Dante

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Dantes Inferno

• Dante Alighieri and his Middle Ages

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The Middle Ages

• Beginning 476-700-
• St. Augustine
• Early Middle Ages 700-1000
• Beginning of drama in Europe
• High Middle Ages 1000-1300
• Thomas Aquinas
• 1100- First account of King Arthur
• Late Middle Ages 1300-1500
• Black Death- by 1400- 40 million deaths in
  Europe alone

1265- Dante born 1308-1320- 3 canticles of The
Divine Comedy written 1386- Canterbury
Tales 1450- morality plays 1485- Le Morte dArthur
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Middle Ages-contd

• Poetry at this time focused on
• romance, religion, courtly love, allegory
• Great influences on Dantes work
• Chaucer (Canterbury Tales)
• Milton (Paradise Lost)
• Dantes poem also mirrors Aeneid (written by
  Virgil)

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• Dante 1265-1321
• His Life
• Born in Florence, Italy 1265 into a family of low
  nobility
• Met Beatrice Portinari in 1274
• She was from a higher nobility class
• He was 9
• Later married Gemma Donati from a prominent
  Florentine family (Guelph political faction)
• By 1289, joined the Guelph faction
• Ghibelline party was opposing faction in Florence
• From 1295 to 1300, he was heavily involved
• Elected 1 of 6 magistrates in Florence
• Guelphs eventually split into 2 factions
• Blacks and Whites

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• Black Guelphs allied themselves with Pope
  Boniface VIII
• White Guelphs allied themselves with Holy Roman
  Empire
• Dante, as magistrate, exiled leaders of black and
  white factions
• With help from Pope Boniface VIII, the Black
  leader returned in 1301 and took control of
  entire Guelph partybanned Dante from Florence
  for 2 years

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• Florence not just an Italian city but a
  sovereign city state, a world power,
  internationally important, center of artistic and
  intellectual activity
• Had its own flag, own army, own ambassadors, own
  foreign trade, own coinage (florin)
• 1215- murder and avenging death resulted in
  Guelph/Ghibelline factions
• Ghibellines Imperial aristocracy
• Guelphs the burghers (favored Pope) in power
  when Dante was born and the faction of his family

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More on Dante.

• Very little is actually known of him
• 1st work La Vita Nuova (The New Life) was
  written in 1292, in the vernacular
• Solicited the help of his older friend Guido
  Cavalcanti
• Celebrates his love for Beatrice Portinari

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WAIT!!!

• Beatrice? Didnt he meet her when he was 9???
• Yes.
• The next time he runs into her hes 18.
• She dies when he is 25 and believes to have a
  vision of her when he is 27
• Also, explaining the important symbol of 3
• (More on that later)

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• Soo La Vita Nuova is autobiographical
• Delicate and sensitive analysis of emotions
• Critics and historians today still question why
  Beatrice
• Back to Dante besides being in love and having
  visions, he joins political office (a prior) as
  well as enrolling in the Apothecaries Guild
  (books were sold there.)

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• Florence then was in turmoil
• Guelphs split White (Dante) against Pope
• Black for Pope Boniface VIII
• 1301- Black Guelphs take control of Florence
• Dante voluntarily is absent from political roles,
  but then is banished altogether from Florence
• (200 yrs. later, he parallels very closely to
  Machiavelli with similar motives, humanistic
  revival, and free inquiry)

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• While exiled, is bothered by education and the
  Churchs involvement in such matters.
• Education was readily available, but the Church
  did not support philosophy (i.e. human affairs)
• He decides to write in the vernacularwhich is a
  revolutionary idea. All text at this time was
  written in Latin.
• De Monarchia is another one of his works responds
  to the pull between Pope and emperor

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• Dante is partially responsible for
• (De Monarchia)
• affirming mans right to pursuit of happiness
• separation of Church and State
• secularized education available to the public

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Comedy

• Based on Roman Catholic beliefs
• Inferno- Power of the Father
• Purgatory- Wisdom of the Son
• Paradise- Love of the Holy Spirit
• Each canticle contains 33 cantos, totaling 99
  including introductory canto 100 cantos.

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• Magic Symbol of 3
• 3 parts of the poem
• 3- Holy Trinity
• 100 square of 10 perfect number (why?) square
  of the Trinity, plus 1 OR Trinity Unity of
  God10
• Rhyme scheme terza rima or third rhyme- Dante
  invented for this purpose alone (sets of three)
• Tercet- 3 line stanza

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The Inferno

• Narrative
• Divine Comedy Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
  written between 1308 and 1320
• Allegory
• Literal plot deals entirely in symbols
• Second level of meaning implied by, but broader
  than, the events of the narrative
• Dantes adventuresa broader subject the trials
  of the human soul trying to achieve morality and
  find unity with God.
• Intemporality- mingling of elements from
  different time periods

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Dantes Hell

• Follows medieval hierarchies
• Funnel shaped pit
• Below Jerusalem
• 9 circles and a vestibule
• Concept of sin man has no free will
• Suffering is a continuation of their chosen sin

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• 3 basic sin categories
• Incontinence
• Loss of self control
• Violence
• Fraud
• Hell is not geographical
• Hell is the potential for sin and evil in the
  soul
• 3 beasts 3 basic sin categories (arguments in
  literary world on which symbolizes which)

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Heaven
Virtues raise people into Heaven
Purgatory
Choice to sin, go deeper into circles of hell
Hell
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Why Virgil though, Dante?

