Major Concepts:
Canto XIX: Simoniacs- burning in holes, upside down
- Like San Giovanni baptistry- all Florentines baptized there / servants of state had to swear an oath there - civic and spiritual unity
- D says he broke on hold b/c someone was drowning
- Greek- baptizeim- to drown
- Baptism- idea: drown to be born all over again as a new person
- Or... breaking an oath- idea that you can break a vow in favor of a higher one - Dante's case is higher than it used to be = forced to put violent hands on sacred
Canto XX: Diviners- heads turned around
- Idea that it is perverse to predict how divine providences works will free will
- Sexual imagery- souls can't see their sex
Cantos XXI-XXII: Barratry- boil in pitch
- Unbalanced similie: comparison to great Venetian arsenal where they built and refitted ships - like Dante's journey by sea
- Military imagery- Malacoda acts like a commander calling his troops, Dante associates moment with Battle of Caprona where losers (not Florence) came out under ceasefire
- Speed of fright
- Navarresse- tells whole life story to buy time / V plays into this by asking if there are any Italians / seizes the moment and escapes
Canto XXIII: Hypocrites- lead-laden cloaks
- Mouse and Frog fable- D and V are mouse, Malacoda is frog
- Virgil as mother- picks up Dante and takes him to saftey
- Caiphus- extra contrapasso- crucified
- Everything is hypocritical
Cantos XXIV-XXV: Thieves- snakes
- Better than Lucan and Ovid
- Vanni Fucci tells Dante of White Guelph defeat / curses God
- Metamorphosis- changed form (soul) and matter (body)
- D let pen run wild, will now hold back (he also said something similar to this in Canto XIX with the Simoniacs)
Cantos XXVI-XXVII: False Counselors- flames
- Theme: you can't got it alone- seen in transition, seen in what Ulysses did
- Peasant farmer- looks down to where he harvests and plows (left out ideas of sowing seed)
- Elijah taken up to heaven in firery chariot- similie from point of view of Elisha (one who avenged with bears)- Dante is like Elisha, Beatrice is like Elijah
- Flame hides sinner- each sinner is a thief but they hid it / fraudulent council-steal truth- flames steal sinners / sinner wrapped up in flame like in literature where truth is wrapped up in envelope called allegory
- Ulysses- Trojan horse, got Achilles into the war, stole Palladium / final voyage in malo because only took into account sensual (not spiritual) / uses language of hypocrite to explain how crew was so willing to follow him / sailed SE, past pillars of Hercules / shipwrecked as it pleased another (God), comparable to Paul's 1st Letter to Timothy- those who abjure their faith are shipwrecked
- Sounds from flames- human speech? flame speech?
- Sicilian bull- created as a torture chamber, 1st used against its creator
- Guido da Montefletro- became a Franciscan friar to make amends, gave false advice to Pope Boniface VIII b/c Boniface said that he would be absolved, wasn't = Hell
Canto XXVIII: Schismatics- all cut up
- 1st mention of "contrapasso"- law of retribution / derived from St. Thomas Acquinus- justice meated out with respect to community as well as the individual
Canto XXXI: Transition to 9th Circle of Betrayers
- Virgil's tongue compared to Achilles' spear- spear: inflict wound and cure it, tongue- chide Dante and apply cure
- Giants- rebelled against Heaven and were defeated, size has to do with enormity of sin / walls cover giants to the waist- like aprons- like Adam and Eve
Cantos XXXII-XXXIV: Betrayers- frozen
- Place where all the weight of the universe is- center of Earth is heaviest / St. Augustine- weight of evil weighs you down (weight of love weighs you up)
- Dante is fearless with what he chooses to put in speech
- Hell-mouth idea- eating / on top of / traitors are the worst / 9th circle- place on top of which all else leans / verbs in reflexive- self-invovlement in action
- Caina- betrayers of kin
- Antemora- betrayers of country/party
