Hell were being punished with was very deserving. Although Dante lived with pain for the latter of his life surrounded by church corruption and politics, Florence was at its peak during the Medieval Times. Florence, Italy was an incredibly wealthy city during the time of Dante Alighieri, flowing with trade, arts, and literature. Florence, Italy was a center for trading and banking. People there created a system that lent money, which led to the city becoming very wealthy. Wealth meant that people could focus on art and literature (Kenny 1). Florence was run under a republic, which meant that representatives were chosen by men who were old enough and paid a certain amount of taxes (Kenny 1). Dante Alighieri resided in Florence for most of his life. In Florence, Dante served as a political figure, soldier, and poet (Wetherbee 1). However, Dante was exiled from Florence in 1305 (Wetherbee 1). This was because Florence was split between the Guelfs and Ghibellines. These were two political parties at the time. Politics in Florence, Italy at the time of Dante Alighieri were very complicated and split among those who resided there. Dante lived in Florence, where he was born in 1265 until he was exiled due to a political uprising between “Blacks.” He was part of the Guelfs, a political party that supported the papacy in rule over Italy (Wetherbee 1). A political conflict arose between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines. They fought over who has control of Florence. The Guelfs were in power at the time Dante was a political figure, after beating two armies (Wetherbee 1). The Guelfs favored and focused on having the church papacy in power. The Ghibellines were in favor of the Empire being in power over Florence (Wetherbee 1). Pope Boniface VIII created a settlement in 1301 which allowed for Ghibellines to exile the other political party, the Guelfs. In the process, Dante was exiled since he was a high political figure of the Guelfs (Wetherbee 13). This created a crisis for Dante because he lived in Florence all of his life and loved the city. After Dante was exiled, he could no longer reside in Florence for the rest of his life. Dante starting working for King Henry VII of Luxemburg, head of the Royal Roman Empire (Wetherbee 2). Dante did not remain there though for very long. He continued to move cities until settling to write The Divine Comedy. The “dark woods” that Dante is in at the beginning of “Inferno” is due to him being lost and not understanding what he did wrong in his political life in Florence. The politics and upheaval that took place in Florence affected Alighieri immensely in a negative way, but also led to the famous works of “Inferno” and the rest of The Divine Comedy. Motivating people, an expressive religious practice, along with the complicated, lasting politics of Florence impacted Dante Alighieri in his writing of “Inferno.” Influential people and Alighieri’s religion kept a strong hold on what Dante wrote and how we did it. Though many of the impacts as a whole that inspired Dante were negative, such as the politics of Florence and church corruption, both led to one of the most famous pieces of literature created. Dante’s works were all due to what was occurring at the time in his life. In conclusion, Alighieri was persuaded to write “Inferno” by many these many things that were going on in his outside life.
Dante write one of the masterpiece of the literature, a book that even third fourths of a century later people still reading but behind dark lines like as “Through me you enter into the city of woes, Through me you enter into the eternal pain, Through me you enter the population of loss” (Dante 19.1-3) must exist a reason or a purpose to write these lines. Dante born in 1265 in the cradle of Florence. In his childhood only two things happen that has transcendental for his work in literature, her mother died in 1272 (when Dante had 7 years old). Also, in may 1 of 1974 he meets Beatrice when he was nine years and her eight years and Dante instantly falls in love with her. “She began in a soft angelic voice”(Dante 13.47), this type of word Dante
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.
Dante Alighieri created The Divine Comedy around the time he was exiled from Florence Italy. The Divine Comedy is made up to three books that’s called inferno, purgatory and paradise. The inferno tells the story about him entering the nine circles with a fellow poet Vigil. During the journey are many Historical, Social and Cultural Context.
