Dante’s epic poem Inferno is one of the defining works of the Western canon. The vivid imagery of the nine circles of hell has been endlessly referenced, reread, illustrated, and used to instill the fear of God in Christians for over seven hundred years. Dante’s conception of the universe is commonly known as a straightforward representation of the Medieval view of the afterlife. However, it has lately been suggested that it is actually a dramatized allegory for Dante’s spiritual reawakening. Thus, Inferno can be categorized as a spiritual autobiography depicting the soul’s transition from a state of damnation to one of grace.
The poem starts with Dante standing in the woods, “gone from the path direct” (Dante & Cary, 1866, p. 1). Three animals block his path up the mountain. The spirit of the Roman poet Virgil, sent by Dante’s love Beatrice, appears to guide Dante. He must go through hell and purgatory to finally enter heaven. If the reader interprets the text through the lens of allegory, it becomes clear that Dante has been motivated by his love for Beatrice to recognize the morally compromised state of his life and alter it: “love brought me thence” (Dante & Cary, 1866, p. 9). However, he must abolish his personal sins of ambition and malice to do so. Despite their paganism, the classical authors of Ancient Rome, quintessentialized in Virgil, will guide Dante in understanding virtue and what it means to live a good life. As the start of his spiritual autobiography, Canto I captures Dante’s decision to pursue goodness despite the difficult spiritual transformation it requires.
Dante and Virgil enter hell and witness the grotesque torment of the eternally damned according to the sins they committed during their lifetime: never-ending icy rain, eternal whipping, burning tombs. He is “o’erpower’d by pity” for the sinners within certain circles, and his “cry prevail’d by strong affection urg’d” (Dante & Cary, 1866, p. 25, 26). However, alongside biblical and mythological figures, Dante notices his contemporaries, such as former popes and political rivals. When he meets Filippo Argenti, the man who exiled him, Dante feels only disgust: “curs’d spirit! tarry thou” (Dante & Cary, 1866, p. 40). In response, Virgil kisses his cheek and praises him for being “justly disdainful” (Dante & Cary, 1866, p. 40). As its member, Dante had been blind to the sinful nature of society and had merely accepted it as an unavoidable reality. During this spiritual transformation, Dante is forced to turn a critical eye towards the world he lives in and recognize the seriousness of their crimes against God. Initially, he feels pity for the punished because he became enamored with sin himself and still relates to their moral incapability to remain pious. However, Dante eventually learns to condemn and despise wrongdoers, thus erasing the sinful urges within himself. Dante’s journey through hell describes his recognition of sin and acknowledgment of its gravity and consequences.
In conclusion, people today still battle their immoral urges and strive to live a virtuous life, just like Dante and all preceding generations. This is the reason the epic poem has kept a stronghold over human imagination since the fourteenth century. However, our conceptualization of these desires has vastly changed. We do not seek virtue out of fear of divine punishment but because of the inherent value of notions such as justice, equality, and human rights. Therefore, to fit our modern sensibilities, we need to recontextualize Dante’s graphic journey through hell as an allegory for personal transformation rather than an unambiguous description of the universe. The first part of The Divine Comedy is a spiritual autobiography depicting Dante’s epiphany and recognition of sin’s consequences.
References
Dante, A., & Cary, H.F. (1866). Dante’s Inferno. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.