His Gentle Compassion Brings You Out of Hiding and You Find Youre Forgiven Again

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Inferno Compassion and Forgiveness

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Pity and Forgiveness

Inferno Canto 2

Dante

As little flowers, which the chill of night
has bent and huddled, when the white dominicus strikes,
grow directly and open up fully on their stems,
and so did I, too, with my exhausted force;
and such warm daring rushed into my heart
that I – as one who has been freed – began:
"O she, compassionate, who has helped me!
And you who, courteous, obeyed so chop-chop
the true words that she had addressed to y'all!
You, with your words, have and then disposed my heart
to longing for this journey – I return
to what I was at first prepared to exercise." (Inf. 2, 127-138)

Dante'due south response to Beatrice'due south pity spurs him to blossom "as fiddling flowers…grow straight and open up fully on their stems" when "the white lord's day strikes." Thus, Beatrice's compassion is related to the light of God. And because he tin 'see' again with her illumination, Dante feels "warm daring rush into [his] heart" to offset the "exhausted force" of doubts that were plaguing him before. Thus, compassion seems to have a life-giving force that Dante volition later apply to enliven sinners to recount their stories to him.

Virgil

[Virgil quoting Beatrice]: "'In Heaven there's a gentle lady – one
who weeps for the distress toward which I ship you,
and then that stern judgment upwardly above is shattered.
And it was she who called upon Lucia,
requesting of her: "At present your faithful one
has need of you, and I commend him to you."
Lucia, enemy of every cruelty,
arose and made her fashion to where I was,
sitting abreast the venerable Rachel.
She said: "You, Beatrice, truthful praise of God,
why have you non helped him who loves you then
that – for your sake – he's left the vulgar crowd?
Do yous not hear the anguish in his weep?
Do yous not meet the death he wars confronting
upon that river ruthless every bit the bounding main?"
No 1 within this world has ever been
then quick to seek his good or flee his harm
as I…'" (Inf. Two, 94-111)

Virgil's story of how he has come up to guide Dante direct discusses Dante's condition as a called 1 in having the opportunity to experience Hell while still alive. His special status comes purely from the compassion of three divine ladies: the Virgin Mary herself, Saint Lucia, and Beatrice (the mortal dearest of Dante's life). Indeed, this reinforces the stereotype of women as gentle emotional creatures, contrasted with the male stereotype of existence too rational. These women show the physical manifestation of compassion: tears. Different gentle Mary, Lucia chastises Beatrice for ignoring Dante'due south straying from God'due south path. And, in an interesting paradox, Beatrice, by linking the "persuasive word" to Virgil, herself uses it to convince the Roman poet to assistance Dante.

Inferno Canto IV (the first Circle: Limbo)

Virgil

But I, who'd seen the alter in his [Virgil's] complexion,
said: "How shall I keep if you are frightened,
you who have e'er helped dispel my doubts?"
And he to me: "The anguish of the people
whose place is here below, has touched my confront
with the compassion yous mistake for fear." (Inf. IV, 16-22)

Unbeknownst to Dante, he and Virgil are about to meet a group of Classical poets and Virgil's dear companions. This foreknowledge causes Virgil to pale dramatically with sympathy for their plight. Interestingly, Dante mistakes his physical reaction for one stemming from fear. Indeed, this concept will subsequently be played on every bit Dante cries and faints – some typical reactions to intense fear or pain – when moved to compassion for the sinners. This reinforces the very root of the word "pity," which means literally "to feel with." And then, one could read Virgil'south and subsequently Dante's sympathy for the sinners as literally feeling and participating in the pain that the sinners feel.

"Tell me, my chief, tell me, lord," I then
began because I wanted to be certain
of that belief which vanquishes all errors,
"did any ever go – by his own merit
or others' – from this identify toward blessedness?"
And he, who understood my covert speech communication,
replied: "I was new-entered on this state
when I beheld a Great Lord enter here:
the crown he wore, a sign of victory.
He carried off the shade of our first father,
of his son Abel, and the shade of Noah,
of Moses, the obedient legislator,
of father Abraham, David the male monarch,
of Israel, his father, and his sons,
and Rachel, she for whom he worked so long,
and many others – and He made them blessed;
and I should accept you know that, before them,
there were no human souls that had been saved." (Inf. Iv, 46-63)

Virgil's story of the Harrowing of Hell, in which Christ carries off the good men of the Old Testament (born before Christ) to Heaven, shows that God does indeed honey the virtuous, making exceptions for the honorable unbaptized, and that the sinners in limbo – like the poets Dante worships – still have an opportunity to enter Heaven. This serves to mitigate, or soften, Dante'due south judgment of God's mercy.

