Melissa Rice
Catherine of Sienna and Dante
Catherine of Sienna and Dante Alighieri interacted very differently in each of their spiritual and medieval Christian societies, but they had three things in common. They were both Christian, writers, and they both lived and endured the Middle Ages, which were roughly between 5th and 15th century. This was the era between the Fall of Rome and the Renaissance. This was a dark time, and was perfectly referred to as the Dark Ages. One might wonder why it was referred to in this way. There are two main reasons why it was called this. One was the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death. The majority of the extremity was during the 1340s. Approximately two million people in Europe dropped dead
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At this time the clergy of the church became more powerful than the royals. Having a religious leader rule sounds like a positive thing to most people of faith. The problem was one did not necessarily have to be a devout Christian to be a head of the church. One did not even have to be a theologian. Some people just became church leaders for the easy lifestyle that included a great salary and house. All of the money came from the citizens having to pay tithes, those were around ten percent of their earnings. They took advantage of their power and did not bring glory to God with it. Dante despised the church for this corruption. Most of his bitterness for the church though came from his disagreements with the church leaders. He made many enemies throughout his life from his opinions. The Divine Comedy was a way for him to send them all to Hell, figuratively. Dante knows a lot of people, and likes to talk with the politicians and clergy while he was down in Hell. One of the people in the poem that was mentioned was Pope Nicholas III who confessed to Dante that he tried to buy himself into Heaven. He hates himself for it and is full of grief but he mentioned that there are so many worse people on Earth who have a more horrible fate. Dante does not have any sympathy towards Nicholas. He believes that his punishment fits the crime. Then Dante breaks and tells his negative
In Dante’s Inferno, Dante is on a journey through hell in which he sees the different versions of sins and what consequences come after the immoralities. The person who commits a sin usually has to suffer in some way that would show revenge for the law of God. Dante threatens the people and tells them that they basically have nothing to look forward to except for having to suffer being separated from the will of God. Since these works were written by Dante, he had the power to judge others and decide how they will be punished for their sins. These visions that he had could very well be all false prophecies and may not be believed by every person. One thing that Dante did was to give enlightenment to sins that people did not know and made people
The term “dark ages” which is coined by the Italian Scholar Francesco Petrarch, applies to Medieval Europe during the times between 500 AD and 1500 AD. The term suggests a low-point in society with violence, disease, and war. Medieval Europe included many of these traits. Involving the Crusades, the Black Death, and violence involving religion. For these and the following reason, Medieval Europe was in a dark age.
For instance, political leaders only had local power, the Church was the most powerful institution. Also, two parts of the Code of Chivalry really talked about the Church. They were, “Thou Shalt believe all that the Church teaches, and shalt observe all its directions” and “Thou Shalt defend the Church” (Doc. 5). In other words, people valued the Church’s teachings and directions, so they had to protect it with all they had. This proves that the Church was important to all the people, the peasants, the kings, the nobles and the knights. Furthermore, “the Church became very powerful, and it often used this power to influence the kings to do as it wanted” (Doc. 3). In summary, the Church had even more power than the kings. As you can see the Church had the most political
Literary Analysis Fear is one of the biggest factors which impact our everyday choices that we make and also those actions that we choose not to take. There are many reasons to why humans have fear. It maybe the fear of the unknown, fear of pain, or even the fear of punishment. Out of all of the emotions Dante portrays in The Inferno, fear is the one used most often. Not only does Dante focus on the fear of a higher power but also of the unknown.
Throughout the semester we have studied many pieces of literature. All of these works have a purpose whether it be to find love, to be a hero, to find justice, to go on a journey, to portray the natural world and many more. I am going to discuss five different pieces of literature where the characters are on a journey to find or be something. First I will talk about Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
In the beginning of his journey through hell Dante is sympathetic and compassionate. Virgil names every soul that inhabits the Carnal to Dante. "I stood there while my Teacher one by one/ named the great knights and ladies of dim time/ and I was swept by pity and confusion" (V 70-72). Dante feels such pity and sympathy for the souls in the Carnal and their eternal suffering. He goes further to explain that you cannot control what you love, and questions how you could find fault with them. Dante then calls
The church was a major political force during this point of time. Kings and Queens needed papal approval, especially when there was a lot of conflict going on. This allowed the church to to use political power as it could help them solve and determine which claimants to a throne would be accepted. There were a long history and a lot tension between the church and secular authority over this and other political issues.
