As Dante proceeds through hell, he begins to interact with the sinners he finds
there. What is your own reaction to these individuals? Discuss your response
to one particular sinner in detail: do you find yourself sympathizing with them,
or condemning them? Why?
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ReplyDeleteI felt sorry for the sinners in the first circle because most of them had committed no actual sin, and were in hell because they existed before the time of Christ. The one sinner I condemned was Ciacco, in the third circle. Ciacco references the image of a pig, so that is probably not his real name, but it is well suited to his sin, gluttony. Gluttony refers to taking anything in excess, such as food, drink, or money. I find this to be a good reason for his condemnation because in my mind there's no reason to ever want anything in excess. You should learn to be content with what you have and not to be wasteful or greedy.
ReplyDeleteI find myself sympathizing with these characters more than condemning them. I think this is overall because I know that there is no perfect human and that we all struggle with sin. I did feel more apt to condemn Francesca da Rimini because of her act of adultery. I think I am more apt to condemn her than the other characters we encounter on the journey, because this goes against the morals of our society the same today as it did then. We know the results that adultery has on one's marriage, and the overall effects it has on the family members involved. It is easier for us to see adultery from the outside and condemn those involved and say that it could have simply been resisted to save themselves from the brokenness of marriage and failed commitment. However, I sympathized most with Ciacco, because we often do not think of actions as gluttony, or even as sinful as we commit this sin ourselves daily. Those in the gluttonous layer are tortured with the polluted rain and fail in their efforts to clean themselves. I sympathize with them because their fallacy creates waste and they are constantly reminded of their excess as their greed is continually punished.
ReplyDeleteAs I am of a non-Christian religion, I do not believe in Hell and found myself sympathizing with all of those in every circle I read about. None of them, in my opinion, had done anything to warrant Hell. I suppose, oddly enough, I found myself more sympathetic towards the heretics, because if I had lived during that time with the beliefs I have, I would have definitely been accused of heresy. Also, despite what she is accused of and especially in relation to Dante's portrayal of her, I sympathize greatly with Francesca. Since Dante portrays her "as a deluded victim of medieval romance" (385), I can understand getting caught up in a fairy tale romance, just as I would doubt there is any girl in my generation that was not just as influenced at some point in their youth by one or more of the Disney princess movies. I believe the "sins" of the first six circles are types of sins that do not directly harm others, or at least they aren't directly meant to, as they are sins one commits against the self. I have no doubt, however, that one's personal religion will influence how they view these first six circles, as is such the case with myself.
ReplyDelete-- Leslie Fox
The sinners that most resonated with me where those trapped in limbo. They were actually not sinners and possessed merit and honor but were not baptized as Christians; therefore, they could not be welcomed into the gates of Heaven. I felt great sadness and sympathy for these people who truly did not deserve to spend eternity in limbo. During their lifetime Christianity was not a religion or even heard of, hence they had no way to know the religion and become a Christian. It seems unjust that they must spend their afterlife in such a place even if the life they led was so good and honorable.
ReplyDeleteMy gut reaction to the punishment of the sinners is that the punishments are very harsh. This probably has to do with the fact that if Dante’s Hell existed, I would definitely go there after I died. It seems almost impossible to not end up in Hell unless, of course, you repent. Many of the punishments appear to involve physical tortures, and that doesn’t seem to me to fit the crimes, although I know that was Dante’s intent. I think this difference stems from differing religious beliefs and differing time periods. The sinners that I responded to the most were Francesca and Paolo because the poem seems to paint them in such a sympathetic light. Dante describes them “[a]s doves whom desire has summoned, / With raised wings steady against the current, glide / Guided by will to the sweetness of their nest” (lines 72-74). This comparison to doves is unexpected if the reader is to ultimately condemn these people. Indeed, the pilgrim himself pities the lovers, saying, “Francesca, your suffering make me weep / For sorrow and pity” (lines 103-104). I understand that they are in Hell because they blame the book for their suffering/love, but to me, that’s not a good enough explanation for the torment they are enduring.
ReplyDeletePunishments are ridiculously excessive in Inferno. I agree with Kali that the physical tortures don't seem to fit the crimes, when the crimes committed don't very well harm anyone but the sinners themselves. The image that struck me most was that of the fifth circle, where the wrathful are fighting each other and literally (?) swallowing mud while the sullen weep beneath them. While I do sympathize with all of the sinners trapped in in the inferno, I sympathize most with those who are trapped in Limbo. Why should they be punished when they possess the merits that would, in all rights, grant them access to Paradise? Living before the Christian faith is no reason to condemn "multitudes of children and women and men" (Canto IV, line 23).
