DANTE \'s Inferno

STUDENT NUMBER: 1256943

MODULE CODE: EU8204

MODULE TITLE : Dante: the journey , the mission

SEMINAR TUTOR: Gino Bedani

ESSAY TITLE/ COURSEWORK :

Discuss what you consider to be the most important allegorical features of
the journey of Ulysses in the Inferno,and give your interpretation of their
meaning.



ASSIGNMENT: Essay

WORD COUNT:(excluding Cover sheet,Title and Bibliography) 3.323









































Discuss what you consider to be the most important allegorical features of
the journey of Ulysses in the Inferno,and give your interpretation of their
meaning.



The Divine Comedy recounts Dante's journey through the three reigns
(Purgatory, Hell, Heaven). This journey, which is never presented as
fiction or as a mental vision, is the theme of the opera as it gives
compactness and structure, favoring the narrative calls between the various
cantiche.
However, the meaning of the opera cannot be reduced to this, it must be
interpreted: behind the literal meaning there is the allegorical meaning.
Two interpretations are therefore necessary in order to understand Dante's
work, which cannot be read excluding the allegorical aspect.
Allegory is a fundamental element of the Comedy, Dante himself in fact in
Canto IX informs us that his work is an allegory:

''O voi che avete li 'ntelletti sani,

mirate la dottrina che ' asconde sotto 'l velame de li versi strani .
''(Canto IX, 60-63)



The opera itself has an allegorical meaning, it's the allegorical –
narrative projection of a moral journey inside the consciousness of
the poet made during the early years of his exile.

The journey that Dante makes, represents the path of atonement and
purification of the soul that each man must do to reach God and obtain the
eternal salvation.

Dante who, lost in a forest, when trying to get out of it is lead first by
Virgil through Hell and Purgatory. Then he is lead by Beatrice in
Paradise, who represents the human soul that, fallen into error and sin,
recognizes the mistakes and repents under the guidance of the Reason and
human wisdom (Virgil). The soul thus purified, can reach the faith, under
the guidance of Theology (Beatrice), and obtains at eternal salvation and
at the union with God.

When looking at it from this perspective, the characters of the poem can
have a double meaning, literal (or historical) and allegorical.



Canto XXVI of the Inferno is an example of that, is the apotheosis of the
allegory. almost all the lines , eaven if they might look simple, go
beyond the literal meaning.

We are in the eighth Bolgia, which relates to fraudulent, where misguided
intelligence is punished : the human intelligence can be at risk and
become corrupted if proceeds outside of morality and divine precepts. There
is a certain respect from Dante to the sinners of this Canto, which despite
having misused their intelligence have not lost their human prerogatives.

The souls of sinners are wrapped and burned by a flame which involves the
cancellation of the body image.

The reasons of the Contrappasso are simple: as in life the fraudulent
counselors secretly carried out their deceptions, which are now hidden by
a flame. There is an analogy between the hell's flame and the flame of
intelligence, between the fiery tongue and the tongue of the sinner who
has made, the deception., analogy between the destructive power of the word
and that one of the fire.

As an example in this Canto we find Ulysses and Diomede. They are placed
in the same flame, they pay the sin together, as together they put into
practice their tricks and stratagems of war. The faults for which they are
punished are listed by Virgil according in an increasing order of
severity. They are punished for the ambush of the Trojan horse and the
cunning with which Achille's weaponry was earned and the kidnapping of
Palladium.

Ulysses is the largest flame because is most cunning and notorious. The
importance of Ulysses is high so will be Virgil and instead of Dante
talking to him, the cultural allegory is clear: the Middle Ages could only
have access to Greek culture through the mediation of the Latin .

Ulysses stands out as the protagonist of the canto with the long story of
his journey:

after he was dismissed from the island of Circe, the affection for his son,
father and his wife were unable to win his ardor and desire to know the
world: he embarked with a few companions on a ship and sailed in the
western Mediterranean until the Straits of Gibraltar, over the famous
Pillars of Hercules. Whit a short oration Ulysses had reminded his
companions that virtue and knowledge are the prerogatives of man, which
persuaded them to continue the journey. After five months of navigation in
the southern hemisphere, they reached the mountain of paradise where a
whirlwind submerged the ship and caused the death of Ulysses and his
comrade putting an end to their journey.

From here on, the language takes on a epic tone, with whole Ulysses'
famous speech rich in historical and religious allegories.

The separation from Circe is the necessary condition for Ulysses to
undertake his journey into wisdom. Circe in fact is an allegory of
sensuality that makes men brutes and the separation from her is the
detachment from the pleasure of the senses.

