How Does Dante View Sinners At That Moment?

1. In the epic poetry, The Inferno of Dante translation by Robert Pinsky (1320), Dante Alighieri implies that a person’s reasoning and intellect are one of God’s greatest gift to them and if they use it for evil then it is fair for them to get punished for it in Hell. Alighieri supports this thesis by recounting several stories of sinners that Dante meets along his journey through Hell to demonstrated that it is mostly if not completely their fault for being there in Hell due to their actions. The author purposely emphasizes the decisions and stories of the different types of sinners in Hell in order to show how it was their reasoning and intellect that caused them to make the decisions that ultimately caused them to end up in Hell. The intended

audience appears to be those who blame God for them being in Hell and suffering as Dante emphasizes that it was their decisions and their inability to use their reasoning and intellect for the good that caused them to end up in Hell. Their fate was in their hands so they cannot blame anyone else but themselves for how things turned out in the end.
2.

–Factual: What was the physical reaction that Dante had upon hearing Francesca’s and Paolo’s story? What does this show about how Dante views sinners at that moment?

-Interpretive: Francesca implies that it was love that ruined her and Paolo’s life as it condemned them to Hell. Is Francesca and Paolo actually the victims here or is it that they are simply trying to clean their conscience to make themselves feel better?

- Evaluative: The lack of self-control of the lustful souls in the second circle is implied to be a characteristic of an animal rather than a human. Is Dante implying that the sinners in Hell are more like animals now than they are human?

3. “All the while the one shade spoke, the other at her side was weeping; my pity overwhelmed me and I felt myself go slack: swooning as in death, I fell like a dying body.” (V, 124-127)

Dante’s reaction to the story of Francesca and Paolo is very emotional. The story brings a great sense of sympathy to his heart and he feels for them. The way that Francesca worded the story is particularly important as she victimized Paolo and herself throughout the whole story which Dante fell for. Francesca personified love and blamed it as the reason for what happened as if Paolo and she did not have anything to do with it. This makes Dante very easily manipulated as he has not yet learned to actually see sinners for their crimes. Dante finds it difficult to define what their sin is and focuses on their stories and noble qualities rather

than actually noticing that they are sinners and are in Hell for that reason.
4. The power of reasoning and intellect is greatly emphasized throughout the book by the author. In the book it is talked about how the more perfect or godly a being is, the more their pain of pleasure will be. It is also talked about how sinners will be reunited with their bodies when Judgement Day comes which seems like a good thing but it actually means that now the sinners’ bodies will also feel the pain that their souls do. This just shows how their pain in Hell only gets worse which is due to the fact that they ignored their reasoning or intellect and fulfilled their physical desires instead just like animals do. They tarnished their soul and for that they pay in Hell.