ReplyDeleteIn Dante's circles of Hell, each sin that was committed initially is being committed repeatedly in Hell. The idea of contrapasso is heavily manifested in Dante's Hell. Logically, the idea of contrapasso allows the sinners to continue the "sin" they chose during life. Although the contrapasso makes sense in a logical reasoning, based on the fact that the people chose to commit the sin willingly, I sympathize with the "sinners" of Limbo the most. I agree with Megan, that the people who possessed the merits that would grant a Christian into Paradise, but came before the Christian faith should not be condemned, but rather they should be given a shot at Purgatory.
ReplyDelete~Leta
As Dante and Virgil proceed, they descend lower and lower passing though the different levels of Hell. Finding each level to be filled with worse and worse people and creatures the further they descend. Dante and Virgil simply observe most and converse with others as they pass through the different levels. My response is the same for all those who remained in Hell after Christ came to rescue those righteous ones like King David, Abraham, and Moses from before his sacrifice giving birth to salvation and Christianity. Whether it is the great thinkers like Plato and Socrates, or lovers like Paris and Tristan, or gluttons, I neither sympathize nor condemn any of them. Different variations and levels of sin is a creation of man, and in Gods eyes there is know difference between a little white lie and a serial killer. Sin is sin in the eyes of God, and that was the reason for Christ’s sacrifice. It was the only way to provide forgiveness through salvation giving us that one-way to the Father. If these people chose to ignore salvation through Christ, there eternal damnation is between then and God. God provided clear instructions for salvation and the consequence of not following and believing. Therefore, one is no different than the other, and I do not sympathize with any of them because it was there own choice that landed them in Hell. Nor do I condemn them because it is not my place to judge. Only God can judge.
ReplyDeleteAs Dante is travelling through hell, I do find myself sympathizing with those he is talking to. The sinners are divided up into categories that consist of their over-arching sins (such as heresy, lust, etc.) All of these sins are very easy for anyone to commit. The people wallowing and fighting in the bog that were being punished for their anger seem to be a fitting example. I commit that sin all the time, just as I am sure everyone does. Now they are condemned to an eternal life of sorrow because they gave in to a very common part of human nature? It seems like the odds are stacked against them. As for feeling empathy toward one particular sinner, perhaps Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti is one that sticks out the most. He was a man who strongly followed a sect of Christianity that he believed was true, but was actually false and was condemned to Hell for it. He is also responsible for the condemnation of thousands of other souls who are entombed with him because he converted them to his way of thinking. True, he did let his politics and his religion blur together it seems, but to be damned even after having religious fervor seems unfair.
ReplyDeleteI feel sympathy for the sinners of The Inferno. They all seem so confused and (of course) in agony. The one who stands out the most to me is Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti because Dante’s own misunderstanding (using the word “had” (99) – as in the past tense of the man) causes him to think his son (Guido) is dead, devastating him. I can only imagine being in hell, in close quarters with my enemy, and then thinking my loved one has perished.
ReplyDeleteThe sinners only know the past and rely on news from others to know otherwise. As Freccero states in the notes, “The damned lack this knowledge; their temporality is a negative image of our own, a central nothingness expanding with time until it engulfs both past and future” (391). Dante asks Farinata to explain the mistake to Cavalcante, but we do not know if the message is ever relayed, being that Dante has to leave his conversation and rejoin Virgil.
The pain of losing a loved one is severe and, coupled with being in hell, would be unfathomable.
-Ann Reagan
Dante was writing at the cusp of the Medieval Era and the Renaissance. I consider Dante proto-Renaissance in addition to medieval. Anyways, Dante was writing during the time when Catholicism was the undisputed religion in Europe. The Protestant Reformation was at least 200 years into the future, so Dante had no other way viewing life and the afterlife but through a Catholic lens. His style of Hell and punishment fits the belief systems of Catholicism and several Protestant sects of Christianity. Several of my reactions were neutral at best. Some punishments I found ironic and befitting, such as the wrathful fighting each other in the quagmire. The lustful's punishment was highly symbolic: they shed off self-control when they decided to boink or pursue someone else, so the winds sweeping them everywhere controls them without any say. I also need to add my opinion on including clergymen in Hell. Dante must have been taking a terrible risk for including priests and monks in Hell, even if they did deserve it. Such an act may have been seen as heresy or something like that according to the Church. All right, time to get emotional. The only figure I felt pity for was Dido because I know her story. Dido was in love with Aeneas, but Aeneas had to set sail for Italy to become Rome's proto-founder. After being spurned, she curses Rome and Carthage to eternal rivalry before ultimately committing suicide.
