Author: Tia Thompson

Religion represented in Dante, Petrarch, and Machiavelli

Dante Alighieri’s portrait by Sandro Botticelli, 1495, Portrait of Petrarch by Florentine School, Portrait Of Niccolo Machiavelli By Santi Di Tito A

Religion is mentioned in the works of Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, and Niccolò Machiavelli. Religion is the belief in a God or Gods by a group of people. During the time of Machiavelli and Dante, there was religious and political unrest. Dante lived during the conflict between the pope and emperors. People who backed the pope are known as Guelphs, whereas those who backed the emperor are known as Ghibelline. Petrarch was a Christian who was religious. In their writings, Dante, Machiavelli, and Petrarca all portray religion in different ways.

The concept of Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” is deeply religious. It discusses inferno, paradisio, and purgatorio, which are all aspects of the Christian afterlife. Sinners are punished by God in Dante’s inferno with a penalty according to their sin. This is called contrapasso. This is how he constructs the good versus evil narrative in his work. Evil is punished and good is praised. For example in canto 25 of inferno, the souls of thieves are being punished by having their physical form merge into a serpent. Dante writes that “At the end of his words the thief raised his hands with both the figs, crying: “Take them, God, I’m aiming at you!” From then on snakes have been my friends, because one of them wrapped itself around his neck…”( Canto 25, line ). This shows that Dante is in agreement with the justice that is displayed to the sinners. The line “From then on snakes have been my friends” suggests that Dante thinks the sinners deserved to be punished. This also shows the use of contrapasso. Since the thief stole other people’s belongings, they are punished by taking the only thing they have left, their human form. Furthermore, canto 5 also shows how evil gets punished. In this canto, the spirit Francesca had an affair with her husband’s brother Paolo. Her husband kills both of them. They both weep as the story is being told. Their punishment is an “infernal whirlwind, which never rests, drives the spirits before it’s violence..”. Their sin was lust. This punishment was formed to leave them in their passion as their in the wind forever. Dante feels bad for them as they tell the story. This demonstrates that, while they had a love for each other, they still did something wrong. They must be punished for it.

Petrarca’s Il Canzoniere depicts his struggle with devotion to God. Throughout his sonnets, he sees God as someone to be followed. Petrarch, unlike Dante, does not feel that love is a good thing. He regards it as a distraction from his devotion to God. His account of his sentiments for Laura demonstrates the conflict between love and God. He believes that other possessions are a distraction as well. In canzone 81, Petrarch writes that “ I am weary under the ancient burden of my sins and evil ways, That I fear I shall faint beside the road and fall into the hands of my enemy”(paragraph 1). This line expresses Petrarch’s fear of straying away from God and “fall into the hands of my enemy”. He’s worried that his old sins will ruin his reputation with God. He is so consumed with being good that he is constantly distressed about making a mistake. Furthermore, he sees his love for Laura as something that can threaten salvation. For example, in canzone 264, Petrarch expresses his pity for loving Laura so much. He states “I’m always thinking, and I’m caught in thought by such abundant pity for myself that often I am led to weeping for a different kind of grief:” (paragraph 1). This shows Petrarch reflecting on how his love may have cost him. He is in agony over it.

Religion is not taken as seriously in Machiavelli’s “The Prince” as it is in Dante’s and Petrarch’s works. He advises leaders not to adhere to religion but asserts that it is beneficial to their appearance. Machiavelli was not a religious man and even criticized it. He believes that it is important to be immoral and violent when it’s necessary. For example, in chapter 11, Machiavelli states that “It only remains now to speak of ecclesiastical principalities, touching which, because they are acquired either by capacity or good fortune, and they can be held without either, for they are sustained by the ancient ordinance of religion, which are so all-powerful” (paragraph 1). This displays Machiavelli’s sarcastic tone towards religion by referring to it as “which are so all-powerful”. He doesn’t believe that they can effectively defend their states with the rules of religion. He thinks that ecclesiastical principalities cannot defend. In religion, morality is too important. This morality can influence the ruler’s decision in negative ways.