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy, into a moderate wealth household. In his late twenties, Dante Alighieri wrote the Vita Nuova around 1292, during a period when he began studying philosophy and intensified his political involvement in Florence. Dante held multiple significant public offices in Italy. In 1302, at the age of 35, Dante was exiled from Florence by the leaders of the Black Guelphs, the political faction in power at the time. During this time, Dante wrote Inferno. Throughout both Inferno and La Vita Nuova, Dante develops the story through the use of themes such as love’s motivation, the conflict in god vs man, in which he demonstrates his strong religious influence, and the power of storytelling, in which he also
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.
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.
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.
Inferno is the first and most famous of a three part series by Dante Alighieri known as the Divine Comedy that describes his journey to God through the levels of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise written in the early fourteenth century. Scholars spanning over nearly seven centuries have praised its beauty and complexity, unmatched by any other medieval poem. Patrick Hunt’s review, “On the Inferno,” states, “Dante’s extensive use of symbolism and prolific use of allegory— even in incredible anatomical detail—have been often plumbed as scholars have explored the gamut of his work’s classical, biblical, historical, and contemporary political significance” (9). In the story, each of the three main characters, Dante, Virgil, and Beatrice, represent
Dante Alighieri's The Inferno is a poem written in first person that tells a story of Dante’s journey through the nine circles of Hell after he strays from the rightful path. Each circle of Hell contains sinners who have committed different sins during their lifetime and are punished based on the severity of their sins. When taking into the beliefs and moral teachings of the Catholic Church into consideration, these punishments seem especially unfair and extreme.
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.
In the Inferno Beatrice symbolizes blessedness or salvation, and Dante. always called her by her full name to indicate that she brought happiness to whoever looked upon her. All evidence shows she was the daughter of Folco. Portinari, and later, the wife of Simone Bardi. Dante expressed his love for her in his poetry and believed she was "the guide of his thoughts and emotions".
Well I feel that for Mister Alighieri that he wrote to inform, and spread his ideas, his beliefs. Like some people, sometimes it just feels nice to see your own thoughts in the written word. Well, Dante wrote down these thoughts into these two works, how he felt about others at the time, how he felt about himself, what he believed about Catholicism, and the church at the time, what he believed hell would be like, and how he felt about sin, which is in fact the main subjects of his two works. So this brings us back to, Why did Dante write the Inferno? Because, he wanted to put his own thoughts down into paper In the form of a story, to let all read what he was thinking and feeling about everything is his life at the moment, as well as to in
Durling, Robert M., Ronald L. Martinez. Notes. The Inferno. Vol 1. By Dante Alighieri. Trans. Robert M. Durling. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.
...eral chronicle of Dante’s life. This is not the case, as historical information proves, Dante led a full life separate from his love of Beatrice. This story instead serves as a description of the power that Love wields over the sensitive and romantic. Indeed, Love could wield this power over anyone He chooses, though he chooses only those with the poet’s soul, through which God can speak and tell humanity of the power of Love. God inspires those who are open to him, in a way that they can understand. In the case of Dante, God spoke to him through Love and produced a tale that will convey the same message to all those who are able to hear. Dante was not writing for those without a poet’s mind, a fact he makes clear throughout the text, and the reason for this is evident: they would simply not understand.
However, if one was seeking more then just a ruff understanding of this piece, perhaps the reader is seeking the true reasoning behind the madness that is his unforgettable journey through the afterlife, it may take a more in depth view into the who Dante was. There are several purposes thought of as to why Dante wrote the Divine Comedy to begin with. Perhaps it is all about his dead “love” Beatrice the divine angel. Or maybe, this is a political tirade. Since Dante was heavily involved in politices perhaps he wanted to promote change, after he was exiled. He had of course been known for writing many epistles in hopes of changing the way things were. And there exists even a third option, the third option could easily be the most obvious. It is said the Dante merely wanted an Italian epic tale, one to match Virgil’s (Aeniad) or Homer’s (Odyssey) . Regardless of the reasoning behind the Divine Comedy the outcome could easily be seen as any of the outcomes Dante originally intended, and perhaps that is what makes this a timeless piece of literary genius.