ReplyDeleteJacky Killian
I feel sorry for the sinners in the first circle of hell because it is unfair why they are in Hell. I feel this way due to the fact they are in hell because they were alive before the time of Christ and that’s not their fault. Before the time of Christ most people were worshiping Greek, Roman, Hindu, and Egyptian Gods. They cannot be blamed for that because that is all they knew back then. I condemn the corrupt clergymen, popes, and cardinals who wasted the churches money and did not do their job from God to send the word of God to the people who needed it. Christopher Catlett
ReplyDeleteI believe Dante makes the narrator sympathetic for a reason; by showing that the narrator is unable to understand the harsh punishments given to the sinners, it shows a flaw in the “divine justice” that “Inferno” talks about. As he descends further and further into hell it’s obvious that the punishments become even crueler and unusual. I certainly sympathize with every character that Dante talks to considering none of them seem fit for such retributions. One such case that I found myself sympathizing with Francesca, a woman bound in marriage to an old and deformed man; without even meaning to she falls in love with his younger brother and they eventually get together. Although adultery is obviously wrong, the fact that both her and the lover were slain and forced to stay an eternity in the Second Circle of Hell seems a bit too harsh. Francesca herself seems full of remorse and woe, allowing the reader as well as the narrator to feel an overwhelming sense of pity; after describing her story her lover broke down into tears: “All the while the one shade spoke, / The other at her side was weeping” (Dante 124-125). Their extreme emotional outburst certainly allow me to feel pity for them, especially since that’s what Dante wanted his readers to feel; even though they were sinful they weren’t able to repent and be forgiven, something both frightening as well as alarming.
ReplyDeleteAs Dante makes his journey, I do feel sympathy for those that have ended up in hell. Some of them are truly lost and are suffering eternity in agony, when it seems like they didn't really do anything extraordinary to be there. It really seems quite unfair that just a few small mistakes could land you in hell for all eternity. However, the further that Dante and Virgil descend directly relates to how I feel about the situation. The further they descend, I feel quite a bit less sympathy for the people that are located in the deeper rings of hell. They are more vile and despicable than the ring before them, and so forth and so on.
ReplyDeleteAs Dante begun to dive into the depths of hell, I was almost let down by what “sinners” we as readers were witnessing. Here, I have this image of little demons, similar to what we talked about in class. Instead, the first ring contains mostly of people who were condemned to help due to circumstances they couldn’t control, such as being born before Christ. Therefore, I undoubtedly sympathize with this first wave of sinners (I can’t promise that will remain true as we get deeper into hell). That being said, one of the sinners Dante and Virgil came across stuck out as someone who did deserve to be there, Francesca da Rimini. He was introduced as an adulterer, and I almost find it odd that he is bearing the same punishment as other individuals who haven’t committed crimes nearly as vile as his own. I won’t use this as an outlet for my own personal religious views, but I will say that I certainly hope that judgment isn’t as harsh as Dante’s perceives it to be. If so, then I am in a hell of a lot of trouble.
ReplyDeleteI think that an obvious sympathetic character is Francesca. Her story is a familiar story about a tragic love affair that lead to her and her lover's death. Dante and even Virgil too show sympathy and pity to this woman. This section of the poem is written with rich, romantic imagery, making the sympathy feel more natural. It seems that Dante wants to illicit this response in the reader. This probably comes from his struggle between his commitment to God and his former commitment to Beatrice.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other sinners, they do not tug at my sympathetic strings as much. I do find their punishments to be sadistic and that revolts me to the point of not wanting to condemn them to an eternity of those punishments. I do see that they deserve it more so than I see Francesca's.
As Dante delves deeper into the circles of Hell, I do sympathize with a few of the characters. However, the deeper he goes into Hell ultimately affects how I feel about the characters. I don't feel sympathy for a lot of them because I feel as if they are in Hell for a reason. I do sympathize with Francesca and Paolo in Canto V. While I do not condone their adultery, I do think their punishment is too severe. Dante was described as experiencing overwhelming pity toward to the two lovers after hearing their story. This helps the reader sympathize with them more, I believe.
ReplyDeleteI definitely did feel sorry for the first sinners that really had no way of being Christian due to the fact that they lived way before christianity even came about. I've always wondered how that would work out. I couldn't picture figures like Noah and Moses in a lake of eternal fire being tortured, they are like noble biblical celebrities.
ReplyDeleteI also felt sorry for the literary characters (Francesca and Pauolo) who had died for love and were now in hell together for an eternity. I thought that this was so sad, and I actually can relate to it as well because I am a really loving person and I would hate to end up in hell sitting next to the person I love while they weeped, and constantly reliving memories of what we were getting punished for- harsh.
I really struggled with the fact that the people in limbo weren't necessarily bad people, they just hadn't been saved. I felt overwhelming sympathy for these people just stuck. Many of them were condemned for reasons they couldn't help, therefore they were just pretty much screwed. I held onto Francesca's character a bit more. Her story is tragic and I believe she deserves sympathy from the readers, as well as Dante and Virgil. Her sad love story is one that is familiar to us, but I feel as though she does not deserve to go to Hell. She deserves pity.
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