 Dante, Petrarch, and Machiavelli all have different perspectives on religion. Dante and Petrarch share the same belief in the importance of following God. Petrarch shows more of his struggles with God than Dante. Machiavelli does not place the same value on religion because it is ineffective for ruling. Machiavelli places very little value on the benefits of religion. How does he feel about the community being religious? Can Machiavelli and Dante relate to the corruption in religion since they were born in Florence? Dante has written other works in reference to God and religion. He’s focused on the unpredictableness of God in Il Convivio, De Monarchia, and the “Letter to Can Grande.” 

Marciano, Lisa. “‘Our God Is a God of Surprises’: The Mystery of God in Dante’s Writings.” Christianity & literature 68.4 (2019): 580–604. Web.

Dante Alighieri, Dante et al. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. Cary: Oxford University Press USA – OSO, 1996. Print.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm#pref01

Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374. Petrarch’s Canzoniere in the English Renaissance. Amsterdam ; New York :Rodopi, 2005.

The Prince: Leader

The Prince: (Netcomics Edition)

In “The Prince,” Machiavelli discusses what a true leader should be. Throughout the book, he talks about how a prince should behave in order to be a successful ruler. He believes that a prince should rely on himself and should not be overly kind or violent. For example, Machiavelli states in Chapter 8 that it is acceptable for a prince to use violence, but only when it is absolutely necessary. He believes that unnecessary violence will turn the people against him. Machiavelli also believes that a prince must do anything to secure and ensure prosperity in the state. In Chapter 18, he argues that a prince should adapt to a circumstance in order to deal with it effectively. He uses an ancient Greek myth to show the characteristics of an effective prince. In the Greek myth, there were centaurs who are half-man and half-beast. The man was the noble portion, while the beast represented the bad part. This is used by Machiavelli to demonstrate that a prince must be both parts depending on the scenario.

Angela da Foligno’s Memorial Analysis

St. Angela of Foligno by mephetti

In Angela da Foligno’s Memorial, she writes about her devoted journey to becoming closer to God and repenting her sins. She writes out her journey into steps. When describing her experience during the fourteenth step, Angela writes graphic details about what God told her to do. In the first paragraph on page 29, Angela says that God is telling her to drink the blood from his side wound. She says that his blood is cleansing her. This is very bloody and graphic imagery. Angela enhances this imagery by describing the blood from his wound as “freshly flowing”. In reality, the image she portrays in her writing is difficult to visualize based on the human experience. In the second paragraph, she tells us about asking God to pour out the blood in her body so that she can “ suffer a death more vile than his”.  This demonstrates Angela’s level of devotion to God.

Murder in the Decameron: 4.1 & 4.9

Human Heart -Die Frau als Hausarztin 1911

In “The Decameron”, Giovanni Boccaccio writes many tales related to topics that reflect his views. I noticed that death is a recurring theme. He tells us stories involving murder. Various characters murder each other in gruesome and brutal ways. These murders are motivated by either love or social class.

On Day 4, Story 1, Boccaccio tells the story of Tancredi and Ghismunda, a father and daughter. Tancredi was the prince of Salerno. He marries his daughter Ghismunda off to the Duke of Capua. Unfortunately, the duke later died, leaving Ghismunda without a husband. She returns to her father’s house. When Ghismunda returns she has intentions to find herself a husband. Tancredi has no intentions of remarrying her. Ghismunda falls in love with Guiscardo, her father’s valet, and they secretly see each other. One day Tancredi falls asleep in her room and catches Ghismunda and the valet. That night Tancredi tells the guards to capture Guiscardo. He confronts him about his relations with his daughter. Tancredi couldn’t believe that Ghuismunda would sleep with someone that’s in a lower class. Ghismunda said she doesn’t regret loving Guiscardo. She becomes enraged at her father for being upset that she was with someone of a lower social class. She tells her father that if Guiscardo is punished so should she. He tells his guards to strangle Guiscardo and remove his heart. He sends the heart to Ghismunda in a golden goblet. After seeing the heart Guismunda kills herself by pouring poison into the heart and drinking it. This is one example of the brutal murders shown in “The Decameron”. Tancredi acts as if killing another person is nothing. He orders people to strangle him and take his heart. The taking of the heart gives this murder a gruesome feel. Sending the heart to his daughter made Trancedi seem more violent and heartless. Guiscardo’s life was regarded as less than, so Tancredi murdered him as if he were less than. He had no remorse for taking the life of somebody his daughter loved. This demonstrates Boccaccio’s creativity. He used the taking of the heart as a symbol of the love that the characters have for each other.

