Comparing Dante Alighieri's Inferno And Tale Of Genji

Adultery has been held to be one of the worst incidents to come out of love, but has since come to be thought as less deplorable than say murder or rape. This very sin has seemingly been thought to have destigmatized over the centuries, or has it? Dante Alighieri’s Inferno would have its audience believe that the sin of adultery is wrong, yet undeserving of his Second Circle’s punishment. Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji, on the other hand, would alternatively have its audience believe that the sin of adultery is not so much a sin as it is a commonplace pursuit, but does have the ability to burden whichever woman who partakes in the act. Though the affairs vary in consequences and circumstances, both texts ultimately express great sympathy

In this circle, these sinners are punished by being forever whirled about in a dark, stormy wind. When asked of their circumstances surrounding the affair, Francesca explains that she and her brother-in-law were overswept with love while reading the story of Lancelot, and while they in the midst of kissing, when her husband caught them and killed them on the spot. Upon hearing this, the Pilgrim is overcome with pity for the lovers and

According to Jennifer Panek, who researched adultery in the Renaissance era (which Dante was a part of), and found that “it appears that husbands who privately discovered their wives' affairs were not inclined to report the adulterous couple to the churchwardens, and that on the whole, "female adultery was probably regarded locally as primarily a matter of household discipline. . . .” By saying this, Panek acknowledges that women during the Renaissance were still very much subject to a male-dominated society. Though also a part of a patriarchy, women in Heian Japan were afforded more sexual promiscuity than their Italian Renaissance counterparts. With Paolo and Francesca, Giovanni chose his “household discipline” to be murder, whereas women like Fujitsubo are granted such frivolous affairs without any true repercussions except courtly