What is Dante's Position on Vengeance in the Poem Is It Ever Justified - Essay Example

What is Dantes position on vengeance in the poem? Is it ever justified? The inferno startswith a description of one of the evening on Good Friday in 1300. The author vividly describes the journey of Dante Alighieri through the dark woods, where he had lost his path. As a result, he wandered with fear through this thick forest as various thoughts went through his mind. Dante encounters the Virgil ghost, who comes to his rescue and guide him back to the correct path, and ultimately to the top of the mountain. According to the Virgil, the path would direct him first through hell, before they arrived at heaven. Here, he would find his loved one Beatrice was waiting for him. As the poem unfolds the readers are introduced to the perceptions of Dante, and more so, his view on vengeance. Throughout the poem “inferno”, Dante’s position on vengeance is that it is a form of retribution, justice and punishment. This is particularly evident throughout the allegory journey that he undertook. In this journey, Dante travelled from the Earth to hell, to purgatory and eventually to heaven. This is justified as it is mainly based on the general view and philosophy that giving retribution as an important way of achieving justice. Therefore, it befits the offenders. As will be seen below, Dante held the firm conviction that person has to be intellectually aware of the need to carry out righteous acts. He perceives sin a one of the perversions found in the intellect. When he is lost in the dark woods, he seems to be referring allegorically to the man that was not in the right path. In his view, if a person failed to spend each of these moments consciously, they would easily find themselves in dark woods and in need of salvation. Dante does not give any exclusion from the circle of singers as even his friends are included. Dante believes in vengeance as a way of retribution. The poem reveals to the readers that the legions of the sinners are forced to suffer the most suitable fate for each of the crimes that they committed. Dante associates this payment with vengeance and perceives it as the best way to be retributive of the crimes. He, for instance, appreciates that the lustful people were shoved up and down in the storm. Here, they have no control over their physical bodies and therefore not bale to indulge in their pervasive sexual desires. Vengefully, Dante is pleased that the storm pounds their flesh. In another scene, the heretics who had not belief in the afterlife were seen lying in fiery tombs. Dante reports that the vengeance is that they would face condemnation of living their afterlives in graves. All these are indications that according to Dante, vengeance was indeed a fair means of retribution and, therefore, an effective method of dealing with crime and sins. According to many experts, Dante in this poem views vengeance as a retaliatory life escapade. In analytical concept, a conceptualized view of vengeance in the inferno poem symbolically presented as early as 1300. In the course of our lives sometimes we resort to vengeance so as to tackle any setbacks that may be encountered. For instance Dante is lost in a dark forest and in order for him to survive this ordeal he must for past the three realms of life staring from Hell. In hell, he encounters lost souls at the dark pits of hell in the center of the earth (Dante & James 111). In hell he is to go through circle in hell, the first circle is limbo whereby he meets pagans and non-Christians who were not sinful and others did not accept Christ, these subjects in limbo get punishment by living an underprovided heaven. This implies that Dante felt that vengeance is given in accordance to the level of misunderstanding between the parties, that is, God and his subjects. In the eight cycles classification of vengeance, all subjects doomed for being intentionally sinful receive judgment by Serpentine Minos who condemns those souls to the remaining 8 circles. These remaining circles are created in regard to the concept of virtue and vice hence are classified into their corresponding sins of ferocity, deception and their inability to control their desires and cravings. In the second circle is where people are really punished for their sins and in this circle those who were overcome by lust are punished, they are subjected to a violent storm which sways their souls to and fro hence they are unable to rest. This depicts Dante viewing vengeance as a way to punish those aimlessly and needlessly hurt someone hence the wronged persons seeks create a state of unrest to the wronging party (Dante & James 115). In my opinion, Dantes position on vengeance in the poem is justified. This is particularly because vengeance is often seen to a better way of repaying yours wrong-doers and restoring an innate peace. Ciacco, for instance talks to Dante implicitly concerning the strife of Florence between the black and the white Guelphs. In some of the prominent prophesies of this poem, Ciacco additionally makes a demoralizing prophecy of the white party, a prophecy which directly links Dante to the explosion as he belongs to the white (Dante and James 124). This prophecy leads to Dante’s own exile. Put differently, these are some of the experiences which gives Dante a feeling of vengeance. A treatment which lead to exile of individuals incredibly instills a heartless and non-humanistic feeling in individuals thus Dante is not an exception. The white party expulsion party which puts Dante on the wrong side of the law occurred in the 1300s, a period after the date in which the inferno poem was set, but not entirely put in down in writing. In the forth cycle, Dante views righteousness as a different entity of vengeance though deviation in these two life views may lead to the decline of the other. In the fourth cycle, Gustave Dore illustrates compares vengeance to the weights which are huge money bags. Individuals whose self-drive and attitude towards material good deviate irrationally from the appropriate mean are punished. This punishment model is entirely portrayed in the fourth cycle of Dante’s case (Dante & James 145). The punishments for irrationalities in the fourth cycle include either miserly or avaricious. The avaricious precisely in this poem is inclusive of both cardinals, popes and clergymen. These are men who inconsequentially choose different paths and hoard or squander their possessions. In conclusion, in Dante’s view of vengeance is justified as it represents a holistic approach towards the achievement of righteousness. Throughout the allegory journey that was taken by Dante from the Earth to hell, to purgatory and eventually to heaven, Dante views vengeance as a a form of justice and punishment. This is philosophically dependent on the contemporary views of life which is a justified poetic concept. Works Cited Dante Alighieri, Mary Jo Bang, and Henrik Drescher. Inferno. Minneapolis, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 2012. Print. Read More