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Canto 34 (Sata= n)

Wed= nesday, November 05, 2008

10:= 13 AM

Canto XXXIV

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Summary: Canto XXXIV

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Still journeying toward the center of the Ninth Circle of Hell, Dante becomes awa= re of a great shape in the distance, hidden by the fog. Right under his feet, however, he notices sinners completely covered in ice, sometimes several fe= et deep, contorted into various positions. These souls constitute the most evi= l of all sinners—the Traitors to their Benefactors. Their part of Hell, the Fo= urth Ring of the Ninth Circle, is called Judecca.

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Dant= e and Virgil advance toward the giant, mist-shrouded shape. As they approach thro= ugh the fog, they behold its true form. The sight unnerves Dante to such an ext= ent that he knows not whether he is alive or dead. The figure is Lucifer, Dis, Satan—no one name does justice to his terrible nature. The size of his ar= ms alone exceeds all of the giants of the Eighth Circle of Hell put together. = He stands in the icy lake, his torso rising above the surface. Gazing upward, Dante sees that Lucifer has three horrible faces, one looking straight ahead and the others looking back over his shoulders. Beneath each head rises a s= et of wings, which wave back and forth, creating the icy winds that keep Cocyt= us frozen.

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Each= of Lucifer's mouths holds a sinner—the three greatest sinners of human histo= ry, all Traitors to a Benefactor. In the center mouth dangles Judas Iscariot, w= ho betrayed Christ. In the left and right mouths hang Brutus and Cassius, who murdered Julius Caesar in the Roman Senate. Brutus and Cassius appear with their heads out, but Judas is lodged headfirst; only his twitching legs protrude. The mouths chew their victims, constantly tearing the traitors to pieces but never killing them. Virgil tells Dante that they have now seen a= ll of Hell and must leave at once.

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Putt= ing Dante on his back, Virgil performs a startling feat. He avoids the flapping wings and climbs onto Lucifer's body, gripping the Devil's frozen tufts of = hair and lowering himself and his companion down. Underneath Cocytus, they reach Lucifer's waist, and here Virgil slowly turns himself around, climbing back upward. However, Dante notes with amazement that Lucifer's legs now rise ab= ove them, his head below. Virgil explains that they have just passed the center= of the Earth: when Lucifer fell from Heaven, he plunged headfirst into the pla= net; his body stuck here in the center. According to Virgil, the impact caused t= he lands of the Southern Hemisphere to retreat to the North, leaving only the Mountain of Purgatory in the water of the South. Dante and Virgil climb a l= ong path through this hemisphere, until they finally emerge to see the stars ag= ain on the opposite end of the Earth from where they began.

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Analysis: Canto XXXIV

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Here= in the Fourth Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell, at the utter bottom, Dante com= es to the end of his hierarchy of sins and thus completes the catalogue of evil that dominates and defines Inferno. Although Inferno explores most explicit= ly the theme of divine retribution and justice, the poem's unrelenting descriptions, categorizations, and analysis of sin makes human evil its fundamental subject. The positioning of fraud as the worst of sins helps us= to define evil: fraud, more than any other crime, acts contrary to God's great= est gift to mankind—love. A deed's degree of wickedness thus depends on the d= egree to which it opposes love. So-called ordinary fraud only breaks the natural bonds of trust and love that form between men; other categories of fraud re= ach an even greater depth of evil because they break an additional bond of love= . Of these, frauds against kin, country, and guests constitute the lighter end of the scale, for they violate only socially obligated bonds—our culture exp= ects us to love our family and our homeland and to be a good host. But fraud aga= inst a benefactor constitutes the worst fraud of all, according to Dante, for it violates a love that is purely voluntary, a love that most resembles God's = love for us. Correspondingly, one who betrays one's benefactor comes closest to betraying God directly. Thus, the ultimate sinner, Judas Iscariot, was a man who betrayed both simultaneously, for his benefactor was Jesus Christ.