Dante

The kindly master said: "Do you lot non enquire
who are these spirits whom you see earlier y'all?
I'd have yous know, before you get ahead,
they did not sin; and yet, though they take claim,
that'southward not plenty, because they lacked baptism,
the portal of the organized religion that you embrace.
And if they lived earlier Christianity,
they did non worship God in fitting ways;
and of such spirits I myself am ane.
For these defects, and for no other evil,
we now are lost and punished just with this:
we accept no hope and yet we live in longing."
Great sorrow seized my eye on hearing him,
for I had seen some estimable men
among the souls suspended in that limbo. (Inf. Iv, 31-45)

Here, Dante's soul is too naïve to recognize the crime of these sinners. That he sees "some estimable men" in limbo – poets like himself – biases him in their favor and incites his sympathy. Indeed, the law-breaking of being built-in before the coming of Christ and existence punished for it – something over which the "sinners" have no command – seems savage and unfair. The implication of seeing fellow poets in Hell is that Dante, too, may end up there. By commiserating with these souls in limbo, Dante questions the validity of God's judgment and His supposedly space beloved.

Inferno Canto V (the Second Circle: the Lustful)

Dante

And while 1 spirit [Francesca] said these words to me,
the other [Paolo] wept, so that – because of pity –
I fainted, as if I had met my death.
And and so I fell equally a expressionless body falls. (Inf. V, 139-142)

Dante's reaction to Francesca's and Paolo's pitiable story brings such sympathy to his heart that he has an overwhelming physical reaction: he faints from compassion. Indeed, readers might suspect that his sympathy kills him since Dante is described as a "expressionless body fall[ing]." Dante has non even so learned to condemn sinners for their crimes, to define exactly what their sin is, or to weigh their seemingly noble qualities against their sins.

Inferno Canto Six (the Third Circle: the Gluttonous)

Dante

I answered him: "Ciacco, your suffering
then weights on me that I am forced to cry;
but tell me, if you know, what stop awaits
the citizens of that divided metropolis;
is any simply man there? Tell me the reason
why information technology has been assailed by and then much schism." (Inf. Vi, 58-63)

Even though Ciacco does non tell a pathetic story or even attempt to gain Dante's mercy, our poet is "forced to weep" for Ciacco's horrible punishment. Ciacco – because of his terseness – is not considered a likeable character, so information technology is strange that Dante feels and then deeply for him. On 2nd thought, maybe Dante does not. Instead of asking Ciacco to tell his story, to elicit greater sympathy, Dante does non enquire any personal questions, but instead focuses on the fate of their shared city, Florence.

Inferno Canto Viii (the river Styx, the gates of Dis)

Dante

And I to him [Filippo Argenti]: "I've come, but I don't stay;
merely who are you, who have become so ugly?"
He answered: "You can see – I'm one who weeps. "
And I to him: "In weeping and in grieving,
accursed spirit, may you long remain;
though you're disguised past filth, I know your name."
Then he stretched both his hands out toward the gunkhole,
at which my chief quickly shoved him dorsum,
saying: "Be off in that location with the other dogs!"
That done, he threw his arms around my neck
and kissed my face and said: "Indignant soul,
blessed is she who bore yous in her womb!" (Inf. Eight, 34-42)

Finally, in the fifth circle of the wrathful, Dante comes to condemn a sinner, taking pleasure in his pain. Still, Dante'south reasoning notwithstanding does not band true. Instead of condemning Argenti for his rage, Dante makes it personal by raging at Argenti for refusing to identify himself. Nonetheless, Virgil sees the irksome development of Dante'southward judgment and rejoices at his harsh words to the sinner. Dante is learning.

Inferno Canto XII (the Seventh Circumvolve, First Ring: the Violent against their Neighbors)

Virgil

[Virgil]: "Now I would have you know: the other fourth dimension
that I descended into lower Hell,
this mass of boulders had not yet collapsed;
merely if I reason rightly, it was just
earlier the coming of the One who took
from Dis the highest circle's splendid spoils
that, on all sides, the steep and filthy valley
had trembled and then, I thought the universe
felt love (past which, every bit some believe, the world
has oft been converted into chaos);
and at that moment, hither as well as elsewhere,
these ancient boulders toppled, in this fashion." (Inf. XII, 34-45)

Virgil brings the etymology of the give-and-take "pity" to new heights with his description of Christ'due south dear literally moving mountains. If "compassion" means "to move/feel with," Christ's love for his followers during the Harrowing of Hell proves and then intense that information technology moves not just the worthy members of the Old Testament with him to Heaven, but shakes the very earth itself, causing part of the valley of violence (appropriately) to topple.

