ipl-logo

Cannibalism In Dante's Inferno

992 Words4 Pages

Cannibalism. Hatred. Sorrow. These three words describe Count Ugolino’s dark tale. The Inferno, written by Dante Alighieri, is about a journey through hell that the main character Dante must go through due to being exiled. At the final 9th circle, Dante encounters Count Ugolino, a traitor against italy. Dante listens to Ugolino’s story about the tragedy of himself and his sons, reflects the theme of human reason and emotions. Count Ugolino commits an ambiguous sin and has an unreliable reaction towards it, which causes the reader to question the incredibly heavy punishment that Count Ugolino is dealt. This passage draws attention to issues with reliability, regarding Ugolino, Dante the author, and Dante the pilgrim. Dante as both the author …show more content…

Ugolino is placed at the absolute lowest circle in Hell and as such receives the brutal punishment of being forced to eat someone's head. Count Ugolino demonstrates that he is being punished this way when “His eyes narrowed to slits when he was done, and he seized the skull again between his teeth grinding it as a mastiff grinds a bone” (XXXIII.76-79). This quote contains a metaphor which compares Ugolino to the likes of an animal feasting upon a bone. Because of how primal Ugolino becomes after telling his story it can also echo the earlier line about fasting overcoming Ugolino's grief. Both of these lines are symbolically vague in the sense of what Count Ugolino sinned for exactly. One quote that is equally ambiguous and actually hints towards the sin of cannibalism is when Ugolino’s son says “‘Father, it would give us much less pain if you ate us: it was you who put upon us this sorry flesh; now strip it off again.’ I calmed myself to spare them” (33. 61-64). Ugolino’s son outright asks if his father would be willing to eat them so Ugolino could live longer. What makes this significant is that if Ugolino is a cannibal, then it would make more sense to put Count Ugolino into Circle seven instead of nine, as cannibalism is more unnatural against nature rather than treacherous. Furthermore, because of the questionable sin and placement of Ugolino, Dante could again be an unreliable narrator in this

Show More
Related

Rhetorical Devices Used In Dante's Inferno

219 Words | 1 Pages

Patrick Hunt analyzed Dante’s work, “Inferno”, perfectly. He uses valid points that makes up most Dante’s famous piece. Patrick Hunt identified that Dante’s important source is Christian Scriptures of The Bible. For an example, in Mark 9:45-48 says, “hell, where the fire never goes out … Everyone will be salted with fire.”

Read More

On The Cannibals

406 Words | 2 Pages

Michel de Montaigne focus on the importance of human nature and society. “On the Cannibals” he talks about how humans, in general, have moral and turbulent characteristics. He compares the tribes and Europeans to have unequal treatments for each other. Montaigne notes that the tribes have a better culture than the Western Europe and that he disapproves cannibalism and killing of prisoners of war. He then claims that because Europeans practice cruelty and murder by wanting to experience a superior culture rather than the tribes.

Read More

Christian Religious Beliefs In Dante's Inferno

1247 Words | 5 Pages

Dante’s Inferno is an epic poem by Durante “Dante” degli Alighieri, written in the 1300s. He wrote a trilogy, known as the Divine Comedy, consisting of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante was inspired by many events and issues happening at that time, such as the war between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Battle of Montaperti, and Christian religious beliefs. In this paper, I will explore the first book, Inferno, on the topic of Hell and how the sinners had a significant impact on Dante’s journey through Hell. In Circle 5: Styx, Canto VIII, Filippo Argenti, a sinner of Wrathful, helped Dante to symbolize to readers his anger towards Black Guelphs, political enemies of the White Guelphs.

Read More

The Cruel Death Of Count Ugolino In Dante's Inferno

1402 Words | 6 Pages

A: I found Canto XXXIII of Dante’s Inferno to be an extremely intriguing canto as it highlighted many key themes portrayed throughout all of Inferno such as betrayal, cruelness and death. This can be illustrated from Count Ugolino’s story on his cruel death in the hands of the Archbishop Ruggieri and what led to his journey to Hell. Ugolino begins by calling the archbishop a traitor for imprisoning him and his children, claiming “How [Ugolino] was seized, and executed then, having trusted [Ruggieri] while he betrayed and lied” (Canto XXXIII, p. 1).

Read More

The Epic Hero Cycle Of Dante's Inferno

751 Words | 4 Pages

Dante Hero Essay Pieces of writing are often viewed as a product of their origin time period, even in the modern day it is not uncommon to view our time plane as independent to what preceded as if we were somehow separate from every moment that came before. Instead every aspect of a story is ingrained with the message of millenniums before it, so much so the effect that the present has pales in comparison. This is present throughout Dante’s inferno written by Dante Alighieri as it is not merely a representation of the time period it originated from, rather the present represents the top of an iceberg whose very existence and stature are fully dependent on the times that preceded. This phenomenon of the past is fully present in Dante’s epic hero cycle. Dante’s resurrection reveals to be heavily influenced by the history of humankind.

