Concept of Symbolic Retribution
The concept of symbolic retribution is largely inspired by the ancient Greek notion of “adikia” (injustice, untruth), which received its classical expression in Aristotle’s thesis: “injustice is not a part of vice, but perversity as a whole.” The idea that a person should be responsible for actions made Dante tell in his own way about the hellish torment that awaits those who violate moral standards during their lifetime. The Inferno was created by Dante in exile, therefore vivid pictures of modernity are displayed through the perception of the poet, seized by a storm of various feelings. This allowed the author to supplement the idea of “adikia” and fill it with new meanings and forms.
The Relationship Between Dante’s Views and Punishments
Based on the concept that a literary work is a reflection of reality through the prism of the personal experience, values , and views of the creator, the Inferno might tell us about Dante’s religious and moral beliefs, as well as his philosophical views. Gaimari and Keen emphasize the exceptional punishment of Dante’s sowers of discord (82). Inferno XXVIII describes the punishments of the eighth circle of Hell in which the sins of fraud are punished
The damned in this particular valley of Malebolge are condemned as ‘sowers of scandal and schism’ (Alighieri 35) for their instigation of civil and religious strife. In one of the most violent episodes of the poem, a sword-wielding demon ritually mutilates these naked sinners, making a series of purposeful and geometric cuts each time they pass by. Just as they split the corporate bodies of church and state, so their own bodies are now cleaved. While in the other circles, Dante often leaves the correspondence between sin and punishment to the reader’s imagination, in this circle, he explains it twice: “and all the others you see here were sowers of scandal and schism while they were alive, and therefore are they cloven in this way” (34–6). Then, at the end of the canto, the troubadour poet Bertran de Born presents his punishment as an exemplary case. For having divided the young prince from his father, Henry II of England – the head of the kingdom – Bertran is condemned to carry his own severed head in his hands.
Such special attention is due to the fact that Dante was very involved in politics. Politicians have a special place in the entire Inferno, but it is the episode with the sowers of discord that demonstrates Dante’s position that any struggle must remain fair, and cunning, discord, and meanness are severely punished. The same applies to the moral convictions of the author: he considers it unacceptable to sow discord among people for his own benefit.
According to Pelletier, the poem conveys high humanism, passion, and sympathy for human suffering(24). It feels the most in the story of Paolo and Francesca. In order to end the bloody feud, Guido de Polenta marries his daughter Francesca to the son of his enemy, Giancioto Malatesta. Giancioto is ugly and lame. Unexpectedly, his younger brother Paolo and Francesca fell in love with each other. Upon learning of the betrayal, Giancioto kills the lovers. A couple is tormented by an eternal whirlwind, just like love turns the head of a lover. Dante sympathizes with them but still recognizes them as guilty, despite the fact that the circumstances are to blame for everything. This shows the author as a conservative person: according to his convictions, the moral norms of society are above any personal feelings.
Among the sodomites on the seventh circle, Dante meets and respectfully greets his mentor Brunetto Latini. Dante invites the mentor to sit down and talk, but Latini refuses because he must constantly run, and if he disobeys, he will be punished – it symbolizes the endless pursuit of fame. Even though the teacher is among the sodomites, his punishment most likely refers to another sin: Brunetto went to Hell not so much because of sexual addictions but because of arrogance and self-centeredness. Dante wanted to punish the mentor for his excessive desire for fame and for the fact that Brunetto became a hostage to the desire to establish himself in Florentine society.
The punishment of the mentor demonstrates that, according to Dante, no success is worth chasing endlessly.
Contemporary Hell
Dante populated his Hell not only with the traditional images of legends but also with the faces of living modernity. This prompts reflections about what a modern hell could be like, who would inhabit it, and what a just punishment would have received. In the modern world of constant communication and freedom of dissemination of information, sowing strife and deceit is one of the gravest sins. An example of such a sin is the propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Deliberate lies and sowing strife among entire nations lead to the fact that millions of people are ready to kill. His symbolic retribution would be to fill his eyes and ears with hot tar, as he did with propaganda and lies to millions of people’s eyes and ears.
The main thing that Inferno teaches is that with all the suffering, humiliation, torment, mockery, and torture, a person feels quite comfortable in Hell and behaves without losing his human face, without losing his identity. With all the incomprehensible depravity that he so easily tries on himself, he has an inviolable reserve of humanity in front of the infernal forces of darkness. Therefore, even in Hell, he is in his place. And here, he can show human dignity and contempt for Hell, manifest his freedom and rejection of the law of retribution.
Works Cited
Gaimari, Giulia & Keen, Catherine. Ethics, Politics and Justice in Dante. UCL Press, 2019.
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. Penguin Publishing Group, 2006.
Pelletier, Audhinn. A Century in Dante Research: Morals, Politics, and Philosophy in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. (2020).