Dante Alighieri's Inferno
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| Assignment Type | Essay |
|---|---|
| Subject | N/A |
| Academic Level | Undergraduate |
| Citation Style | MLA |
| Length | 3 pages |
| Word Count | 1,236 |
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NOTE: Dear writer, this is what I wrote so far, free free to eliminate or edit paper. Please answer the questions bew highlighted in yellow
Also, >>for the assigned reading : follow the link below http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/ where it says comedia , the dropdwon button will direct you to the three articles(inferno)
The paper
In Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, Dante, the character, feels empathy for the characters in such a tragic and unfortunate situation; Dante the author expects the reader to feel the same sort of empathy.
Although Dante the writer assigned the two lovers, Francesca and Paolo da Rimini, to hell, in some sense Dante pities them their fates. Dante places the lovers in hell because they are sinners who committed adultery, which is morally wrong. From Dante's presentation of Francesca and Paolo, the reader is encouraged to consider the place of moral responsibility that can result in unacceptable attitudes and behavior in society. Dante uses a romantic and sensual language that conveys his implicit sympathy for the two lovers. Dante says “While the one spirit said this/the other wept”( Dante V:139-141). This part of the poem illustrate that the lovers committed adultery not just for pleasure; they were seriously emotionally invested. We witness this moment with Dante .Another instance where empathy is felt occurs during the point when Francesca states “there is no other greater sorrow /than to recall our time of joy” (Dante V: 121-122). Their joy overcomes sorrow. They remain romantic while present in hell; even hell cannot stop them from loving. The presence of a nice, happy, pleasant language causes the reader to disregard that they are in hell and, as a result felt more empathy toward this couple.
Another example of the way Dante uses romantic language is when he states
“One day, to pass the time in pleasure. /we read of Lancelot, how love enthralled him. / we were alone, without the least misgiving / More than once that reading made our eyes meet and/ drained the color from our face/still, it was a single instant overcome us”. (Dante V: 127-128). The above passage gives a taste and beauty for the couple love story, allowing the reader to share Dante’s empathy for the two lovers. Francesca tells Dante the story of her love affair with Paolo. Their affair took place when the two lovers started reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere (Guinevere was King Arthur’s wife and Lancelot Arthur's right-hand-man). They also had an adulterous relationship. This story catalyzed Francesca and her secret lover Paolo to have their kiss and unfortunately Francesca’s husband, who was spying on the two, had them killed right at the same moment and for that they had to spend the rest of their life in hell.
Dante spends a lot of time convincing the reader that Francesca and Paolo were meant to be together, and we should feel empathy for their situation which love has brought them into. The line that describes that is when Francesca says “This man/who never shall be a parted from me” (Dante V: 134-135). The descriptive language of the characters’ intimacy Dante uses is meant to make the reader emotionally involved rather than thinking about their immoral action that placed them in hell, or perhaps to make the reader believe that they loved each other so much that they would gladly suffer hell to be together.
As the poem develops, the poet’s pity toward the tragic situation of the two lovers constantly increases; an instance of this is when Dante says “I swooned as if in death / and down I fell as a dead body falls” (Dante V: 141-142). In this passage Dante explicitly reveals his feeling toward the characters, a strong presence of emotions that causes the poet to faint and falls like a dead body.
SIMILARLY, Pier Della Vigne is a tragic figure who is placed in the seventh circle of hell. This vision of Hell is one of the most striking scenes in the Inferno, a place for those who committed suicide .Dante describes this circle of hell as a strange wood filled with trees, cries of the suffering souls that are placed in this circle of hell are coming forth to Dante as he entered this ring of hell. These poor, helpless souls that are in the form of trees cry day and night from the pain of tears caused by the Harpies (a bird of prey with a woman's face).