&nbs= p;

The justice of Brutus and Cassius's placement in the lowest depths of Hell is m= ore problematic. History tells us that these men did betray and murder Julius Caesar, but Caesar's status as a great benefactor remains disputed. The explanation for their presence lies in Dante's often-implied belief that Ro= me is the sovereign city, destined to rule the world both physically and spiritually. Just as Christ, whose church is centered in Rome, was the perf= ect manifestation of religion, Dante feels that Caesar was the perfect manifestation of secular government, as the emperor of Rome at the height of its power. Since spiritual concerns must, in the end, outweigh temporal one= s, Judas has committed the greater sin, and his head, rather than his legs, fe= els the constant chewing of Lucifer's teeth. However, the fact that Brutus and Cassius suffer a punishment only slightly less harsh demonstrates Dante's belief that church and state play equally important roles, each in its own sphere. Throughout Inferno, Dante has expressed the view that church and st= ate should remain separate but equal. Now, Dante finds an arrangement for the f= inal circle of Hell that both completes his vision of the moral hierarchy and ma= kes one last, vivid assertion of his politics.

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Dant= e's portrait of Lucifer makes him a grotesque mimicry of God in Heaven, much in= the same way that the sinners' punishments in Hell grotesquely mimic their sins= on Earth. We recall that the poem refers earlier to Hell as a city—a pervers= ion of the city of God. In the same way, Lucifer, with his three heads in one body, constitutes a perversion of the Trinity, the three aspects of the single Go= d. Medieval Christian theology held that evil can only mimic or distort, not create; Lucifer is Dante's embodiment of this premise.

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Dante displays a surprisingly astute grasp of physics in describing Virgil and Dante's transition between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Using Vir= gil as a mouthpiece, he describes the center of the Earth as the point to which= all weight falls. This depiction, and Virgil and Dante's turnabout at the cente= r, forms a fairly accurate account of gravity; such an understanding eluded ma= ny of Dante's contemporaries. The fanciful explanation of how Lucifer ended up= at the center of the Earth demonstrates a somewhat less keen comprehension of = the world, however: Dante, along with most fourteenth-century thinkers, believed that the Southern Hemisphere contained no continents.

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Pa= sted from <file:///= G:\English\Dante\01-Canto%20XXXIV.doc>

 

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Canto 34 (Sata= n)

Wed= nesday, November 05, 2008

10:= 13 AM

Canto XXXIV

&nbs= p;

Summary: Canto XXXIV

&nbs= p;

Still journeying toward the center of the Ninth Circle of Hell, Dante becomes awa= re of a great shape in the distance, hidden by the fog. Right under his feet, however, he notices sinners completely covered in ice, sometimes several fe= et deep, contorted into various positions. These souls constitute the most evi= l of all sinners—the Traitors to their Benefactors. Their part of Hell, the Fo= urth Ring of the Ninth Circle, is called Judecca.

&nbs= p;

Dant= e and Virgil advance toward the giant, mist-shrouded shape. As they approach thro= ugh the fog, they behold its true form. The sight unnerves Dante to such an ext= ent that he knows not whether he is alive or dead. The figure is Lucifer, Dis, Satan—no one name does justice to his terrible nature. The size of his ar= ms alone exceeds all of the giants of the Eighth Circle of Hell put together. = He stands in the icy lake, his torso rising above the surface. Gazing upward, Dante sees that Lucifer has three horrible faces, one looking straight ahead and the others looking back over his shoulders. Beneath each head rises a s= et of wings, which wave back and forth, creating the icy winds that keep Cocyt= us frozen.

&nbs= p;

Each= of Lucifer's mouths holds a sinner—the three greatest sinners of human histo= ry, all Traitors to a Benefactor. In the center mouth dangles Judas Iscariot, w= ho betrayed Christ. In the left and right mouths hang Brutus and Cassius, who murdered Julius Caesar in the Roman Senate. Brutus and Cassius appear with their heads out, but Judas is lodged headfirst; only his twitching legs protrude. The mouths chew their victims, constantly tearing the traitors to pieces but never killing them. Virgil tells Dante that they have now seen a= ll of Hell and must leave at once.