Inferno Canto XIII (the Seventh Circle, Second Ring: The Violent against Themselves)

Dante

The poet waited briefly, and so said
to me: "Since he is silent, do not lose
this take chances, just speak and ask what you would know."
And I: "Do you lot continue; ask of him
whatever you believe I should request;
I cannot, so much pity takes my heart." (Inf. XIII, 79-84)

In hearing Pier della Vigna's story, Dante is and then moved by compassion (indeed, suicide is ever pitiable) that he cannot speak. Instead, he requests that Virgil speak for him to the sinner. Instead of channeling his sympathy into words, Dante falls into silence – just every bit he did by passing out when talking to Francesca. Here is i identify where language fails to capture the depth of homo feel; Dante's grief is simply as well deep for words.

Inferno Canto XVIII (the Eighth Circle, Get-go Pouch: Panderers and Seducers; the Second Pouch: Flatterers)

Dante

That scourged soul thought that he could hide himself
by lowering his face; it helped him little,
for I said: "You, who cast your optics upon
the ground, if these your features are not false,
must be Venedico Caccianemico;
just what brings y'all to sauces so piquant?" (Inf. XVIII, 46-51)

For one of the merely times in the Inferno, a sinner shows shame for his behavior. Venedico Caccianemico feels and then mortified by his sin (pandering) that he tries to hide his face from Dante, to go along from being recognized. However, Dante – now more than mature in his judgment – not only identifies Caccianemico, but mocks him for existence submerged in "sauces so piquant," or a pool of excrement. His words demonstrate no sympathy for the sinner.

Inferno Canto Xx (the Eighth Circle, Fourth Pouch: Diviners, Astrologers, and Magicians)

Virgil

[Virgil]: … "Are you every bit foolish as the balance?
Here pity only lives when it is dead;
for who can be more impious than he
who links God's judgment to passivity?" (Inf. 20, 27-xxx)

Ironically, the emotion Dante is trying to evoke in readers – pity for the magicians – is rebuked by Virgil. His denunciation of the magicians' practice as advocating "God'southward…passivity" ways that the magicians, in prophesying, believe they accept ability over the future, necessarily rendering God'southward volition passive. Such an supposition is then mistaken that it should kill the pity of any reasonable person. This is why "pity only lives [hither] when it is dead." In other words, there should be no sympathy for these sinners.

Dante

May God so allow you, reader, assemble fruit
from what you read; and now think for yourself
how I could ever keep my ain face dry
when I beheld our image so nearby
and then awry that tears, downward from the optics,
bathed the buttocks, running down the cleft.
Of course I wept… (Inf. Twenty, 19-25)

Upon witnessing the grotesque punishment of the magicians, Dante is again moved to tears. He clearly values pity for fellow human beings, merely his patently piteous tone reveals hints of contemptuousness. His clarification of the sinners' tears – initially designed to elicit pity – becomes ridiculous when he mentions them "running down the cleft" of the sinners' buttocks.

Inferno Canto XXII (the Eighth Circle, 5th Pouch: the Barrators)

Dante

O you who read, hear now of this new sport…
The Navarrese, in nick of time, had planted
his feet upon the ground; and then in an instant
he jumped and freed himself from their commander.
At this each demon felt the prick of guilt,
and near, he who had led his band to corrigendum;
and then he took off and shouted: "You are caught!"
Just this could assist him little; wing were non
more fast than fear; the sinner plunged right under;
the other, flying up, lifted his chest…
But Calcabrina, raging at the play tricks,
flew after Alichino; he was bang-up
to come across the sinner costless and have a brawl;
and one time the Navarrese had disappeared,
he turned his talons on his fellow demon
and tangled with him just in a higher place the ditch.
Just Alichino clawed him well –
he was indeed a full-grown kestrel; and both fell
into the middle of the boiling pond.
The rut was quick to disentangle them,
but still in that location was no way they could get out;
their wings were stuck,
enmeshed in mucilage-like pitch. (Inf. XXII, 118-144)

Although Dante exhibits the same distaste for all the guardians of Hell, none of them is depicted and so comedically equally the demons. In this passage, the activeness concentrates completely on the demons and their pursuit of the escaping sinner, not at all on Dante or his emotional reactions. The activeness here is near cartoonish in tone, complete with dastardly villains, a cunning escape, and the scoundrels' useless fighting amongst themselves when finding their quarry gone. Such slapstick comedy requires an emotional distance, peculiarly when dealing with such serious topics every bit sin and penalization, and this caricatural suggests that Dante feels no compassion for either the demons or their victims, the barrators.

