Dante`s Inferno

In the second ring , within the ninth circle of hell , the poet Dante comes across two tormented souls frozen in one hole , the head of one devouring that of the other (XXXII .124 . The former is Count Ugolino and he whose head he gnaws is the Archbishop Ruggieri , who betrayed the count and caused his cruel death together with two of his sons and two of his grandsons . Why Dante placed them in the worst part of hell next to the deepest pit where Satan chewed on Judas Iscariot , Cassius and Brutus , depicts

the poet 's condemnation of treachery as among the worst of sins , as well as his outrage at the injustice committed against the innocent

The count narrates to the poet how he came to hate the archbishop with such consuming hatred . Imprisoned with his sons and grandsons in a tower , he dreamed of himself and his kin being chased , like the wolf and his whelps , their flanks finally ripped by the hounds of their pursuer (XXXIV .22-36 . When he awoke the following day , he heard his sons wailing for bread in their sleep , tormenting him further . But when the usual time came for their food to be delivered , they heard the door of the tower being nailed shut instead , whereupon they wept , except the count , who was turned to stone within (XXXIX .37-51 . The next morning , the count , seeing the gaunt appearance of his children and their sons , bit both his hands in despair , but they , thinking he must be starving , offered their own flesh for him to eat . The count calmed down so as not to alarm them . On the fourth day , Gaddo , one of his sons , threw himself at his feet , asking why he did not help them , and died . The other three died one by one between the fifth and the sixth day . By that time , the count had become blind , and he groped for the dead , weeping , for two days . Afterwards , according to him , fasting was more powerful than woe ' Upon saying these last words , the count again seized the skull of the archbishop with his teeth (XXXIV .52-75

The poet then pronounces a curse on Pisa (whose inhabitants had turned against the count , willing that its people be drowned , for having included the young innocent sons and grandsons in their punishment of Count Ugolino , though he had betrayed the strongholds of that city

In Dante 's conception of hell , poetic justice abound in the manner by which the souls of the doomed are punished . Thus , souls who gave themselves over to sexual passion are , in the afterlife , lost in an infernal hurricane which never rests (V . 310 hypocrites walk in dazzling cloaks heavy with lead (XXIII .64 avaricious hoarders roll weights against one another by force of chest (VII .25 fortunetellers are condemned to look behind them and to walk backward forever (XX .15 In view hereof , a question may arise : is the punishment meted to Ugolino and Ruggieri , both traitors (the former against his kindred , the latter against an ally , who are condemned to stand frozen in the ninth circle of hell for all eternity , commensurate with their sins

Treachery is an offense most foul . One of the qualifying circumstances to murder , it enables the slayer to catch his victim off-guard and assures himself of impunity . The deeper the trust reposed by the victim , the more grievous the wrong committed upon him . In this light Iscariot 's betrayal of Christ is the most damning , notwithstanding his subsequent remorse

Since traitors execute their murderous plots in cold blood , they are doomed to suffer in the utter cold . Oblivious of their conscience , they are thrown in the darkest circle of the netherworld . In this light their confinement in the Cocytus is therefore justified . However , we may well ask what makes the deeds of the count and the archbishop so malignant as to make them visible symbols in Dante 's inferno . We know that Ugolino and Ruggieri were actual historical figures in Italy . The count was at odds with his grandson , resulting in a faction Pretending friendship , Ruggieri sided with the count and together , they expelled the grandson . But the archbishop turned against him when the moment was opportune . If we are to think of it , the plot against the count was basically a political maneuver . Ally yourself with a potential enemy use him to your advantage , and dispose of him later to seize control . Men in power do it all the time . Could Dante have placed the archbishop and the count in the next lowest level of the inferno as his way of condemning political machinations ? Not necessarily

In any politically-induced hostility like war , lives are lost , people destroyed . The leaders of any such contest must , by command responsibility , be accountable for the resulting bloodshed . Yet Ulysses is allotted the eighth pouch in the eighth circle , with lesser punishment , despite having caused greater destruction and suffering in his lifetime than either of these two souls . Probably , Dante saw the trickery of Ulysses as borne of necessity in a time of war , which was considered a noble and probably indispensable undertaking . Besides Ulysses did not betray any man 's trust except that of his enemies the Trojans . If politics and war were considered evil , Dante would have placed Genghis Khan , or Xerxes , or even Julius Caesar in the place of the count

Between the two souls , Ugolino outwardly has an edge over that of his hated foe in that he is allowed to avenge himself and his kin by gnawing the other 's skull , as bread is devoured for hunger (XXXII .127 . But upon closer look , it appears to be part of his punishment . It may be that he resorted to cannibalism before he died . The words fasting was more powerful than woe ' may be taken to mean that hunger may have induced him to eat the flesh of his sons and grandsons (XXXIV .75

The never-ending feasting of the count on the archbishop 's brains is not exactly perpetual revenge over the archbishop , although Ugolino serves as an instrument of torture against the latter : it is a way of tormenting the count for having allowed his uncontrolled physical hunger to take over his love for his children and grandchildren . Thus , the sin itself is the punishment

In Dante 's inferno , remorse has no redeeming value . That Iscariot hanged himself did not detract one whit from the gravity of his sin . It did not earn him a place in the seventh circle where the self-murderers were , nor did it mitigate his punishment in the mouth of Lucifer himself . Ugolino 's extreme anguish in finding his sons and grandsons dying of hunger did not diminish his lot at all

Dante 's anger against the people of Pisa for having included the children and grandchildren in the murder of the count suggests his condemnation of the sufferings inflicted against the innocent in the course of war , which , nowadays , is euphemistically called collateral damage

But what about the count 's love for his offsprings ? Surely a person capable of loving cannot be wholly evil ? It may be noted that Jesus Christ observed that men despite their evil nature knew how to give good gifts to their children . In Dante 's inferno , being sorry at the sight of the suffering of other people does not diminish one 's guilt Remorse without genuine repentance does not expiate one 's sins . Dante shows us that love , like lustful passion , can also hurt . A person can love and be in hell at the same timer . The soul of Ugolino suffers not so much from the cold as from his vivid memory of his beloved sons ' and grandsons ' slow death by starvation in the tower

This symbol in the thirty-second and thirty-third canto may be seen as an indictment not only of sinister political plots that ruin innocent lives . It may also have been included by the poet to show us that when a person commits sin , not he alone suffers - his loved ones also share in his damnation (Exodus 20 .6 .WORK CITED

Alighieri , Dante . The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri . Trans . Charles Eliot Norton . Chicago : William Benton , 1952

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