On day 4, story 9, Boccacio tells of two knights Guillaume de Roussillon and Guillaume de Cabestanh. These knights were friends. Cabestanh falls in love with Roussillion’s wife. Roussilion finds out and kills Cabestanh. He cuts his heart out. Roussillon orders it to be cooked and served to his wife. He tells her what she ate after she finishes. After she throws herself out the window. This shows a murder motivated by betrayal. Roussillon’s wife and friend fell in love with each other so he punished them together. The nature of the love the wife and Cabestanh had was stranger than staying loyal to the title of friend and wife. Cutting out the heart was a common theme in both stories.

Boccacio uses these stories to show the issues of class and the nature of love. These murders emphasize these topics in extreme ways. It makes the reader pay attention to the reason behind this violence. In these stories, women are represented “as the secondary victims of violence unleashed by sexual love” according to “A Rhetoric of the Decameron” by Marilyn Migiel.

Citations:

Migiel, Marilyn. “Domestic Violence in the Decameron.” A Rhetoric of the Decameron. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016. 147–159. Web.

Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375. The Decameron. London :New York : Penguin Books, 1995.

Canzoniere 3: Vulnerable

Antonio Salamanca (1500-62)-Laura and Petrarch

Love is the genre and theme for poem 3. This poem describes how Petrarca felt when he fell in love with Larua and how it made him weak. He expresses himself and his ideas through metaphors and descriptive language. He displays a sorrowful tone throughout the poem. 

  In the first stanza, Petrarca starts with a metaphor. He states that “It was the day the sun’s ray had turned pale with pity for the suffering of his Maker”. This establishes a gloomy tone from the start of the poem. A sunray is something that is bright and is seen as something that is happy and cheerful. It turning pale suggest an unhappy feel. He then goes on is the next few lines to explain how he fell in love. He said things like “I was caught” and “I put up no fight”. This describes how Petrarca’s love for Laura engulfed him and he gave in. He uses the metaphor “your lovely eyes had bound me” in the last line to emphasize how captured he was.

In the second stanza, Petrarca explains how being in love turned out to be a bad thing. He portrays love as something to be fought against by saying “it seemed no time to be on guard against Love’s blows…”.The phrases “guard” and “against” show that Petrarca believed he needed to defend himself against love. He then goes on to say that his “misfortunes began in midst of the universal woe”. This shows how he felt like being in love negatively affected his life. The use of the word “misfortune” adds to the dark nature of this poem.

In the following stanza, Petrarca explains how love weakened him. He implies that love left him vulnerable by saying that “Love found me all disarmed”. The term “disarmed” usually refers to when someone removes a weapon from another person. In this poem, Petrarca’s weapon is his invulnerability which was taken by his love for Laura. In the next line, he states that love found a way to reach his heart through “the eyes which have become the halls and doors of tears”. This line implies that love found its way into his heart through the precise thing that is now showing his agony. Laura’s beauty is a part of the reason Petrarca loves her so much. Beauty is seen through the eyes that he now cries out of.

In the last stanza, Petrarca begins to refer to love as “him” or “his” representing it as a person. He uses this stanza to show his understanding as to why love hurts him so much. He starts off by saying that “it seems to me it did him little honor to wound me with his arrows…”. This expresses that Petrarca does not understand why love hurts him. He then goes on to say “and to you, armed, not show his bow at all.”. In this line, Petrarca is referring to Laura. Based on how good it feels to be in love with Laura, he would not suspect that it would hurt him in the end. This poem was written to demonstrate how love captured Petrarca and led to what he perceives as misfortune.

