Finding Beauty in Hell: Taking Sides with the Devil in Dante's Inferno

"Father don't blame us for trying to live, for trying to love, for wanting more..."

-AURORA "The Devil is Human"

In the absence of light, a wanting pilgrim is guided through inferno by a devoted pagan

who will help his pupil to understand the nature of “evil” on his path to a brighter destiny. With Reason leading the way, the two men wade through the deepest layers of sin to find the true cause of devilish deeds which we later discover is nothing less than Love. Amidst the “flowing tears” of the lovers and the prideful conceit of the loved, greater allegorical meaning looms over each literal encounter in Dante’s hell. Before the Pilgrim achieves an “upright, wholesome and free” (Dante 294) will by his master’s standards, he engages with many shades whose state of will is questionable. This essay seeks to show which of the

characters in Dante’s Inferno “sinned” with an unfree will and how natural love* was the driving force behind their actions that may be more pitiable than they seem.

In Canto XVI of Purgatory, the spirit of Marco Lombardo introduces the Pilgrim to his knowledge of the “Free Will” (that is supposedly gifted by "God"), explaining that since the Free Will is connected to the mind and the mind is independent from the spheres*, “the spheres have no control” (173) over it, hence why it can be considered “free”. He argues that if the Free Will did not possess this quality “it would not be just to render bliss for good or pain for evil” (173) which means that Free Will is a central precondition within his theory as its mere existence seems to legitimize both “positive” and spiritual law according to this quote. Moreover, if this Free Will is “nurtured well” it may be put to proper use when confronted with life’s obstacles (173). This discussion of the will becomes the precursor to Virgil’s lesson on love which we soon discover is dependent on Marco’s concept of “Free Will” and one’s ability to exercise it.

Virgil begins by differentiating between two main types of love: “the natural love, [and] the rational [love]” (184) and says that the first type “may never be at fault” (184) because “natural love” is driven by our primal instincts, and thus “arises through necessity” (193) rather than through choice as in the case of “rational love”. Since the second type of love is guided by reason, not only can it choose the wrong object for which to love it may also choose to love with too much or too little force and it is this characteristic which makes it punishable in both the earthly and spiritual realm. Virgil claims that although “every love that burns in [us] arises through necessity” (193), “necessity” referring to the human instinct to

love and be loved, we “still have the power to restrain such love” (193), “power” referring to

the Free Will. However, if the Free Will needs to be “nurtured” before it can regulate love as Marco says, it may not be just to punish someone who has sinned by natural love with an unnurtured “Free Will” according to this theory. Since Virgil’s account of “rational love” requires the faculty of reason, presumably there needs to be an ascension to reason (that would require special guidance) before one can love with a “Free Will” which means that those who sin out of natural love do so with an unfree will or at least an unnurtured "Free Will".

But is it just to punish someone who has “sinned” while in this state? And if so, do they deserve to be damned for all eternity in hell?

To find these answers we are directed back to Dante’s Inferno, where we may analyze some of the “sinner’s” stories in more detail before deciding whether their “evil” deeds were the result of natural love with an unnurtured free will or if they were, in fact, acting maliciously despite having a nurtured Free Will.

Francesca and Paolo are the first shades whose love story suggests a serious lack of

rationality. When the Pilgrim urges these lovers to tell him their tale of lust, the two shades, who move as one, obey his call without question and are “guided by will” (112) as the poet says. Since we learn in Purgatory that a “Free Will” does not “guide” one to act, but rather, allows one to choose, it is not clear that these lovers can exercise their free choice which is only reinforced by their blind compliance to the Pilgrim’s prying request in this scene. From here, a dramatic Francesca indulges in some poetic expression that not only recaptures the nature of her worldly sins but also arouses the pity of her listener, the Pilgrim, who is captivated by her story. “Love, quick to kindle in the gentle heart, / seized this one for the beauty of my body, / torn from me, … // Love, that excuses no one from loving, / seized me so strongly with delight in him / that, as you see, he never leaves my side. // Love led us straight to sudden death together… (112). Although Francesca’s experience of love could technically be categorized as “rational love” that was both misdirected and excessive according to Virgil’s definition, it could just as easily be a case of human err or guided by “natural love” which does not merit punishment. “Love, that excuses no one from loving” (112) suggests that the two lovers were both acting in a primal state driven by the instinctual need to love while Francesca’s use of the term “seized” in this verse implies a powerless state, indicative of one who does not possess the will necessary to choose either rationally or freely.

