By Tara Meyer
Dante’s Inferno reveals his distaste for the political state of Italy in the 14th Century. The dark wood where his pilgrim’s journey begins is a metaphor for the political turmoil (and “worldly life of sin”) in Italy during the High Renaissance. Dante believes in a more just and fair political state—and makes a compelling case for divine retribution in the poem. God’s justice is ultimately carried out against corrupt and dishonest ecclesiastical and secular authorities; the poet thus immortalizes the infamy of particular individuals associated with the era. Dante’s Renaissance ideals shine through his works in the balance between the sinner and the punishment in his elegant, powerful Contrapposto, revealing his moral attitudes towards politics and sin.
The Inferno articulates the seriousness of the sins that are essentially inflicted on the people by those enjoying positions of authority—perchance appealing to the religious fervor of the day by situating the unjust against God’s divine love.
Dante, being well versed in the works of classical philosophers like Aristotle and the great Greek poets, has a deep conception of human dignity and intellect. Like the Greek and Roman philosophers who raise important questions for the individual, Dante does the same in his Comedy. Like kindling for fire, Dante’s love for his city and pity for the citizens of Florence stokes a call to action. He does not sit idly by while corruption runs rampant and makes lesser men of those once proud. Giovanni Boccaccio says of Dante: “He affirmed with great weight, the right is not letting any crime that has been committed remain unpunished, and the left is rewarding every good
deed” ((Boccaccio and Carpenter). He was opposed to professional misconduct and had a strong platform on such matters especially when it came to public office. Dante’s moral platform was influenced by his family’s involvement with the Guelf party, a moderate party that served the working class. Their rivals were the Ghibellines. These politically influential parties resulted from two royal family disputes. Constant internecine strife caused one or the other to take political power or be cast out in politics. The Guelfs later split into white or black factions. The Whites favored the Pope for guidance, and the Blacks favored the emperor.
Dante gained political office and held it in true service to the people. He held much sway in the decision process and had a vision of a unified republic. Dante intended to create a third party to quell both parties, but found it too difficult and took sides with the Guelfs (Boccaccio and Carpenter). Essentially, “The Guelfs were represented by the more democratic middle and merchant classes who desired a constitutional government.”
They represented indigenous Italian stock, and looked to the Pope for help against the Ghibellines. However, this distinction became more and more blurred in Dante’s case” (Boccaccio and Carpenter). Dante’s only crime upon exile was being a White Guelf. He was defamed (accused of extortion) and ordered to pay fines. However, when he did not attend his trial he was banned from Tuscany and later threatened with execution by live burning if found. Boccaccio speaks of the slander against Dante:
Wherefore I, and whoever else will look at the matter with a rational eye, can see, not without the greatest affliction of heart, that evil and perverse men are elevated to high places and supreme offices and rewards, and good men exiled, cast down, and humbled (Boccaccio and Carpenter).
Dante recounts the misconduct of those who held office, and is dis- heartened by their self- service over public service. Pope Boniface the 8th was pope at the time of
the White Guelf exile that pushed Dante out of Florence for the rest of his life. Boniface the 8th was a reputed simonist. How can anyone expect righteousness (in the Lord’s name) to be done when ecclesiastical positions were filled in accordance to personal favoritism over the most capable and deserving
individuals? When Dante is mistaken for Boniface in the 3rd bolgia by a shade (Pope Nicholas III) who is face first in a pit in the ground, the shade speaks thus, “Is that you, here, already upright? Are you fed up so soon with all that wealth for which you did not fear to take by guile the lovely lady, then tear her asunder?” (Alighieri). The commentary here is criticism. Dante voices his concern against the simony and corruption of the church. The visual representation here is the same as Lucifer in the last canto. They are upside down, a most unnatural stance. This communicates that they go against the law of nature because –in terms of ethics—they are wrong and unjust.
Dante’s love for Italy serves as an inspiration for his poem. His love of the Florentine people is evident in the fact that the Inferno was written in candid vernacular. He deliberately aimed to reach a readership throughout Italy, including layman, clergy, and other poets (D.P.). Publishing his works in vernacular helped to do so. Perhaps Dante hoped to promote justice via his Divine Comedy. He became a pharmacist just to sit on political committees and was active in politics before writing the Divine Comedy. Dante involved himself in the political scene of Florence in 1297 as a means to limit the power of the anti- papal families of Tuscany (D.P).
Aristotle defines politics as merely an extension of ethics. In the interest of the common people, Dante condemns people in charge of public matters for lacking (or ignoring) ethics. He is asking the reader to question everything, like the Greek philosophers of classical antiquity. Dante is charging the people to think, but he is not telling them what to think. The pilgrim’s journey is one that sparks the soul of everyone. Dante makes his case for Christianity with the aid of the classical scholar’s knowledge, promoting the moral perfection that we should attain in ourselves and, more importantly, expect in the political figures that lead our governing bodies.
Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. Vol. 1: Inferno. Trans. Mark Musa. Penguin Books, 2003. Print.
Boccaccio, Giovanni and George Rice Carpenter. “A Translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Life of Dante.” Internet Archive. Internet Archive, n.d Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
D.P. “Guelphs and Ghibellins.” Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts. Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts, Inc., 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
Image: Dante by Domenico di Michelino (1465) via Wikimedia Commons