Inferno Canto XXIX (the Eighth Circle, Tenth Pouch: the Falsifiers of Metals)

Dante

[Dante]: … "In that hollow upon which
but now, I kept my eyes intent, I recollect
a spirit born of my own blood laments
the guilt which, downward below, costs i so much."
At this my master said: "Don't allow your thoughts
almost him interrupt you from hither on:
nourish to other things, let him stay there;
for I saw him beneath the little span,
his finger pointing at y'all, threatening,
and heard him chosen by name – Geri del Bello…"
"My guide, information technology was his decease by violence,
for which he still is not avenged," I said,
"by anyone who shares his shame, that made
him and so disdainful now; and – I suppose –
for this he left without a word to me,
and this has made me compassion him the more than." (Inf. XXIX, 18-36)

At the unexpected information that one of his own kin inhabits Hell, Dante predictably reacts with pity. In fact, information technology's his relative – Geri del Bello – for whom Dante had wept a few lines ago, not for the sowers of scandal at big. When Virgil tells Dante to ignore del Bello, Dante shows a surprising amount of resolve. Unlike the sycophantically obedient Dante seen in the early cantos, the more mature Dante stands up for his opinions – fifty-fifty confronting his master. He sides with Geri del Bello, allowing for his obscene gestures and challenge that del Bello wants only a just revenge for his violent death. Although Dante may err against God in showing mercy to his kinsman, he endears himself to readers by defending his family unit and showing some courage against his taskmaster Virgil.

Inferno Canto XXXIII (the Ninth Circumvolve, Second Band Antenora: Traitors to the Homeland or Party, Tertiary Ring Ptolomea: Traitors against their Guests)

Dante

For if Count Ugolino was reputed
to have betrayed your [Pisa'due south] fortresses, there was
no need to take his sons suffer such torment.
O Thebes renewed, their years were innocent
and young – Brigata, Uguiccione, and
the other ii my song has named in a higher place! (Inf. XXXIII, 85-90)

Although Dante condemns Ugolino for his traitorous crime, he shows pity for Ugolino's sons and considers them "innocent and young" victims. This could be read equally an extension of Dante'south steadfast sympathy for Geri del Bello, because here Dante carries on the theme of well-intentioned family members. Here, however, he seems more in the right than he did with del Bello.

[Fra Alberigo to Dante]: "But now reach out your hand; open my eyes."
And yet I did not open them for him;
and information technology was courtesy to prove him rudeness. (Inf. XXXIII, 148-150)

In breaking his promise to Fra Alberigo, Dante not simply demonstrates his ruthlessness towards the sinner but also commits a traitorous human action virtually comparable to the crime Alberigo himself perpetrated. By virtue of Virgil's silence in response to Dante'south peccadillo, 1 might conjecture that Virgil condones Dante's behavior and commends his lack of mercy to so black a sinner. Hell's punishments, Dante is beginning to understand, are the sinners' just desserts.

Inferno Canto XXXIV (the Ninth Circle, 4th Ring Judecca: Traitors against their Benefactors)

Dante

He [Lucifer] wept out of six eyes; and down 3 chins,
tears gushed together with a bloody froth.
Within each mouth – he used information technology similar a grinder –
with gnashing teeth he tore to bits a sinner,
so that he brought much pain to three at once. (Inf. XXXIV, 34-57)

Lucifer, the most severely punished sinner and potentially the greatest pity-inducer, instead elicits petty heartfelt emotion in Dante. Unlike the vast majority of the sinners interviewed in the Inferno, Match never gets the opportunity to speak to Dante and tell his side of the story. But Dante's lack of pity stems from an even deeper source. Lucifer, despite his tears, seems like a behemothic automaton; his teeth gnash mechanically "similar a grinder" and his wings flap rhythmically. Lucifer seems to accept lost the ability to experience and emote, leaving readers with the sense that he is but the engine which powers Hell, an enormous generator, and zero more. To Dante and his readers alike, Lucifer seems soulless, inhuman, and mechanical. Thus is the nature of evil; it is a lack of eye and will, a void, rather than anything actively degenerate.

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