&nbs= p;

Putt= ing Dante on his back, Virgil performs a startling feat. He avoids the flapping wings and climbs onto Lucifer's body, gripping the Devil's frozen tufts of = hair and lowering himself and his companion down. Underneath Cocytus, they reach Lucifer's waist, and here Virgil slowly turns himself around, climbing back upward. However, Dante notes with amazement that Lucifer's legs now rise ab= ove them, his head below. Virgil explains that they have just passed the center= of the Earth: when Lucifer fell from Heaven, he plunged headfirst into the pla= net; his body stuck here in the center. According to Virgil, the impact caused t= he lands of the Southern Hemisphere to retreat to the North, leaving only the Mountain of Purgatory in the water of the South. Dante and Virgil climb a l= ong path through this hemisphere, until they finally emerge to see the stars ag= ain on the opposite end of the Earth from where they began.

&nbs= p;

Analysis: Canto XXXIV

&nbs= p;

Here= in the Fourth Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell, at the utter bottom, Dante com= es to the end of his hierarchy of sins and thus completes the catalogue of evil that dominates and defines Inferno. Although Inferno explores most explicit= ly the theme of divine retribution and justice, the poem's unrelenting descriptions, categorizations, and analysis of sin makes human evil its fundamental subject. The positioning of fraud as the worst of sins helps us= to define evil: fraud, more than any other crime, acts contrary to God's great= est gift to mankind—love. A deed's degree of wickedness thus depends on the d= egree to which it opposes love. So-called ordinary fraud only breaks the natural bonds of trust and love that form between men; other categories of fraud re= ach an even greater depth of evil because they break an additional bond of love= . Of these, frauds against kin, country, and guests constitute the lighter end of the scale, for they violate only socially obligated bonds—our culture exp= ects us to love our family and our homeland and to be a good host. But fraud aga= inst a benefactor constitutes the worst fraud of all, according to Dante, for it violates a love that is purely voluntary, a love that most resembles God's = love for us. Correspondingly, one who betrays one's benefactor comes closest to betraying God directly. Thus, the ultimate sinner, Judas Iscariot, was a man who betrayed both simultaneously, for his benefactor was Jesus Christ.

&nbs= p;

The justice of Brutus and Cassius's placement in the lowest depths of Hell is m= ore problematic. History tells us that these men did betray and murder Julius Caesar, but Caesar's status as a great benefactor remains disputed. The explanation for their presence lies in Dante's often-implied belief that Ro= me is the sovereign city, destined to rule the world both physically and spiritually. Just as Christ, whose church is centered in Rome, was the perf= ect manifestation of religion, Dante feels that Caesar was the perfect manifestation of secular government, as the emperor of Rome at the height of its power. Since spiritual concerns must, in the end, outweigh temporal one= s, Judas has committed the greater sin, and his head, rather than his legs, fe= els the constant chewing of Lucifer's teeth. However, the fact that Brutus and Cassius suffer a punishment only slightly less harsh demonstrates Dante's belief that church and state play equally important roles, each in its own sphere. Throughout Inferno, Dante has expressed the view that church and st= ate should remain separate but equal. Now, Dante finds an arrangement for the f= inal circle of Hell that both completes his vision of the moral hierarchy and ma= kes one last, vivid assertion of his politics.

&nbs= p;

Dant= e's portrait of Lucifer makes him a grotesque mimicry of God in Heaven, much in= the same way that the sinners' punishments in Hell grotesquely mimic their sins= on Earth. We recall that the poem refers earlier to Hell as a city—a pervers= ion of the city of God. In the same way, Lucifer, with his three heads in one body, constitutes a perversion of the Trinity, the three aspects of the single Go= d. Medieval Christian theology held that evil can only mimic or distort, not create; Lucifer is Dante's embodiment of this premise.

&nbs= p;

Dante displays a surprisingly astute grasp of physics in describing Virgil and Dante's transition between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Using Vir= gil as a mouthpiece, he describes the center of the Earth as the point to which= all weight falls. This depiction, and Virgil and Dante's turnabout at the cente= r, forms a fairly accurate account of gravity; such an understanding eluded ma= ny of Dante's contemporaries. The fanciful explanation of how Lucifer ended up= at the center of the Earth demonstrates a somewhat less keen comprehension of = the world, however: Dante, along with most fourteenth-century thinkers, believed that the Southern Hemisphere contained no continents.

&nbs= p;

 

Pa= sted from <file:///= G:\English\Dante\01-Canto%20XXXIV.doc>