The ardor of knowledge won in Ulisse, the tenderness for his son, father
and wife. This makes Dante's Ulysses an exemplary figure of pure intellect
which places knoeledge as a supreme value.

Lead by the passion for knowledge, he travels from the cognizable to the
incognizable, from the lands of the Mediterranean to the'' mondo senza
gente '' going beyond the Pillars of Hercules.

The known world is behind them, Ulysses and his companions are facing the
unknown, the ''orazion picciola'' that Ulysses addresses to his mans
calling them '' frati'' expresses the value that Ulysses gives to the
knowledge, as an expression of dignity and living as men.

Ulysses convinces his companions to do the'' folle volo'' , to go beyond
the boundaries of the known world, the navigation on the ocean is like a
fly on the wings of hope, towards an unknown destination, the ship becomes
like a fast bird, the oars like the wings.

Convinced his companions continue the navigation ''sempre acquistando dal
lato mancino'' (to stand on the larboard side symbolizes the 'error),
until they see a mountain' bruna' ', they are facing the mountain of the
earthly paradise, an allegory of the unknown, of what that man can not
know in this life with just the resources of reason. Here the catastrophe
happened, the '' folle volo'' is subject to punishment: a wild whirlwind
strikes the ship three times (the three is the symbol of God and is an
indication of divine causes of the catastrophe) causing the shipwreck and
the following death of Ulysses and his companions. It is the will of God
is not that of Ulysses that concludes the canto. The sea that returns to
normal is an allegory of the recomposition of the divine order. [1]

Here Ulysses can be seen as the allegory of the sword of the cherubim that,
after the original sin banned the access to the Garden of Eden.

In this Canto there are many symbologyes that will be developed in the rest
of the poems, giving the overview of a whole, where nothing is left to
chance.



The story of Ulysses, holds an important place in the Comedy because it
recalls the first experiences of the author's personal history, the
relevance of the episode is underlined multiple times in the text.
Dante's propensity towards Ulysses was highlighted in the text on many
occasions, in fact the expectation and desire to listen to the words of
his hero, emphasizes without doubt, a particular interest in the Greek
hero. Ulysses is certainly a leading figure in the Commedia: unlike all the
other damned of hell that Dante questioned, he does not belong to the time
of the author and has never really existed.
The strong desire to speak with Ulysses is a sign of something more than
just admiration from Dante: Ulysses is indeed the dual of the poet, not
only for the sake of knowledge but also because
Dante projects within him a part of his moral and cultural experience.
Dante is recognizable in Ulysses, but it is impossible to deny that in the
oration pronounced to his companions Dante's thoughts aren't present,
because it express ideas shared by the poet himself .
As can be seen from certain pages of the Convivo , Ulysses with his ardor
, and ''curiositas'' is the symbol of natural toward knowledge and a
projection of Dante's intrinsic attitude. In this Homeric hero Dante
seems to find an image of himself, his most intimate and primitive
tendecyes of a man who tirelessly searches for the origin of things.
Ulysses perhaps finds himself in the condition which Dante was before
writing the Commedia, before he was aware of the limit.[2]
Ulysses was often seen as a double of Dante: even the journey of Dante in
the Commedia is a journey of knowledge, the same as Ulysses', but unlike
him, who leads by himself, Dante humbly relies on Virgil and Beatrice.
A first sign of the apparent link that Dante feels between his story and
the one of Ulysses, is located in the second Canto of the play, when Dante
is insecure about his trip and uses the expression' alto passo 'that occurs
also in canto XXVI:

''Io cominciai: «Poeta che mi guidi,
guarda la mia virtù s'ell'è possente,
prima ch'a l'alto passo tu mi fidi'' (II, vv 9-12)

It is confirmed again , as always in the Canto as mentioned, even a few
lines later with the use of another word that refers immediately to the
hero of Ithaca: "temo che la venuta non sia folle' '
But the journey of Odysseus, is not only the journey of a man who goes
beyond the limits, his "folle volo" is also parallel but opposite to
Dante's journey: the same destination, the same desire of experience and
virtue. Ulysses departed alone and will not return, Dante instead is
guided by Virgil, called by Beatrice. Ulysses, in his loneliness, is a
reversed representation of Dante' destiny and is guided by God's grace.
With the progress of the Divine Comedy, Dante becomes more aware of the
diversity that exists between his journey and the tragic one of Ulysses'
: gradually with the progress of the work, the two paths of the two
characters differ.
'' ma misi me per l' alto mare aperto''
''misi me'' Ulysses says. He is the subject and object of the action
itself, is not guided.
The departure of Ulysses differs from the departure of Dante, which was
called by God himself.[3]


Especially after the meeting with Beatrice, there is no possibility for
Dante to confuse his fate with that of Ulysses, he learns that his journey
was wanted by God himself, he becomes certain that his journey mad , and
express this certainty connoting his experience with the term "alto volo
".
Ulysses is a polyhedral figure : is double, opposite the precursor of
Dante at the same time, is the one who has tried the feat that Dante ,
guided by the grace accomplished.

