The Living in Hell:
Sacred Signs / Secular Meanings in Dante's Inferno
Dr. Fidel Fajardo-Acosta
what follows is the outline of a lecture delivered by Dr. Fajardo-Acosta at Creighton University on October 31, 2002
"O you possessed of sturdy intellects,
observe the teaching that is hidden here
beneath the veil of verses so obscure" (Inferno, Canto IX, trans. A.
Mandelbaum)
I. DANTE AND HIS WORK
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy)
Trilogy: Inferno, Purgatorio,
Paradiso
work written while Dante exiled
as a consequence of his involvement with a political party that criticized the
corruption of the pope
The Divine Comedy is an account
of Dante's own journey through the afterlife (hell, purgatory, and heaven)
guidance of the Roman poet Virgil
(1st c. BC)
journey inspired by and directed
toward Beatrice, the earthly love of Dante's youth
journey toward salvation
II. LIVING IN HELL
our own world as hell:
widespread poverty and disease;
children starving to death; masses living in misery; all wealth and power in
few hands; terrorism; hate; racism; rampant violence: school shootings, street
snipers, glorification of war, weapons of mass destruction; abuse of the environment;
greedy corporations cheating consumers, employees, and stock-holders; lying
politicians serving private instead of public interests; hypocritical moralists
pursuing agendas of hate disguised as religion; dominance of irrationality,
ignorance, and superstition
Dante's world a similar hell:
civil and international warfare;
vicious political struggles; corrupt popes seeking power and wealth; sale ecclesiastical
offices (simony); sale of salvation (indulgences); world of intolerance and
persecution of dissenters (Inquisition founded 1231); wholesale murder and pillaging
in the name of Christ (Crusades in 11th-13th centuries);
religion misunderstood, abused, and manipulated; greed, pride and violence disguised
as holiness; prevalence of ignorance, superstition, and fear
III DANTE'S CRITICISM OF HIS WORLD
Dante: the first Renaissance Christian
Humanist
exposure of the evils of his world
challenging of Church dogmas, exposing superstitions
creation of a new Humanist philosophy radically
re-interpreting Christianity
giving Christianity a human and earthly meaning
centered around the idea of love
demanding the substance of true
Christianity in Christian life: love, peace, humility, forgiveness, giving,
caring about others, healing the sick, feeding the hungry
IV. DANTE'S CRITICAL METHOD: SACRED
SIGNS / SECULAR MEANINGS
crisis of meaning in the Middle
Ages, dysfunctional signs, things not what they seemed, deceptive appearances
corruption of the Church and of spiritual, signs and symbols
Dante turns upside down the medieval religious symbols and signs
revolution in meanings
new symbols reversing the meaning of the old ones
Dante's modification and adaptation of traditional four-fold method of interpretation of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274):
LITERAL -- the everyday meaning
MORAL -- educational lessons
ALLEGORICAL -- abstract, intellectual, conceptual symbols
ANAGOGICAL -- the deepest mysteries of the afterlife
Dante's reversal: the anagogical made the literal, the literal
the anagogical
overcoming of superstition by exposing it as the most superficial
level of meaning
giving new dignity and sacredness to everyday life
the new deepest meaning: earthly love, Beatrice
V. REVERSALS AND SURPRISES IN THE INFERNO
hell is a place on earth
most notable: the popes in hell (Nicholas III, Boniface VIII,
Clement V); the keys of Saint Peter opening the gates of understanding of the
new symbolism created by Dante
representation of hell in earthly, sensory, familiar terms,
populated by oneself and those one knows
the presence of the living human being in hell (classical motif
reinterpreted)
Dante enters hell while alive: "nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita" Canto I.1 "in the middle of the road of our life"
Dante enters hell driven by his own sins (symbolized by the
lion, the wolf, and the leopard)
concept of contrapasso (sin = punishment), sinning is
hell
hell is the state of sin; harming others creates a world that
is literally hellish for the sinner himself and for others, a world that is