• Guide to Epic Form
• Journey inspired by Aeneid, his poem
• Guide who knew hell
• Images from Aeneid Virgil created literary Hell
• (And his favorite poet)

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Virgil

• He represents human reason
• There is a Heaven, but Virgil can only take him
  so far
• Someone more worthy will take him the rest of the
  way
• Philosophy of man will start however, God will
  end the journey

• Guide through the spiritual world
• Power to conjure
• In Dantes time, Virgils writing seemed like
  mystical predictions from a pagan author of the
  coming of Christ

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Canto 1

• The Dark Wood of Error

Alessandro Vellutellos Inferno 1
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• Beginning of Journey/Odyssey
• First light of sunrise (begins Easter weekend
  Good Friday)
• Sun Divine Light
• Easterrebirth/resurrection (springnew life)
• On his way to climb Mount of Joy
• Is stopped by 3 beasts Leopard of malice and
  fraud, Lion of violence and ambition, She Wolf of
  incontinence

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• Dante as narrator begins in Dark Woods
• Midway through life, he wakes to find himself
  lost- 35th year (1300 AD)
• Describes life drear, rank, arduous, bitter
• When all seems lost, Virgil arrives
• Virgil human reason, leads Dante from error, no
  direct path around beasts, but need to go the
  harder route
• HellRecognition of Sin
• Purgatory Renunciation of Sin

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Notes

• Dante created the perfect Easter for a symbolic
  awakening.
• Aries- sign of creation
• Greyhound/Feltro and Feltro
• Can Grande della Scala- great leader in Verona
  between Feltre and Montefeltro
• Salvation is for believers of Christ Virgil
  died before Christs teachings- therefore no
  Heaven

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Gates(3)

• Peters Gate gate of Purgatory
• Peter- 1st Pope- symbolic of all Popes
• Has 2 keys
• Gate of Hell canto 3
• Gate of Dis canto 8
• Gate of Purgatory- Purgatory, canto 9

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Quotes

• lines 18-19 whose virtue leads men straight on
  every road / and the shining strengthened me
  against the fright
• lines 106-107 I will be your guide and lead you
  forth through an eternal place
• lines 115-116 If after Hell, you still wish to
  climb a worthier spirit shall be sent to guide
  you.
• line 117 With HER I shall leave you, for the
  King of Time.

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• Virgil can only take him through Hell and
  Purgatory
• Beatrice, his symbol of divine love, will take
  him through Paradise
• I will be your guide / and lead you forth
  through an eternal place. / There you shall see
  the ancient spirits tried / in endless pain.
  lines 106-109

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Map of the earth, showing Hell and Mount
Purgatory. Commedia di Dante insieme con uno
dialogo circa el sito, forma et misure dello
Inferno (Florence Filippo Giunta, 1506).
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Frontispiece of Hell (Venice Pietro da Fino,
1568).
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Canto II

• The Descent

Gustave Dores Inferno The Darkening Sky of the
First Night
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• 1st day-Friday
• Beatrice visited Virgil in Limbo and told him of
  her concerns for Dante (his soul)
• Dante cannot attain Divine Love alone
• REASON must lead him
• Beatrice- sent by Virgin Mary and St. Lucia
• Virgin Mary- Divine Light
• St. Lucia- Compassion
• Rachel- contemplative life

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• Aeneas- royal line that shall rule the world
• Visits Latian lands, after misadventure descends
  to underworld
• Dante continues the theme of predestination
• Questions whether he is worthy of this vision
• line 51-52 I was a soul among the souls in
  Limbo referring to Virgils state in Hell
• Ptolemaic system- earth is center of creation
• Line 97- lucia lucelight

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• Lines133-135 Thy words have moved my heart to
  its first purpose, / My guide! My Lord! My
  Master! Now lead on / one will shall serve the
  two of us in this.
• Reference to Aeneas in the royal line
  predestination of Roman Empire, and also Holy
  Roman Empire and the Church, i.e. Divine scheme
  of the Catholic God and Aeneas is a forefather of
  Peter and Paul
• Ptolemaic system Earth, the moon, Mercury,
  Venus, The Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, The Fixed
  Stars, The Primum Mobile