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Examples Of Allegory In Dante's Inferno

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Within Dante's Inferno Francesca and Paolo appear in Canto V. This canto stands out amongst other verses as an example of Dante's writing, characterization and also for demonstrating the deep allegory surrounding the work and the nature of sin. Francesca Da Rimini was the daughter of Guido Vecchio da Polenta, lord of Ravenna, and Paolo Malatesta, the third son of Malatesta da Verrucchio, lord of Rimini. Around 1275 the aristocratic Francesca was married due to political reasons to Gianciotto ("Crippled John"), the physically deformed second son of Malatesta da Verrucchio. In time a love affair developed between Francesca and Gianciotto's younger brother, Paolo. One day the betrayed husband discovered them in a covert companionship. Dante brings sympathy to Francesca's story by …show more content…

Angered at finding herself wed the following day to Gianciotto, Francesca made no attempt to restrain her affections for Paolo and the two in fact soon became lovers. Informed of this liaison, Gianciotto one day caught them together in Francesca's bedroom. He was not hesitant about his rationale and decided that he should murder them both. Paolo and Francesca are bound together in a type of embrace and in a love that knows no bounds; a “never-ending love” that will continue throughout all eternity unfortunately. Paolo and Francesca represented, or symbolize, sinful love and lust by example. Francesca’s moment of mercy came in her lifetime when she could have held back her temptation of lust, and now she suffers from her contrapasso. They show how a natural, noble emotion of love, if contrary to God’s law, can bring two essentially fine people to damnation and complete spiritual ruin. Dante’s personal response of overwhelming pity should not blind us to the justice of the

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A certain loss in Antonio’s life is his late friend , Florence, a classmate sincerely against God. Antonio is saddened and worried about Florence and attempts to let Florence at least believes in something, like the Golden Carp. Before Antonio can introduce Florence to the peaceful pagan god and make him realize that not all gods are powerful and intimidating, Florence dies drowning. After the drowning of Florence, Antonio is forced to question the restriction of Catholicism, once again. Antonio looks in the direction of religion for help as he can feel the innocence fading.

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Vittorio’s loss of innocence occurs as he is exposed to the evil within the society he lives in. As Vittorio faces isolation from those around him he experiences a loss of innocence as he realizes that people can be cruel. Vittorio becomes aware of how easily friends and family can give up on one another. Vitto slowly realizes the evil within the town’s people, which prevents them from truly getting along and truly being a community. He also see’s how his family is being shunned which shows him the wrongful act Christina has committed “his hands gesturing in our direction, but at the last instinct he checked the gesture and suddenly clasped his hands together as if closing us out” (Ricci 84)

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There is a recurring symbol throughout the novel of her future uncertainty, where Francesca changes her mind about being a teacher or policeman based on that person’s value in her life at any given moment. Marchetta has portrayed this uncertainty, reflecting how children inherit multiple personality traits from their parents. During this time in the novel Francesca finds that she likes those traits she inherited from her mother, leading her to discover and appreciate that part of her ever-changing identity. Therefore, the audience is ideally positioned to see Francesca's growth as a person throughout the

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In Inferno, the use of the term Galeotto suggests that the book Francesca and Paolo read was a catalyst for their sinful behavior. The fact that they were reading together, in private, suggests a romantic and intimate connection between them. The book acted as a go-between, bringing them together and igniting their passions. However, the use of the term Galeotto in this context also suggests that the book played a deceptive or manipulative role in their relationship.

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Thus, Francesca and Paolo committed the sin of adultery. Yet, Dante wants to draw attention to something; the word “adultery” never appears through the 147 lines of Inferno 5. This is quite interesting. Dante makes the reader to realize the fact that it is not the adultery causing the fate of these lovers, yet something else causes it. Francesca was helpless in the face of love, yet her passivity against love does not negate any guilt.

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Dante emphasizes the differing roles of these women by three mediators. First, he gives Francesca the freedom to defend herself, letting her to have a partial guidance/autonomy; in contrast, Dante delivers his own freedom in the hands of Beatrice, allowing her to have a complete guidance/complete control over the poem. Second, Dante focuses on the physical aspects of love when talking about Francesca’s love story, while he talks about a selfless, spiritual love when referring to his and Beatrice’s love story. Third, Francesca does not take the responsibility of her actions, has a lack of remorse and blames the power of love for her fate, while Dante and Beatrice respect the rules and morals, by only coming together in the afterlife. In other words, they have opposite interpretations of

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In fact, when on 1216, a member of the Buondelmonte family was killed by another member of the Amidei family for personal revenge, Florence saw the first division between the two main political parties that, in addition to the political struggles between Church and Empire, exasperated also further the already, precarious political situation in Florence, radicalising the formation of those two great powerful factions that, at the end of the thirteenth century, were still fighting for political and economic hegemony on the city and that, according to Dante, made Italy a field of veritable orgy of warfare, pushing Dante to write: "Ah slavish Italy! thou in of grief,/Vessel without a pilot in loud storm,/Lady no longer of fair provinces,/But brothel-house impure! this gentle spirit,/Ev 'n from the Pleasant sound of his dear land/Was prompt to greet a fellow citizen/With such glad cheer; while now thy living ones/ In thee abide not without war; and one/Malicious gnaws another, ay of those/Whom the same wall and the same moat contains,/Seek, wretched one! around thy sea-coasts wide;/Then homeward to thy bosom turn, and mark/

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