Twice-Told Tales.: Dante's Changing Understanding of God

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Dante's Changing Understanding of God

Throughout this poem, Dante’s understanding of God and His power and authority fluctuates several times. In the first Canto, Dante has strayed from the path of God, and is tempted by lust, pride, and cupidity. It is for this reason that God and Beatrice send Virgil to rescue him from this “shadowed forest” (2), to show Dante where he will end up if he does not get back on the path to righteousness.

Throughout the entire poem, Dante struggles with his feelings of pity for the souls that have been sent to Hell, perhaps because he does not understand that justice has been done and the punishment set forth by God (supposedly) fits the crime. Virgil rebukes him several times for his feelings of pity for the sinners. It is not until he meets Filippo Argentio, whom Dante knew and despised before his death, that he begins to understand that God’s judgment is always right. Virgil praises Dante for taking pleasure in seeing Argentio suffer. However, Dante regresses several more times throughout his journey, feeling pity for several more souls, including Brunetto Latini, a mentor to Dante, whom Dante felt was “kind and paternal” (137), and Geri del Bello, a relative of Dante’s whose death had not been avenged. It is his pity, I think, that seems to be one of the greatest obstacles that Dante must face on his journey to knowing and understanding God better. I assume that in Purgatorio and Paradiso, he is able to work through this issue.

While I think Dante’s comprehension of whether God’s judgment is right or wrong fluctuates throughout the poem, his understanding of the magnitude of His power only increases. Before his journey begins, Dante does not comprehend the things that God can do. It is when he enters Ante-Hell that he gets his first taste of what God can do to people who have sinned. He sees shades being “stung again and again by horseflies and by wasps that circled them” (23) and he weeps and is “oppressed by horror” (23). As he journeys along, he sees demons, gorgons, centaurs, and even Lucifer himself, and he is both amazed and horrified by both the things that God can create, and His wrath. In the Seventh Circle, Dante proclaims, “Oh, vengeance of the Lord, how you should be dreaded by everyone…” (125) showing that he can better grasp the great and terrible things that God can do. Additionally, in Canto XIX, Dante writes, “O Highest Wisdom, how much art you show in heaven, earth, and this sad world below,” (169) demonstrating his awe in the wake of God’s power.

2 comments:

UnknownFebruary 1, 2015 at 11:06 AM
I agree with Emma’s analysis that Dante’s understanding of God further develops throughout the poem. Dante’s emotions throughout the poem obviously convey his feelings towards God. A personal struggle is seen within Dante and he switches between feeling pity and showing none. To add on to what Emma described, when Dante feels pity, he is going against God’s better judgment. In these instances, his distrust is clearly visible, making the journey especially difficult for him. The example mentioned involving Brunetto Latini is perfect in highlighting this and exemplifying Dante’s struggle.
It is interesting that as Emma points out, Dante’s understanding of God’s power is ever increasing, because even as he gets further down in Hell, he still continues to weep and feel pity. One would think that as he becomes more fearful he would show more trust in God and be more likely to believe Him. Instead, Dante continues to revert to his old habits and faints and weeps and tries to show pity to those he feels bad for. Even in Canto XXIX, in the ninth pouch of the eight circle, “so many souls and such outlandish wounds had made [his] eyes inebriate – they longed to stay and weep” (1-3). Without Virgil to guide Dante and keep him on track, Dante would be a weeping mess still stuck near the gates. Even the most gruesome atrocities still do not instill fear in Dante, but rather pity. Although Dante is supposed to be innocent and true to God, throughout his journey he struggles with his faith based on what he sees.
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UnknownFebruary 1, 2015 at 1:05 PM
The irony of Inferno is that if Dante is right about God’s judgment being perfectly just, he is committing a grave sin against God by writing the poem. When Virgil explains the workings of God’s plan to Dante, he describes the figure of Fortune as God’s will personified, something that humans should never attempt to understand. He says, “Your knowledge cannot stand against her force; for she foresees and judges and maintains…She is the one so frequently maligned” (Canto V). By writing Inferno, Dante is trying to explain the inexplicable by showing the audience who went to Hell, which sins sent them there, and what their punishment is. A human putting himself in the role of God by judging what happens to the dead and which punishments they receive should be blasphemy by Dante’s logic!
Unfortunately, Dante holds those who displease God below murderers, thieves and others who harm other people. When Dante questions why the levels of hell are ranked according to each sin, Virgil replies with, “Of every malice that earns hate in heaven, injustice is the end; and each such end by force or fraud brings harm to other men. However, fraud is men’s peculiar vice; God finds it more displeasing” (Canto XI). Dante is committing fraud and blasphemy, with the sin of pride by presuming God’s judgment. If he were consistent with his own beliefs, he would be damning himself to the lowest parts of Hell, so I strongly disagree with Emma and Lauren that Dante learned something by the end.
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