torn apart by hate and violence, a world of suffering and lamentation, a world
that is dying
Dante provides an important hint by portraying sinners whose
souls are in hell but whose bodies are still alive on earth (Fra Alberigo, Ninth
Circle, Canto 33)
defiance of the dogma that hell is forever; Dante denies the
truth of the inscription at the gates of hell: "lasciate ogni speranza, voi
ch'entrate" (Canto III, "abandon all hope you who enter")
Dante enters and exits hell; while there is life there is hope
of transformation, stopping sin and getting out of hell
questioning of the dogma that all non-Christians are necessarily
in hell: Virgil moves in and out of hell and guides Dante all the way to the
top of the mountain of Purgatory
questioning of a dogmatic and inflexible definition of sin:
Dante's love and sympathy for several of the souls in hell acts as a form of
redemption for them (e.g. Paolo and Francesca in the circle of the lustful,
Canto 5; Brunetto Latino in the circle of the sodomites, Seventh Circle, Canto
15)
Dante re-evaluating each sin and each sinner, in many cases
forgiving what the Church could not; humanizing the sinner and showing understanding
and tolerance of human passions
Dante imitating Christ and his forgiving and redemption of humanity:
allusion to legends of Christ entering hell after his death and rescuing a number
of souls (Adam and Eve, the prophets, etc.)
Dante's mission is re-redemption of the world by recalling and
imitating the love and mercy of Christ
VI. MORE SURPRISES: DANTE THE SINNER
Dante faces his own challenges in hell
Dante's own journey motivated by hate and anger toward his enemies,
desire for vengeance
he is in hell for good reasons, not merely as an observer but
also as a participant in evil
sin of Dante is most visible at moments when his behavior imitates
not Christ's but that of the sinners in hell
very real danger of his staying there forever if he does not
overcome his own anger, hate, and vengefulness
symbol in the danger of Medusa turning him to stone at the gates of Dis (Canto IX): Dante covers his eyes with his hands and Virgil covers Dante's hands with his own
Dante then says:
"O you possessed of sturdy intellects,
observe the teaching that is hidden here
beneath the veil of verses so obscure," (Canto IX)
the most serious danger is the failure to do self-examination;
need for introspective self-criticism; danger of failing to see one's own faults
problems of Dante seen in his wrath in the circle of the wrathful
(Fifth Circle) when he is enraged at the sight of Filippo Argenti, a personal
enemy; Dante feels no sympathy for Filippo's tears and suffering and even desires
to see him suffer more (Virgil too is caught up in cruelty and desire for vengeance)
problems of Dante especially visible in the Ninth Circle of hell, the frozen, circular lake of ice at the bottom of hell and the residence of Satan
Ninth Circle is symbolic of the ultimate cold-heartedness, lack
of feeling for others
Dante feels half-dead as he experiences the cold blast of Lucifer's
beating wings
then Dante kicks heads, pulls hair, and abuses the souls embedded
in the ice
Dante promises Fra Alberigo to clear the ice from his eyes if
he reveals his identity, then goes back on his promise
gravest danger as he becomes treacherous in circle of treachery;
Dante ensnared in his own sins and contradictions
at this point Dante is effectively entrapped in hell, his heart
frozen, his actions identical with those of the treacherous at the bottom of
hell
the only way for him to get out: recognizing the sin in himself,
seeing the absurdity of his self-righteousness, forgiving and accepting what
he hates the most
only way out: , to look into the spiritual mirror, to embrace
the body of Satan
embrace as symbol of forgiveness of sin, need to sympathize
with the suffering (the tears) of the greatest sinner
introspection and self-recognition: need to look into the center
of the mirror-like surface of the frozen lake; what Dante sees there is just
himself
Dante = Satan
that insight and his capacity to forgive set him free
implication of the impossibility of escaping hell while his soul is tainted with anger, hate, vengefulness, and self-righteousness
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