The discussion with Pier Della Vigne is intended to help the reader understand that, although suicide is a sin, it is not done without thought. “When it ran dark with blood /it cried again: ‘Why do you tear me? / Have you no pity in you?”(Dante XIII: 34-36). Travelling through a forest of trees, branches and brush made from the damned souls, the narrator snaps off a branch. The bush, the thorn bush, responds back in pain. “Why do you hurt me, why are you tearing my pieces? Don’t you have any pity at all?” The narrator has hurt someone who is already being tortured in hell.
In Dante XIII: 62-63, “So faithful was I to that glorious office / that first I lost my sleep and then my life,” Pier della Vigna says that he is innocent, that he devoted so much attention to his job that he got to where he couldn’t even sleep for worry. Finally, he lost (took) his life because of the stress. Others had “'inflamed all minds against me. “(Dante XIII: 67). The wounded soul, della Vigne, had kept his master’s secrets, stayed faithful to his master and job, revered the office, yet another politician had told lies about him and had inflamed the others around the palace so that his master lost trust in him. The “happy honors” turned to woes.....
Eventually, he lost his mind and in desperation believed that he could flee from the ill treatment that had been heaped on him, if only he could die. The result is that he was ‘unjust against his own just self’, or suicidal. He killed himself. Eventually, he lost his mind and in desperation believed that he could flee from the ill treatment that had been heaped on him, if only he could die. The result is that he was ‘unjust against his own just self’, or suicidal. He killed himself. Dante expresses this as “'My mind, in scornful temper, / hoping by dying to escape from scorn,” (Dante XIII: 70-71).
Dante’s Narrator, feeling pity, asked, “Kind spirit, please tell me if you can, is any one of you ever set free from this prison of tangled knots?” (i.e., do any of you ever make it out of hell?, (Dante XIII: 89-90). The answer is given in Dante explains that when a soul is torn from the earth by its own roots (i.e., the owner kills it through suicide), it is assigned to the 7th pit of hell. It falls into the woods, with no specific assigned spot, just where it lands. Once it lands, it takes root and grows into a sapling and then a tree. The harpies, like wild birds, feed on the leaves, causing pain. The pain is the only outlet for the pain of the suicide (Dante XIII: 101-102). The souls are forced to suffer endlessly, there is no escape.
Also, >>for the assigned reading : follow the link below http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/ where it says comedia , the dropdwon button will direct you to the three articles(inferno)
The paper
In Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, Dante, the character, feels empathy for the characters in such a tragic and unfortunate situation; Dante the author expects the reader to feel the same sort of empathy.
Although Dante the writer assigned the two lovers, Francesca and Paolo da Rimini, to hell, in some sense Dante pities them their fates. Dante places the lovers in hell because they are sinners who committed adultery, which is morally wrong. From Dante's presentation of Francesca and Paolo, the reader is encouraged to consider the place of moral responsibility that can result in unacceptable attitudes and behavior in society. Dante uses a romantic and sensual language that conveys his implicit sympathy for the two lovers. Dante says “While the one spirit said this/the other wept”( Dante V:139-141). This part of the poem illustrate that the lovers committed adultery not just for pleasure; they were seriously emotionally invested. We witness this moment with Dante .Another instance where empathy is felt occurs during the point when Francesca states “there is no other greater sorrow /than to recall our time of joy” (Dante V: 121-122). Their joy overcomes sorrow. They remain romantic while present in hell; even hell cannot stop them from loving. The presence of a nice, happy, pleasant language causes the reader to disregard that they are in hell and, as a result felt more empathy toward this couple.
Another example of the way Dante uses romantic language is when he states
“One day, to pass the time in pleasure. /we read of Lancelot, how love enthralled him. / we were alone, without the least misgiving / More than once that reading made our eyes meet and/ drained the color from our face/still, it was a single instant overcome us”. (Dante V: 127-128). The above passage gives a taste and beauty for the couple love story, allowing the reader to share Dante’s empathy for the two lovers. Francesca tells Dante the story of her love affair with Paolo. Their affair took place when the two lovers started reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere (Guinevere was King Arthur’s wife and Lancelot Arthur's right-hand-man). They also had an adulterous relationship. This story catalyzed Francesca and her secret lover Paolo to have their kiss and unfortunately Francesca’s husband, who was spying on the two, had them killed right at the same moment and for that they had to spend the rest of their life in hell.