- Ptolemea- betrayers of guests
- Judecca- betrayers of benefactors
- Ugolino and Ruggeri- nature of eating is sometimes unspeakable / choice of how to eat, how to survive / bestial sign- sign that signifies that an act of eating is bestial / tells story to get more vengeance on Ruggeri
- Ugolino- doesn't have a clue about his kids, doesn't know what dream means, didn't know how to accept sacrificial gesture from kids / truth from mouths of kids- did this b/c they thought he was hungry (Ugolino's idea), did this b/c they recognized that he was spiritually hungry (Dante's idea) / Jeremiah- glosses Ugolino's entire story
- Choice in eating- cannibalism: eat each other, Dante believes we do this all the time vs. eucharist: entering into a convenant with each other to end cycle of blood vengeance- always victims, always scapegoats
- Souls in ice like unpure ice with straw
- Satan- anti-king, anti-divinity, anti-trinity, anti-holy spirit, arms as anti-cross
- Dante's struggle for life or death here- like Christ's struggle on Holy Saturday- he overcomes and reigns alive
- 3 sinners- center in greatest pain, balance of power between secular (HRE) and sacred (Pope)
- Leaving hell- inversions, like Israel exiting from Egypt, climbing on Satan- tired, real conflict between life and death
- Come out and see stars, "stelle" ends all 3 poems
People:
Canto XVIII: Seducers and Panderers
- Ciaccimoco- sold sister to noble
- Jason- abandoned Madea after she helped him get the golden fleece
Canto XVIII: Flatterers
- Interminei
Canto XIX: Simoniacs
- Pope Nicholas III- extended papal control / shameless nepotism / predicts that Pope Boniface VIII (elected after Celestine V abdicated) and Pope Clement V (moved Papal See to Avignon) will join him here
Canto XX: Diviners
- Tiresias- male to female to male
- Manto- fortune teller
Cantos XXI-XXII: Barrators
- Navarresse- tells whole life story and admits crime (all to buy time), jumps off fork into pitch
Canto XXIII: Hypocrites
- Catalano, Loderingo- Florence podesta, betrayed Ghibellines, burned down Gardingo district
- Ciaphus- high priest, advised council of chief priests and pharisses to kill Jesus
Cantos XXIV-XXV: Thieves
- Vanni Fucci- stole holy objects and didn't confess when another was accused of the crime, gets back at Dante by announcing White Guelph defeat in 1301
Cantos XXVI-XXVII: False counselors
- Ulysses (and Diomedes)- Trojan horse, lured Achilles into war, stole Palladium, final voyage- just sensual reasons (not spiritual), shipwrecked
- Guido da Montefeltra- sly military leader to Franciscan Friar, Boniface VIII asks him for advice (he will absolve him) and he gives Pope false counsel
Canto XXVIII: Schismatics
- Mohammed and Ali- Muslim usurpers, religious divisiveness
- Bertran de Born- poet, rift between King Henry II of England and his son, Prince Henry
Cantos XXIX-XXX: Falsifiers
- Geri del Bello- doesn't want to speak to Dante because no one has avenged his murder
- Master Adam- falsifier of coins, made Florins with only 21/24 carats of gold
- Sinon the Greek- liar, lied to get Trojan horse into Troy
Cantos XXXI-XXXIV: Betrayers
- Bocca degli Abati- betrayer of country/party, Dante kicks him, Montaperti- Florentine Guelphs defeated by Ghibellines, he pretended to fight with Guelphs, but betrayed them = Guelph defeat
- Ugolino and Ruggieri- betrayers of country/party, Ugoline betrays Pisa, Ruggieri locks him and sons up in tower
- Fra Alberigo- betrayer of guests, body in Hell but alive on Earth, pretended that altercation with Manfred was forgotten, killed him at a meal
- Satan- betrayer of benefactors, rebelled against God, 3 faces and wings
- Brutus and Cassius- betrayers of benefactors, killed Julius Caesar- world's supreme secular leader
- Judas- betrayer of benefactors, betrayed Jesus
No more review notes for now, but look out for some Intro to Comparative Politics notes soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment