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Dante’s Inferno

Dante’s Inferno. Period 4/5 SI’s. Dante. Personal life Born around 1265 in Florence Mother Died when he was ten Was promised to Gemma Di Manetto Donati in marriage when he was twelve, but fell in love with Beatrice Portanari Political views

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Dante’s Inferno

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  1. Dante’s Inferno Period 4/5 SI’s

  2. Dante • Personal life • Born around 1265 in Florence • Mother Died when he was ten • Was promised to Gemma Di Manetto Donati in marriage when he was twelve, but fell in love with Beatrice Portanari • Political views • Supported the Guelfs, instead of the Ghibellines • Guelfs supported the Pope, Ghibellines were supported by the HRE • When they defeated the Ghibellines, they split into the Black and White Guelfs. • Dante was in the White Guelfs

  3. Dante • Poet • Wrote throughout his life, but wrote the most while in exile • Was no longer concerned with Florentine Politics • This is when he wrote the Divine Comedy • When is uncertain • Three Parts • Writes Sonnets to Beatrice Portanari • Never mentions actual wife in Poetry • Wrote in the vernacular instead of Latin • Convivio (collection of poems) Monarchia (political treatise) De Vulgari Eloquentia (On the Eloquence of Vernacular) • Influential Moments • Being Exiled was very painful, almost like death • was offered opportunity to return, but not without paying a heavy fine, so he refused

  4. Political Background of Italy - late 1200s to early 1300s • Italy was dominated politically by city-states • Different from the rest of feudal Europe • Able to keep the power of church and imperialism at bay following the decline of the Holy Roman Empire • Commerce created prosperity • Created the conditions that allowed the exchange of ideas and art during the Renaissance

  5. Political Background of Italy - The Guelphs and Ghibellines • Rival factions that played an important role in Italian city-state politics in the 12th and 13th centuries • The two factions competed for political power with the Guelphs supporting the Pope and the Ghibellines supporting the Roman Empire • Some members of the two factions are featured in The Inferno as sinners suffering in hell • Dante understood many of the actions of these groups to be immoral and fundamentally corrupt

  6. Political Background of Florence - late 1200s to early 1300s • The Ghibellines ruled Florence in the first half of the 13th century • Were usurped by the Guelphs in 1250 • Florence became a mercantile powerhouse under the Guelphs, extending their influence in banking throughout Europe and the Near East • The Guelphs split into two factions, the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs • Pope Bonafice VIII schemed with Blacks to seize power • The White Guelphs (Dante Alighieri) were exiled

  7. Critical Reception - During Dante’s time • The Inferno was the first Italian work of epic poetry written in vernacular, not church Latin • Used the common language, the Florentine dialect of Italian • Standardized the Italian language • Paved the way for literature written in vernacular • Announced in 1314, it was controversial and poorly received due to its politically charged criticism of religious figures

  8. Impact on future literature and other media • The Inferno offers truth and inspiration to many who consider themselves writers or philosophers • Themes of morality and self-awareness apply pressure to modern artists • Concerned about the inward implications of the natural world, not its physical form • Dante’s vision of Hell has shaped the modern understanding of the afterlife and sin • Outside of architecture and literature, the dark and sinister mood of The Inferno is a strong foundation for other media like video games and graphic novels

  9. Sin according to the Catholic Church • 2 Categories:minor venial sins and more severe mortal sins • 7 original, or capital sins • Lust - • Gluttony - over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste • Greed - very excessive desire and pursuit of material possessions • Sloth - failure to do things that one should do • Wrath - inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger • Envy - desire for someone else’s success or achievment • Pride - inflated sense of one’s own personal status

  10. Catholicism • Sin (continued) • Mortal sins must meet the following requirements • Grave/Serious matter at hand • committed with full knowledge of the offense • must be committed with deliberate and complete consent • Heaven • State of full communion with God • “Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness"

  11. Catholicism • Purgatory “Necessary Purification” • Process of purification for those who wish to be in full communion with God but who are imperfect in their faith or wishes • Cleaned of all doubt and sin • Hell • Hell is the state of those who reject God • not a punishment set externally by God, but rather the consequences of actions and beliefs already set in this life (This is particularly relevant to Dante’s Inferno) • Hell is eternal damnation

  12. The Aeneid and Virgil • Virgil, the poet • one of Rome’s greatest poets • wide, deep influence on western literature • Overview of the Aeneid • Modeled after the Iliad and The Odyssey (so it’s an epic, in Latin) • Aeneas flees Troy, goes to Carthidge, falls in love with queen Dido • Aeneas leaves Carthidge and so Dido kills herself • Aeneas goes to Drepanum where they celebrate Anchises’ death and Aeneas gets a prophecy telling him to go to the underworld to meet his father • Meets his dad in the underworld, dad shows him the shades that will become the heroes of the Roman empire

  13. The Aeneid and Virgil • Overview of the Aeneid (continued) • Sets sail for Laurentum to build his great city (Because his destiny is to seek out Italy) • once there, the king greets them warmly, wants his daughter to mary him. Juno is mad, so she sends a fury to stir up trouble. Now there is a war between the Latins and the Trojans. • In the end, it comes down to a duel between Aeneas and Turnus (one of the daughter’s suitors) • Aeneas wins even with Turnus being aided by the gods • Epic ends with Aeneas not showing mercy, and plunging his sword through Turnus’ chest.

  14. Aristotle on Sin • Lived 384-322 BC • Studied under Plato and tutored Alexander the Great • Is called “the first genuine scientist in history” by the Encyclopedia Britannica • Sin • Wantonness, violence, and fraud • Wantonness includes lust and gluttony and is the lightest sin • Things we share with the animals • Fraud is betrayal, and is the worst sin • Dante also includes religious sins that Aristotle did not

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