Reading the Classics #60: Dante Alighieri
I’ve covered a lot of my favorite authors in this series so far, but one that hasn’t been done yet (Until now), is Dante Alighieri. Full name Durante de Alighiero degli Alighieri, he was born in Florence, Italy in the late 13th century. Early in life he met a beautiful girl named Beatrice and quickly fell in love with her. Social customs of the time, however, already had him betrothed to a girl he really didn’t care for, and as a result never got to be with Beatrice. She died of sickness years later, but her name has been immortalized due to her constant appearance in Dante’s writings. Now, Florence in those days was a hotspot for political intrigue. Like honestly, there was assassinations and riots and debates all the time; it was a very political atmosphere. Dante found himself caught up in all this, which was rather unfortunate, as it resulted in his eternal banishment from Florence, and he would be burned at the stake if he returned. Talk about harsh. The sentence even remained after his death, and was only ended in 2008, which is a bit late in my opinion. Travelling around to different cities in Europe, Dante began writing pamphlets, letters, and stories. I’m gonna be reviewing some of those stories today, namely the three parts of the Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Pardiso), as well as the poem Vita Nuova (The New Life). Let’s jump into it.
1. Inferno
2. Purgatorio
3. Paradiso
4. The New Life
If you’ve been following this series for a while, you know by now that I love dark stuff. That’s why the Inferno really appealed to me, and I liked it a lot. The story begins with Dante being visited by the spirit of Virgil. Virgil says that he’s been sent by Beatrice (Dante’s old flame) to guide Dante through Hell, so that he can tell others how bad it is. Now if I was Dante I’d be suspicious, but he goes anyway, and he sees some pretty wacky things. Basically, there are nine circles of Hell, and each circle is for a different kind of sinner. The first circle is Limbo, where those who were never told of the Gospel reside (Virgil himself lives there). Next is Lust, which is pretty self explanatory; Helen of Troy and Sir Tristan are among those here (Dante loved to put popular characters in Hell, for real). Gluttony follows, with several of Dante’s old rivals being here (How convenient for him). Greed, Wrath, and Heresy are the 4th, 5th, and 6th circles, respectively. Circle 7 (Violence) gets divided into three categories: Those who harm others (Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, etc.); those who harm themselves, and those who do violence against God, nature, and art. Fraud is the next circle, containing inhabitants like Jason (The Jason from the story of the Golden Fleece, not me), Simon Magus, Caiaphas, Ulysses/Odysseus, Mohammed, and Michael Scott (Not the Office one, different guy). Treachery forms the last circle, Cain, Judas Iscariot, and Mordred are here. Right in the very middle of Hell, you have the Devil himself. After all that, Virgil takes Dante and takes him back to his home.
Well, that was quite a ride. It’s not over, though. Turns out that now, Dante’s gonna go check out Purgatory (Hence the name Purgatorio). He and Virgil go fly up a bit, where the Cato (A Roman) guides them to the entrance. They finally reach Purgatory, and see that it’s a huge mountain. They begin climbing, and meet all kinds of people along the way. First, they see the people that did repent and become Christians, but only at a late point in their life. I guess they get more purgatory time for that or something, I don’t quite understand Dante’s thinking lol. Then they find seven “terraces” on he mountain, that each correspond to one of the deadly sins. There’s Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony, and Lust. Among the many people here are people that Dante knew in Florence, Pope Adrian V, and Pygmalion. After Dante and Virgil climb past the 7th terrace, they arrive at the Earthly Paradise, which is basically the best place in Purgatory. Turns out Beatrice is there, and Dante kinda has an emotional breakdown at seeing her (Tbh I don’t blame him). Virgil can’t go any closer to Heaven, so without even saying bye to Dante, he goes back to Hell. Beatrice becomes Dante’s new guide, because guess what, the journey isn’t over yet. I mean, when you’ve seen Hell and seen Purgatory, might as well go see Heaven too.
So, that’s what they did. The Paradiso describes Dante and Beatrice’s journey. Just like how everything else has different markers, so Heaven has nine spheres. The Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, and the Primum Mobile (They didn’t know about the other planets back in Dante’s day). They meet a lot of people who, according to Dante, are up in Heaven. Justinian the Great, Charles Martel, Solomon, Thomas Aquinas, Charlemange and Roland, Judas Maccabeus, David, Constantine, Mary, the Apostles (Dante uses St. Peter to say some pretty nasty words about the current Pope), and the angels all have appearances in the story. Next is the Empyrean, where God himself abides. Beatrice returns to her position in Heaven, leaving Dante in the care of St. Bernard. After a bit of theology discourse, Dante sees God himself, and somehow his mind is able to comprehend it. And, that’s where the story ends. Just like that.
Now, I know that was a lot, but I have one last thing to review. Dante wrote a poem called Vita Nuova, which, when translated, means The New Life. I’ll refer to the poem by that name from now on. I don’t have very much to say about this poem. It’s a poem about love, inspired by (You guessed it) Beatrice. As far as poems go, it was good, but I wasn’t too impressed by it. A lot of critics have said amazing things about it, but I guess I’m not with the crowd.
So, should you read the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso? If you can, then yes. But I must warn you, the language is like Shakespeare, so you might want a dictionary with you. Also, the more Greek and Roman mythology you know, the more you’ll enjoy reading these. I hope you do read them, though. I loved the story, crazy and wrong as it may be. Dante’s works will now be in the Italy timeline down below. As this is Post #60, an Update is in order. It won’t be very much, for reasons that I’ll explain in that post. But until then, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
44-38 B.C. - Eclogues by Virgil
19 B.C.- Aeneid by Virgil
A.D. 8- Metamorphoses by Ovid
1295- The New Life by Dante Alighieri
1308-1320- Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri
Paradiso by Dante Alighieri