Dante's Ulysses, creator of deception and daring navigator moved by his
desire for knowledge, is an ambivalent figure who was subject of
misunderstanding: the second aspect has often been likened to the first
one, seen as an act of rebellion against the divine prohibition, and as
fraud exercised against his companions.
Ulysses was often seen as a titanic hero in a romantic view, impatient of
the limits imposed by the will of God to the desire for knowledge, but,
according to this point of view, Dante should have condemned Ulysses also
for the sin of pride and for the rebellion against the limits of human
knowledge.
There is no overlap between the sin of fraud, which is why the character is
placed in the eighth circle, and another kind of sin, pride, we would
expect to see it placed among the proud instead of the fraudulent.
Dante takes the figure of Ulysses in it's dual aspect of the creator of
deceptions and daring navigator: the wanderings of Ulysses do not appear
due to the hostility of a god, but rather to human destiny.
Ulysses desire for knowledge does not contrast with the cunning of the
warrior who devises deceptions. The two traits help to build the character
of the Greek hero. It excludes the fact that Ulysses pays, in the pit of
fraudulent, also his attempt to go beyond the limits imposed by God to
human knowledge, in fact is Ulysses' himself who qualifies his journey
with the expression '' folle volo''.
Dante's Ulysses is not similar to a god or a rebel; he is devoid of any
aspects of Titanism.
Any trace of pride and deception is absent from the oration that Ulysses
addresses to his companions: he does nothing but encourage them to exploit
the rest of their life to increase their experience of the world, it is an
invitation to use their own humanity. The rest of the story is also devoid
of a superb tone, it is neither a boast nor a regret, but rather an
awareness.
Ulysses suffers in the hell of his deceptions not the ''folle volo''
Ulysses in fact recognized in the whirlwind that wrecks his ship the
defense of an order that he was about to break in, in fact he turns back to
look at the sea and say '' come altrui piacque'';
Ulysses simply accepts the divine judgment that did not deem him worthy of
such grace. The final sentence ''in fin che il mar'' seems to reflect the
restoration of the order against which it was gone.

There is no indication from the story that Dante's Ulysses deliberate
attempt to reach a destination was prohibited. Adhering to the literal
meaning of the text: Ulysses is a too bold and curious navigator who wants
to explore and learn, but is stopped by God because it goes beyond the
limits of what he was allowed to know as a man. He has no intention of
violating an order even if the divine intervention becomes necessary. [4]
There is no sin of rebellion in Ulysses, as nothing makes us recognize
the Pillars of Hercules as a divine prohibition. The myth of the Pillars
became widespread in the Middle Ages, of Arabs Hispanic origins, it was
dictated for practical reason: the protection of certain trade routes,
hence the idea of Dante and the whole medieval culture as a divine
prohibition. So there is not any moral or religious ban, those Pillars are
nothing more that a warning of man to other men.
Ulysses will cross that limit because he cannot stop his desire for
knowledge. He is moved not by a desire for rebellion, but by the law which
he has always followed, the law of human nature.[5]
Ulysses is guided on his journey by what makes man the creature of
creation, the reason, which is a characteristic only of human beings and is
implemented through the act of knowing. In the Convivio, written in 1304 by
Dante expresses some concepts that are found also in the episode of
Ulysses and more specifically in the oration:
''sì come dice lo Filosofo nel principio de la Prima Filosofia, tutti li
uomini naturalmente desiderano di sSapere. La ragione di che puote essere
ed è che ciascuna cosa, da providenza di prima natura impinta, è
inclinabile a la sua propria perfezione; onde, acciò che la scienza è
ultima perfezione de la nostra anima, ne la quale sta la nostra ultima
felicitade, tutti naturalmente al suo desiderio semo subietti.'' (Convivio,
I,1)