Next, we turn to the realm where the “deceivers” dwell to analyze the sins of Odysseus

whose spirit now lives within a single “two-horned flame” shared with his “companion in sin on earth” (311) Diomed. In this scene, Odysseus recounts his final voyage of which he set out on so fervently despite his responsibilities as a father, as a son, and as a husband, admitting “not sweetness of a son, not reverence for an aging father, not the debt of love I owed Penelope to make her happy, could quench deep in myself the burning wish to know the world and have experience of all men’s vices” (308). Although this line may indirectly imply that Odysseus was acting with “rational love” in choosing the wrong object(s) for which to love, there is little evidence to suggest that he had received the nurturing guidance necessary to exercise his Free Will before embarking on his odyssey of sin. And though

Odysseus is more than willing to acknowledge his provocative rhetoric that resulted in a deadly outcome for his crew, there is insufficient proof that he was acting with a Free Will that consciously aimed to deceive his men. His final verse describes the storm that took his ship down on his journey back to Ithaca, recalling “a whirling wind that beat against the forepart of the ship and whirled us round…as pleased Another’s will” (309), meaning that Odysseus’ fate was not in his own hands but rather, in the hands and wills of “the gods” from his understanding which points more to a powerless state of being than a free one.

Finally, we examine the life and death of Guido da Montefeltro whose lack of regret for

his “sins” earned him a fiery spot in “lower hell”. When an admittedly resentful Guido reflects upon his living days, he says to the Pilgrim “the wiles and covert paths I knew them all” (317), and although this line does imply that he was involved with multiple forms of deception and/or trickery during his life, we cannot assume that he was acting with a nurtured Free Will while doing so. He goes on to remark “when I saw that the time of life had come for me...to lower the sails and gather in the lines” (318) which implies that, like Odysseus, life had been somewhat journey-like for Guido, guided more by “the heavens” than by “Free Will” (321). He also notes at one point that the “things I once found pleasure in grieved me” (318) which not only suggests that he experienced some type of enlightenment or even rebirth that caused him to look back at his former self with anguish but also, that he was likely acting with an unfree will (or at least an unnurtured "Free Will") before this period of enlightenment occurred. When we realize that Guido was persuaded by a corrupt Pope (whom he trusted), to help formulate a scheme that would bring the Pope’s rivals down, it becomes apparent that his “fraudulent counsel” was more the result of natural love guided by an abusive power than it was a malicious intent to deceive. Presumably, Guido would not be experiencing such resentment in hell if he had not first experienced a sense of powerlessness in his life before death.

If it were true, that these characters ascended to reason before they committed their

sins, it would indeed make their transgressions less pitiable, however, there is insufficient

evidence to suggest that this moral and spiritual growth took place before their “crimes”

occurred. Since the Pilgrim himself did not achieve a “wholesome, upright, free will” until he

reached his biblical half-life, we cannot assume that the other characters in Inferno had a “free will” before this age either. Arguably, Dante uses the shade’s fates in hell to provide his audience with examples of unjust punishment in hope that his readers will sense the unfairness in both the concept of salvation and the afterlife of these souls under Christian doctrine. For Dante, it was not “God” who created the Christian hell but rather, the sinner’s natural love in the absence of God. And because of this instinctual, and in many ways, sacrificial love, the Pilgrim as well as Dante’s readers may avoid a similar fate thanks to these lifelike examples of “evil” that, paradoxically, incite the good.

Sincerely,

Heather

*Spheres in this context is referring to celestial/“heavenly” movement or astrological signs from above

*In Purgatory natural love is considered to be the most primal form of love which can never be culpable because it emanates from an essential need that is innate to humankind.

Note: This post has been inspired by scholarly seminars with my LBST360 classmates this semester, led by Dr. Heiti, who has been our devoted guide through Dante’s The Divine Comedy: Volume 1 & 2. My argument in this essay is based on my own personal interpretation of the poem however and does not necessarily reflect the

interpretations of my classmates, professor, or the translator of this work.

Works Consulted

Dante. The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno. Translated by Mark Musa. London, Penguin

Books, 2003.

Dante. The Divine Comedy Volume 2: Purgatory. Translated by Mark Musa. London, Penguin Books, 2003.