Sex, Love and Tragedy in Early Italian Literature - Book Report/Review Example

Pier Della Vigna (c. 1190 - 1240) was a poet, who was falsely accused of betraying the trust of Frederick II, who then unable to bear the charges, committed suicide. He is the one person, who brings out a feeling of sympathy in the poet as well as the readers because, in spite of his apparent great deeds, and a life spent in serving nobly his king, he brought upon himself the sin of suicide. The apparent irony here is that in order to show his just nature, he had to take the path of sinning against his Christian belief, by murdering his own self, which was a gift to him from God.

The incorporation of this character, and the retelling of the story through his own words makes the poet aware of the injustice heaped on him, and now he can go back to Earth and relate the truth behind the suicide.3. Lucifer or Satan is the complete antithesis of God. His name means "bearer of light" in Latin, but the truth is that he is the epitome of darkness. In Canto 34 of the Inferno, we have shown Lucifer turned upside down, with his head pointing to the Earth and his legs pointing skywards.

That is because when he was cast out of Heaven he plunged downwards on his head, into the hemisphere opposite the earth. But his fall upset the order of the universe, and the land moved to the hemisphere of sin, as compared to its original place in the hemisphere of innocence. He is depicted with three faces in an apparent reference to Trinity, but in his person, it becomes a mockery of this holy ideal.