Dante spends a lot of time convincing the reader that Francesca and Paolo were meant to be together, and we should feel empathy for their situation which love has brought them into. The line that describes that is when Francesca says “This man/who never shall be a parted from me” (Dante V: 134-135). The descriptive language of the characters’ intimacy Dante uses is meant to make the reader emotionally involved rather than thinking about their immoral action that placed them in hell, or perhaps to make the reader believe that they loved each other so much that they would gladly suffer hell to be together.
As the poem develops, the poet’s pity toward the tragic situation of the two lovers constantly increases; an instance of this is when Dante says “I swooned as if in death / and down I fell as a dead body falls” (Dante V: 141-142). In this passage Dante explicitly reveals his feeling toward the characters, a strong presence of emotions that causes the poet to faint and falls like a dead body.
SIMILARLY, Pier Della Vigne is a tragic figure who is placed in the seventh circle of hell. This vision of Hell is one of the most striking scenes in the Inferno, a place for those who committed suicide .Dante describes this circle of hell as a strange wood filled with trees, cries of the suffering souls that are placed in this circle of hell are coming forth to Dante as he entered this ring of hell. These poor, helpless souls that are in the form of trees cry day and night from the pain of tears caused by the Harpies (a bird of prey with a woman's face).
The discussion with Pier Della Vigne is intended to help the reader understand that, although suicide is a sin, it is not done without thought. “When it ran dark with blood /it cried again: ‘Why do you tear me? / Have you no pity in you?”(Dante XIII: 34-36). Travelling through a forest of trees, branches and brush made from the damned souls, the narrator snaps off a branch. The bush, the thorn bush, responds back in pain. “Why do you hurt me, why are you tearing my pieces? Don’t you have any pity at all?” The narrator has hurt someone who is already being tortured in hell.
In Dante XIII: 62-63, “So faithful was I to that glorious office / that first I lost my sleep and then my life,” Pier della Vigna says that he is innocent, that he devoted so much attention to his job that he got to where he couldn’t even sleep for worry. Finally, he lost (took) his life because of the stress. Others had “'inflamed all minds against me. “(Dante XIII: 67). The wounded soul, della Vigne, had kept his master’s secrets, stayed faithful to his master and job, revered the office, yet another politician had told lies about him and had inflamed the others around the palace so that his master lost trust in him. The “happy honors” turned to woes.....
Eventually, he lost his mind and in desperation believed that he could flee from the ill treatment that had been heaped on him, if only he could die. The result is that he was ‘unjust against his own just self’, or suicidal. He killed himself. Eventually, he lost his mind and in desperation believed that he could flee from the ill treatment that had been heaped on him, if only he could die. The result is that he was ‘unjust against his own just self’, or suicidal. He killed himself. Dante expresses this as “'My mind, in scornful temper, / hoping by dying to escape from scorn,” (Dante XIII: 70-71).
Dante’s Narrator, feeling pity, asked, “Kind spirit, please tell me if you can, is any one of you ever set free from this prison of tangled knots?” (i.e., do any of you ever make it out of hell?, (Dante XIII: 89-90). The answer is given in Dante explains that when a soul is torn from the earth by its own roots (i.e., the owner kills it through suicide), it is assigned to the 7th pit of hell. It falls into the woods, with no specific assigned spot, just where it lands. Once it lands, it takes root and grows into a sapling and then a tree. The harpies, like wild birds, feed on the leaves, causing pain. The pain is the only outlet for the pain of the suicide (Dante XIII: 101-102). The souls are forced to suffer endlessly, there is no escape.