Dante’s use of Contrapasso

In Dantes Inferno, Virgil guides Dante through the nine circles of hell, where sinners are punished. Each circle has a particular punishment that corresponds to sins. Dante converses with the sinners and examines their penalty. The degree and nature of the sin determine the type of punishment. This is called contrapasso. The word contrapasso is a Latin term meaning “suffer the opposite”. Dante uses contrapasso throughout the inferno to establish God’s justice.
In canto 25, Dante enters the eighth circle back on Florence. Dante comes across a centaur that is covered in serpents and a dragon riding his back. The centaur is revealed to be a man named Caucus who was punished for stealing cattle from Hercules. Dante explains this by saying “ He does not follow the same path as his brothers, because he fraudulently stole the great herd he found…”( Alighieri, Canto 25, 28-30). After, three spirits approach Dante asking who he is. A serpent pounces on one of the spirits and wraps itself around them as they speak. The spirits and the serpent begin to merge together. In this canto, thieves were being punished. For their punishment, they are converted into serpents. The punishment and the sin directly relate to each other. Since thieves deprive others of their belongings, their punishment must deprive them of something. The only thing that they have left in hell is their human form which is taken by the serpent. Now the thieves have nothing left. In Dante’s view, God is serving justice by feeding the sinners back their own sins.

The Six-Footed Serpent Attacking Agnolo Brunelleschi
1826–7- William Blake


In canto 32, Dante and Virgil reach the ninth circle of hell. Dante sees a frozen lake with sinners frozen up to their necks. He then sees two spirits close together budding their heads. These spirits are revealed to be brothers who killed each other. This frozen lake is for those who betrayed their own family members. The spirits trapped in ice are a symbol that people who betray others are furthest from God’s warmth. Their punishment is suited for their sin. People who betray other people are cold. They disregard other people’s feelings and do what suits them best. They also don’t care about the connection they have to others. Putting them in a frozen lake would grant them the same coldness that they gave to other people during the betrayal. For example, Dante emphasizes this by saying that “ … from their eyes their wicked hearts exact testimony among them.” ( Alighieri, Canto 32, 38-39). This shows how their “wicked hearts” were linked to being cold by Dante, who described their frozen state as a “testimony. This is considered as a form of retribution for Dante and God.
Overall, Dante’s hell employs contrapasso to demonstrate God’s justice in hell. He also used to show the severity of each sin. The punishment was their own sins being inflicted on them. This aids Dante in bringing order to his hell. There are many other uses of contrapasso in Dante’s inferno.

Alighieri, Dante, Durling, Robert, Martinez, Robert, Turner, Robert. (1996, February 29). The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. Oxford University Press USA. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from

Dante’s Inferno and <em>contrapasso</em>

How does Canto 1 introduce the entire Divine Comedy?

In canto 1, we get to meet Dante and Vergil. In this canto, Dante seems to feel hopeless, lost in life, and has some fear of death. He then encounters the three beasts and is cornered. When he begins to feel helpless, he sees a man and cries out to him. This person turns out to be Virgil, and responds to his cries. Virgil’s words to Dante describe a journey through an eternal place, where “… you will hear the desperate shrieks, you will see the ancient suffering spirits, who all cry out at the second death;”(Canto 1, line 115-117). With this, canto 1 introduces the entire comedy because Virgil talks about the journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise. Even before Virgil’s words, the three beasts can also be seen as an introduction to what may appear in the comedy. For example, the she-beast represents negative desires, and since they will go on a journey through hell, we can expect to see more creatures or things representing the negative side of mankind. Along with this, Virgil describes a happy ending, by saying that he will help Dante meet a woman, who we can assume is Beatrice, after reading Canto 2. 

-Carl Delossantos, Tia Thompson, Alanis Rodriguez