In Dante 's divine comedy, there are countless references to all forms of sins and the punishments of those who committed them. Dante goes into great detail when describing these sins and their consequences. Each punishment is perfectly fitting to the crime itself, so that the sinner desereves exactly what he is facing. Dante 's work teaches the reader that sin is to be despised, and yet simultaneously weaves his own symbolism and meaning into his book.
Dante loathes those who start trouble and prevent civilians from living together peacefully. In circle eight, he also indicates his contempt for the Catholic church through his encounter with Pope Nicholas III, a man in Hell for selling privileges of the church, which he used his religious power for the wrong needs and stole money from the church for his own desires.
Often when we set out to journey in ourselves, we come to places that surprise us with their strangeness. Expecting to see what is straightforward and acceptable, we suddenly run across the exceptions. Just as we as self‹examiners might encounter our inner demons, so does Dante the writer as he sets out to walk through his Inferno. Dante explains his universe - in terms physical, political, and spiritual - in the Divine Comedy. He also gives his readers a glimpse into his own perception of what constitutes sin. By portraying characters in specific ways, Dante the writer can shape what Dante the pilgrim feels about each sinner. Also, the reader can look deeper in the text and examine the
The term “dark ages” comes from Petrarch, who was an Italian scholar that lived after the dark ages, and compared it to the classical era. Medieval Europe happened from 500 AD to 1500 AD, also known as the medieval period in Europe. It is called “the dark age” because of the disease, famine, murder, chaos, and death that happened during that time.
In such discussion I only met with further obfuscation and confusion. Rather this initial difficulty can be overcome with some ease by consulting a letter Dante retrospectively wrote to his patron, Can Grande, where he offers the following guide in reading the whole `Comedy': ."..The subject then of the whole work, taken in the literal sense only, is the state of souls after death pure and simple. If however the work be regarded from the allegorical point of view the subject is man according as by his merits or demerits in the existence of his freewill he is deserving of reward or punishment by justice" . Dante is stating that the description of spirits which he meets in the other world carries implications about the moral significance of the type of behaviour which they exemplify. This is an important point and if we lose sight of it we lose sight of the poem and of what makes it historically significant. Indeed, I will argue that it is this underlying moral significance which makes the `Comedy' a work of the middle ages but a work for all time. Judging contemporary characters, through lyrical poetry, in consultation with the classics on a question that transcends his own time and place I feel qualifies the comedy as a work of great historical significance. However let us not digress untimely, rather I will now examine the contemporary experience which Dante's
Dante is a poet who wrote an epic poem called The Divine Comedy. This epic poem is about Dante’s journey as he goes through 3 levels, which he calls Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. In the Inferno, he meets Virgil, his guide throughout his voyage. They both pass through the nine circles of Hell, where they witness many different punishments for those who have done awful things in their past. Good versus evil is a major theme that occurred throughout Hell. In the Inferno, there are times where Dante sees good and evil and also represents it himself.
The lesson Dante wants to teach us is that making love when not married is a sin. In this poem he tells and shows us stories of different people who have made love without marriage and why they are in hell and y they are stuck together. In this poem Dante sees the souls who have sinned stuck together for eternity. Dante’s mentor tells him he may speak to them and they will come and listen. Dante starts out by saying, “O wind-worn souls, Come speak to us if it is not forbidden,”(line 80). When he says this all the souls turn from their convoy to approach Dante and speak to him. When they see Dante they sort of praise him and want to speak with him about anything. They speak to him asking him to speak to them about anything he wants. They say
Judging by the character in the story Dante is a god fearing man who has moral issues in his life. He seem to be in a constant fight with himself about the right way he should live his life. By the end of the story Dante gives the impression that he a is strong believer in the theory of “you reap what you sow”. By the end of the story Dante gives you the impression that he does not feel pity for sinners being punished because he looks at it as a form of divine intervention.