The Meaning Of Dante

’s Inferno Essay, Research Paper

The Meaning of Dante s Inferno

Dante s Inferno is a poem that is not easy to understand. The Inferno opens itself up to many questions, as well as, complicated interpretation. Metaphors and symbolism are found in every line, and to give a complete description of all the interpretations that have been made would be a huge undertaking. However, in order to understand the richness of the poem, it is necessary to have an understanding of the more widely accepted interpretations. The first five cantos of the Inferno hold undiscovered meaning as well as reflections of the time period that Dante lived.

Canto I begins showing Dante finding himself lost in a dark forest, having lost the right path while half asleep. Worried and frightened, he is comforted by the sight of sunlight over a nearby hill. However, when he tries to climb the hill to reach the brighter regions, he finds his way blocked by three savage animals: first a leopard, then a lion, then a she-wolf. Dante is too frightened to continue, and retreats back to the forest, where fortunately he meets up with Virgil, his literary hero. Virgil informs him that the three beasts are impassable. The she-wolf would reign until the greyhound came and slew her, and restored peace to Italy. In the meantime, Virgil would lead Dante to salvation, but first they must pass through Hell. Virgil would not be able to take Dante all the way to Paradise, since as a Pagan he had no right to enter there instead a more worthy soul would take him the final part of the way. Dante gladly accepts his offer.

The Inferno was written during Dante’s exile from Florence, whereas it purports to recount events that occurred much earlier. Averbach discovers that A passage in Canto XXI, 112-114, has been used by commentators to fix the fictional date of Canto I as the night before Good Friday, April 7, 1300 (103-105). The morning spent trying to climb the hill is Good Friday. Since Dante wrote the Inferno after he was exiled in 1301, this made it possible for him to make accurate “predictions” about events which had already occurred, thus lending an aura of truth to his genuine prophecies.

Carl Cohen tells us The dark forest is a metaphor for everything that Dante thought was wrong in 1300. This could include inner confusion and sin, the necessary imperfection of the world as opposed to Paradise and God, political corruption, the absence of true authority, the bad behavior of the Pope, etc. (12-15). Redemption is associated with struggle, in this case the struggle uphill, which is made impossibly difficult by the continual temptations of sin. Cohen also says, The leopard is symbolic of lust, the lion pride, and the she-wolf greed. The identity of the greyhound has been widely disputed: Christ, Dante himself, the Holy Roman Emperor, and Dante’s benefactor Cangrande Della Scala are some candidates (20-21). Zastrow finds that, Since Dante strongly supported the imperial claim to authority, it seems most likely that the greyhound is the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VII, elected in 1308, probably before the Inferno was written, but after it took place. (43-44).

Canto II of the Inferno prepares the reader for the great journey through Hell that Dante must go through. It begins with Dante invoking the Muses to help him tell his story. He begins to doubt his worthiness to make the great voyage through Hell. He asks Virgil for guidance, and Virgil tells him not to surrender to cowardice. In order to give him courage, Virgil tells him that Beatrice herself had descended from Paradise to Limbo to find him. Concerned about Dante, she asked Virgil to lead him to safety, which Virgil agrees to. Dante also discovers that not only Beatrice, but two other blessed ladies, Lucia and Rachel, were also concerned for him, having been warned by “a gentle lady” that he risks damnation. Hearing that his love had not forgotten him, Dante was encouraged, and he decided to follow Virgil wherever he would lead him.

The mixture of different literary genres and themes are particularly evident in this canto, though it occurs throughout the poem. The Inferno is part epic, modeled in some ways on Virgil’s Aeneid. It is also a deeply Christian poem full of traditional symbolism, describing a Hell quite differently from that of the Ancients (Chiarenza 82-83). Hell is not simply the underworld where the dead are, but is specifically the place where the wicked are punished, each according to his sin. The ultimate goal is to reach God. Another theme in Canto II is that of courtly love: much medieval literature deals with the love of a knight for an unattainable and lovely lady. In the literature of courtly love, the knight’s hopeless devotion spurs him on to chivalric feats, which he accomplishes in order to honor his chosen lady (Bloom 25). In some lyrics of courtly love, the perfection of the desired lady undermines the religious morality of the poetry: a Christian should love God above all else (Lehman 153). However, Dante melds the two genres, by loving a lady who is dead. There is no risk of physical sexuality, and since Beatrice is a blessed soul, she can be accepted as a link between Dante and God. By aspiring to Beatrice in the courtly manner, Dante becomes all the more Christian (Cohen 30). This rationalization would not have been accepted by the sterner Protestant sects, but in the courtly early 14th centur