Read More

Pride In Dante's Inferno

1552 Words | 7 Pages

Down to the penultimate Canto, Dante meets the second pair of sinners bound together: Ugolino and Ruggieri. Ugolino bites the skull of Ruggieri—the vengeance that he badly wanted on earth is given to him for eternity. This image of Ugolino and Ruggieri reminds us of the image of Paulo and Francesca as the only sinners in Hell that are bound together. The juxtaposition of Ugolino and Francesca ultimately demonstrates two facets of love: A fatherly love that was rejected because of pride and a passionate love that was pursued despite its unlawful nature. (Inf.

Read More

Compare And Contrast The Odyssey And Dante's Inferno

989 Words | 4 Pages

In Inferno, Dante is the main character who is fighting between good and evil, which translates to be the theme of the story. Dante explores deeply the Christian hell and heaven, which includes the immediate Purgatory. This experience makes him cast his allegiance to good and God. The differences between these two stories are depicted when comparing the epic conventions, epic characteristics, and when comparing the various religious backgrounds of the times in which these two stories were written.

Read More

The Argument Of Dante's Inferno

244 Words | 1 Pages

Argument of Dante’s Inferno Throughout the story of Dante’s Inferno his travels through Hell to search for God was interrupted by the spirits and the nine levels of Hell. In the book Dante’s Inferno, Dante goes on a journey through the levels of Hell. In the book as Dante travels through the levels of Hell and his anger increases as the journey goes on.

Read More

Cannibalism In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

372 Words | 2 Pages

In the book “Life of PI” there are two versions or stories, one is about how PI makes friends with a tiger on the lifeboat and the other animals eat each other, and also the other version where Pi ends up eating the other humans. I believe that the second version is true. Even though cannibalism is a horrific topic to think about it is more realistic. Though I do believe the second version is true, but the first one isn 't necessarily wrong. Since Pi has trouble killings a fish on the lifeboat, “It was split open and bloody on one side of his head...

Read More

Three Beasts In Dante's Inferno

1057 Words | 5 Pages

In the very beginning of Dante’s story, he is walking through the middle journey of his life, in a dark forest. While Dante is wandering around, seeking a way out, he comes across three beasts: a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. These three beasts each have their own purpose and meaning as to why they cross paths with Dante just before his travels. The leopard represents lust, the lion pride, and the she-wolf avarice or greed. They represent different types of sin, almost foreshadowing or giving Dante a taste of what is to come.

Read More

Analysis Of Dante's Inferno: A Comparison Of Greek

1040 Words | 5 Pages

(354-357) Born then says the final line within Canto 28, “Thus is observed in me the counterpoise.” (358) Not all of Dante’s Hell continues the trend of being a place made only for people who have committed grave sin. The reader finds in Canto 4 that many great poets and people that existed prior to the death of Jesus Christ inhabit the first circle. (88-90) Finally, Dante’s phrases his idea of hell in a very interesting way in Canto 3 by saying those in hell have “foregone the good of intellect” (18)

Read More

Free Will In The Inferno Canto V Danus Victis

1509 Words | 7 Pages

Both Francesca and Ugolino’s judgements resulted from deliberation and thought, and both of their thoughts were greatly influenced by their oppressed state and some biological factors. They were diverted away from the First good, which made them turn toward the apparent goods. The use of free will in the Inferno served as a path to sin for both Francesca and Ugolino. Dante recognizes that Francesca had very weak control over her judgements, and that love overpowered her, but he also made it clear that she deserves to be in hell. As for Ugolino, he also used his free will to resist loving his sons.

Read More

What Are The Three Major Sins In Dante's Inferno

1087 Words | 5 Pages

In the Inferno, Dante describes the different levels of hell and the punishment which corresponds to the sin. Dante categorize hell into three major sins consisting of incontinence, violence, and fraudulent. Fraudulent is portrayed as the worse sin in the Inferno while incontinence is seen as a less serious sin. Each category has sinners which have all been punished for their wrong doings in life. The three major sins consist of circles where Dante separates the different sinners.

Read More

Examples Of Contrapasso In Dante's Inferno

1207 Words | 5 Pages

"The Inferno" is the first book in the epic poem called the “Divine Comedy” by the Italian politician Dante Alighieri and it is followed by "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso”. The book "Inferno", which is the Italian translation for Hell, tells the journey of its author through what he believes is Hell, which consists of nine circles of pain and suffering. In his journey, he is guided through the nine circles by the Roman poet Virgil. Each circle in the book represents a different type of sin with a different type of punishment, varying according to the degree of the offense they committed in their life. By the end of his journey through all of the circles, Dante realizes and emphasizes the perfection of God's Justice and the significance of each offense towards God’s unconditional love.

Read More

Explain The Seven Deadly Sins In Dante's Inferno

480 Words | 2 Pages

Dante’s Inferno details the long journey of Dante and Virgil, throughout the bowels of Hell, or the Inferno. Dante’s Inferno is organized into nine different levels, each distributing a different and awful punishment to every different sin. The main sins include the seven deadly sins, “Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Envy”, he also included “Treachery” and “Violence”. The three sins that I believe fit their sins would be “Wrath/Sulleness”, “Greed” and “Gluttony”.

Read More

More about Cannibalism In Dante's Inferno

Open Document