According to Dante, God has willed that man is distinguished from the brute
due to his moral and intellectual skills and inclination to follow
knowledge. According to that every man has the right and duty to use his
intellectual and moral skills and realise himself as an individual.
Reaching the maximum of human abilities does not mean exceeding the limits
set by God to human knowledge, Dante himself, if he had not slowed his
intelligence would probably committed the same transgression as Ulysses ,
as he writes in vv 44 45'' '' si che s'io non avessi un ronchion preso,
caduto sarei giù sanz'esser urto'' .
'' folle '' would also be the otherworldly journey of Dante if he had not
the grace of God.
The desire to know the according to Dante is natural, which means that the
love for the science is in itself not a curiosity or a sin, but a moral
responsibility to which man can not escape but at the same time it can not
exceed and should be contained within well-defined limits.[6]

The myth of Ulysses is an integral part of the allegorical system of the
Commedia as it is presented in the prologue of the poem.
Where the poet, using a symbolic language narrates how, in the middle of
the course of his life, he had the sudden awareness that he had moved away
from the'' retta via '' and that he had fallen into error. In fact, the
intervention of divine grace will be necessary to make him start his path
to purification.
For Ulysses the destination is unreachable because of the lack of the
support given by divine grace, the grace given to Dante and thanks to
which he could make his journey.
In this respect, the episode of Ulysses is an integration of the premises
that Dante has placed on his journey , the story of Ulysses plays a key
role in the organization of the poem as it helps to clarify the causes of
the journey of knowledge of which Dante is the protagonist.
In this sense, the story of Ulysses is part of the allegorical and
religious scheme of the events in the Divine Comedy, because it is an
example of the limits of man and reason. Man is unable to reach the
truth without God's help. The '' folle volo '' of Ulysses is therefore
closely related to the journey of Dante.

The allegory is the emblem of the Middle Ages, as the medieval vision of
the world is symbolic, every aspect of the world, does not have a single
meaning, but always refers to something else, a meaning that goes beyond
appearances.
It is through the allegory that Dante represents the historical, social and
psychological reality.
The Divine Comedy should therefore be considered an allegorical journey, in
which Dante represent also the whole of humanity:
Dante manages to go beyond the mere allegory: the characters and the
situations, have a real and moral consistency, each character acquires its
psychological and human reality.
An example of that is the figure of Ulysses, who is still real and
modern, he is not only the double of Dante. His journey is not only the
allegory of Dante's one but also that of any man's journey.
The allegorical system on which the Commedia is based, makes it the subject
of various interpretations, and gives the reader a chance to see in the
text what he want and also to interpret it according to his personal
experience:
Who has never happened to empathize or at least feel close to Ulysses
reading the story of his journey?
The fate of Ulysses is the destiny of every individual who is faced with a
limit: nature itself , luck or god.

His famous ''curiositas'', and cunning make him a timeless figure, a
personification of all those practical skills and abilities that make the
human, he was an example for the Greek culture and also nowadays.


















































BIBLIOGRAPHY




Alighieri , D. Il Convivio.Pàrton Editore, 1966

Bartolini . Ulysses in The Dante Encyclopedia . New York, Garland Pub ,
2000


Diomedi, A. Il principio di perfezione nel pensiero dantesco. Troubador
Publishing

Fubini,M . Il peccato di Ulisse ; Il canto XXVI dell' Inferno in Il
peccato di Ulisse e altri scritti danteschi .Riccardo .Milano . Ricciardi ,
1966

Inferno XXVI – L'abbandono (online) Avaiable at:
http://www.clammmag.com/inferno-xxvi-labbandono/ (Accessed on: 3 April
2013)

Pagliaro, A. Ulisse: ricerche semantiche sulla Divina Commendia. Vol 1-2
.Casa editrice G.D'anna

Tornotti, G. La Mente innamorata. Bruno Mondadori

-----------------------
[1] Tornotti, G. La Mente innamorata. Bruno Mondadori . Pp 272,
273,274,280,281,283

[2] Pagliaro, A. Ulisse: ricerche semantiche sulla Divina Commendia. Vol
1 .Casa editrice G.D'anna . Pp 430, 431, 432
[3] Inferno XXVI – L'abbandono (online) Avaiable at:
http://www.clammmag.com/inferno-xxvi-labbandono/

[4] Pagliaro, A. Ulisse: ricerche semantiche sulla Divina Commendia. Vol
1 .Casa editrice G.D'anna Pp 394, 395,396, 402,418
[5] Fubini,M . Il peccato di Ulisse ; Il canto XXVI dell' Inferno in Il
peccato di Ulisse e altri scritti danteschi . Pp 64, 65, 66, 67
[6] Diomedi, A. Il principio di perfezione nel pensiero dantesco.
Troubador Publishing pp 77, 79,