LIT 231/ENGL 217/LIT 230
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Inferno, Cantos VIII-XVII

In Cantos VIII-IX, we see more of the flaws in Virgil's character - in case we didn't catch all the hints in Canto IV.  Compare what happens before the walls of Dis in Dante with the place of punishment that Virgil describes in Book VI of the Aeneid.

The three most important figures in Cantos X-XVII are Farinata, Pier della Vigna, and Brunetto Latini.  These three characters are given by far the most space and attention of all the Violent in the poem.  Presumably, given where they are located in Dante's hell, they are in some way the epitome of violence for Dante.  Dante is using them to show us exactly what he thinks violence is.

To understand the episode with Farinata, you need to know a little bit about Florentine and Italian politics.  Italy was not a unified country in Dante's day.  It was divided up into city-states and small principalities, but all this division was universally perceived as a bad thing -- a source of constant conflict and inter-city war that really wasn't doing the Italians much good.  When thinking about what to do to unify Italy, Italians tended to fall into one of two camps.  Either they looked to the Holy Roman Emperor (a German prince, elected by German princes to rule an empire that nominally included Italy but in practical terms really didn't extend beyond Germany), or they looked to the Pope (the strongest local ruler, who controlled the Papal States and, in addition, had a great deal of moral authority over all Christians -- at least in theory).  Those who looked to the Holy Roman Emperor for the salvation of Italy were called Ghibellines, and those who looked to the Pope were called Guelphs.  Ghibellines tended to be from the old aristocratic class; Guelphs tended to be from the rising middle class.  Farinata was a Ghibelline, and Dante was a Guelph.

In Florence, after Farinata's death and while Dante was still a young man, the Guelphs succeeded in defeating and exiling the Ghibellines (and so, Dante taunts Farinata with the Ghibellilnes' ultimate defeat and exile), but the Guelphs themselves then divided into two camps -- one allied to the Pope and the other, irony of ironies, allied to the Holy Roman Emperor.  Dante fell into the latter camp (so that he, like a Ghibelline, came to look to the Emperor to save Italy from all its division and bloodshed).

To understand the episode with Pier della Vigna, you don't really need much in terms of background (other than the knowledge that Pier della Vigna was a secretary and poet at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and that he was eventually discredited politically and committed suicide as a result).  So, instead of focusing on background, just look closely at what Pier della Vigna actually says.

To understand the episode with Brunetto Latini, you need to know two things.  First, Brunetto Latini is among the sodomites (that is, the homosexuals).  Second, Brunetto Latini was a beloved teacher in Florence when Dante was a young man.

Dante's Brunetto manifests every gay stereotype of Dante's culture (and ours).  He's cruising a sandy beach, looking at men's bodies, even in hell.  He's effeminate and talks like the stereotypical "queen."  Dante participates in his sin in some rather obvious and interesting ways too.  But as with every other sinner in Dante's hell, Brunetto Latini's concrete, outward sin (sodomy) is really only symbolic and symptomatic of a deeper, more fundamental sin.  In fact, we have no evidence, other than Dante's poem, to indicate that Brunetto was really gay in real life.  (By the way, just so that you don't get the wrong impression, Dante wasn't really terribly homophobic; several openly gay men are in Dante's purgatory on their way to heaven -- so homosexuality by itself isn't cause for damnation in Dante's eyes.)

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. Why does Virgil fail at the walls of Dis?  What is wrong with Virgil and pagan culture in Dante's eyes?  What was wrong with Virgil's representation of the walls of Dis in the Aeneid?  How does Dante's Virgil compare to the real Virgil at the walls of Dis?  How do Virgil and Dante finally overcome the obstacles that block their path?  How do you feel about Virgil after the episode?
2. In what respect is Farinata violent?  Exactly how do his behavior and his beliefs constitute violence?  Farinata is condemned to the place where he is for atheism, but atheism seems only the tip of the iceberg.  What is really wrong with Farinata's thinking and behavior?  Atheism is just a symptom of a deeper wrong in Farinata.  What is that deeper wrong?  What is wrong with his behavior with Dante?  How does his punishment fit his deeper sin?  How does Dante's behavior with Farinata constitute a participation in the sin of violence?  How does Dante mirror or complement Farinata's behavior?
3. How is Pier della Vigna's thinking violent?  What is wrong with the way that he approaches things?  What is wrong with the way he interacts with people?  As with all the sinners in Dante's hell, he is condemned to a circle for a concrete act (suicide), but that concrete act is really just symbolic and symptomatic of something deeper and more pervasive.  What underlies and explains Pier della Vigna's suicide?  I don't mean what actually triggers it, but what in Pier della Vigna's very being would lead him to commit suicide?  What fundamental flaw in his thinking condemns him to hell among the Violent?  How does his punishment in hell reflect that fundamental flaw?  How does Dante participate in his sin?
4. What deeper sin underlies Brunetto Latini's homosexuality?  What in Brunetto Latini's very being leads him to prefer men to women for intimacy?  What does Brunetto Latini value in people?  When and how are his thinking and his behavior violent to other people?  Why are some people okay and others not in Brunetto Latini's book?  What does Brunetto himself say in the opening to Il Tesoretto?  What is wrong with his thinking?
5. What do Farinata, Pier della Vigna, and Brunetto Latini have in common?  Compare and contrast their behavior and speeches.  What patterns emerge?  How does looking at the three of them together help you to understand violence?  What would you say violence is for Dante?  Is it what you expected violence to be?