Dante Alighieri
and his Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri
Born: 1265 in Florence, Italy
Died: 1321 in Ravenna, Italy
“The Father of the Italian
Language”
“il Sommo Poeta-- the Supreme Poet”
Dante Alighieri and Love
Age 9: Met and fell in love with Beatrice Portinari-- wrote many sonnets about her and she is one of the protagonists in The Divine Comedy
Age 12: Promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati (from a powerful/wealthy family)
Dolce Stil Novo-- “Sweet New Style”
After meeting Beatrice, Dante claimed that he instantly fell in love with her and devoted his life to her. This “new style” of love explored poetry, passion, life, politics, divinity, and spiritual instruction and guidance without the aspect of a physical relationship or even actually getting to know the person. Beatrice and Dante only met a few times and hardly spoke to each other.
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy
- Written between 1308 and
1321
- First great work to be written in
the Italian language and
established the Tuscan dialect as the standardized Italian language.
- Hybrid of medieval world view (think Gothic cathedral art) and Western church (Renaissance)
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy is comprised of 3 canitcas (sections): “Inferno”, “Purgatorio” and “Paradiso”, which describe Dante’s personal journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, respectfully. Within each cantica are 33 cantos (songs, chapters).
Allegorically, it represents the soul’s journey towards God as well as an in-depth look at Dante’s personal belief system and values.
The Divine Comedy
Spirit Guides: Roman Poet Virgil who leads Dante through Hell and Purgatory; and Beatrice his ideal woman, who leads Dante to Heaven.
Cantica 1: “Inferno”
Virgil guides Dante deep into the layers of Hell, with the degree of
sin progressing as he goes.
Each punishment is a contrapasso, meaning a symbolic and poetic justice. For example, those who commit suicide are turned into bleeding trees because they did
not value life on earth.
Cantica 1: “Inferno”
Allegorically, “Inferno” represents the Christian’s soul seeing sin for what it really is and the contemplation of the soul’s journey to Heaven or Hell.
Descriptive maps of Dante’s Hell
Cantica 2: “Purgatorio”
After surviving the circles of Hell, Virgil and Dante climb the Mountain of Purgatory in order to reach Paradiso. These sins should sound familiar as they are the Seven Deadly Sins from Christian theology, namely: Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Wrath, Envy, Pride, and Sloth. The sins here are more based on motives rather than actions, as in the Inferno.
This map should provide some clarity
Cantica 3: “Paradiso”
Finally! We have made it to Paradise! Here, Beatrice greets Dante and leads him through the nine celestial spheres of Heaven. These are based on the four cardinal virtues from Plato (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Courage) and the three theological virtues from the Bible (Faith, Hope and Charity). Although these are virtues, the first three layers are based on deficiencies. In other words, those who were good, but could have been better.
Cantica 3: “Paradiso”
On his journey through Paradiso, Dante meets and converses with several great saints of the Church, including Thomas Aquinas, Saint Peter, and St. John. Paradiso represents Dante’s personal vision of heaven, much like his Inferno represents his vision of Hell. Divine Comedy ends with Dante seeing God and receiving an understanding of Christ’s divinity and humanities. His soul becomes aligned with God’s love.
If you’re interested...
This is a delightful website in which you can explore all three Canticas. It is not required; simply for your amusement :)
http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/
Circle One
Circle One: Here are the good pagans, Virgil and Ovid. Individuals that lived benevolent lives, but did not believe in Christ. While they do not suffer a physical punishment, they do suffer a spiritual one, as they did not know God and now, they are forever deprived of the sight of him. They look for God, but they never find him.
Circle Two
Circle Two: The carnal sinners occupy this level. Those that sinned through passion… the illicit lovers… the unfaithful husbands and wives dwell here. Their punishment, of course, fits the crime--because they permitted themselves to be tossed by the storms of passion on earth, they will now be tossed by actual winds and gales of Hell, keeping them separated from those that they truly should have loved.
Circle Three
Circle Four
Circle Four: Here, we find those that wasted time. In life, they worked without meaning; in Hell, they work without meaning in death, pushing huge boulders against each other.
Circle Five
Circle Six
Circle Seven
Circle Seven: This is the home of the violent, those that murdered and committed suicide. Individuals who were violent against themselves and others are turned into trees because they did not value human form while they lived.
Circle Eight
Circle Eight: This “circle” is slightly different. It is divided into five ditches. In each ditch lies a particular sinner, but all five are guilty of fraudulence and therefore, despicable to Dante. In descending order, the sinners are seducers, fortune-tellers, thieves, lawyers, and hypocrites. Their punishments vary, but they are always relevant. For example, the fortune tellers have their heads on backwards, as they tended to “see ahead”, now they can only look behind.
Circle Nine
One can see that sins of the flesh were minor to Dante. Sins of violence were more important; sins of fraud more important still, for fraud is violence against the mind and the heart. Sins of treason were the most important of all, for they are violence against all that is the best in humanity.
Canto 1 (I)
Canto 13 (XIII)
Canto 34 (XXXIV)