Pier Delle Vigne and Guido Da Montefeltro free essay sample

Inferno: Pier delle Vigne and Guido da Montefeltro In his poem, Inferno, Dante Alighieri meets the damned souls in hell. His mentor, Virgil, a well-known poet and a good friend of Dante’s, guides him through out their journey of hell and encourages him to farther question those souls damned in hell. Virgil also explains the structure of hell, how it is divided into circles and each circle is the place where those guilty of certain sins are being punished. Through out the poem, the souls that Virgil and Dante encounter, all try to justify their sin and they indirectly ask for pity. Here is where Dante the poem leaves the decision up to the reader, whether or not the punishment fits the sinner and the sin and whether or not they deserve pity. Two characters that Virgil and Dante encounter are Pier delle Vigne and Guido da Montefeltro. Pier delle Vigne was a famous Chancellor of the Emperor Frederick II, he is in hell because he committed suicide after being accused of treason. Guido da Montefeltro, on the other hand, was an important military general, strategists, and a politician. Guido is in hell because he was found guilty of false counsel. We find Pier delle Vigne and Guido da Montefeltro in different locations, circles, of hell; Pier is in the second ring of the sixth circle of hell and Guido, on the contrary, is the eighth bolgia of the eighth circle of hell. The sixth circle of hell is where those guilty of violence are punished. Three rings constitute the sixth circle; each ring represents a different kind of violence, in the second ring we find all the souls that have committed suicide which is a form of violence against self, â€Å"The hell of the suicides is suicide itself repeated every moment of eternity† (Sinclair, notes Canto XIII). Farther below the sixth circle, we find the eighth circle of hell or the Malebolge. In the Malebolge the souls guilty of fraud are punished. The eighth circle consists of ten bolgias which represent the different kinds of fraud. Dante describes the Malebolge as a city of disintegration, it begins with cliff and a waterfall, and it is very stinky. Dante’s description of the Malebolge sort of portrays the image of a sewer system, â€Å"where all the human waste is dumped into which represents the reality of fraud† (Brand, Lecture XXVII). Canto Dante tells the different forms of fraud, one being false counsel where Guido is being punished. Even though both committed different sins and are punished in different ways, Pier delle Vigne and Guido da Montefeltro have things in common; both play the victim and try to justify their sin while in some obscure way they ask for pity. When Dante and Virgil arrive at the second ring of the sixth circle, Dante describes this â€Å"forest with twisted weird looking trees† (Brand, Lecture Canto XIII). These trees are the people who reside in that circle: As they were driven by their own folly to scatter their substance on earth, the furious hell-hounds now hunt them and waste scatter their members, and one of them groups himself with the shrub of a suicide as if to identify himself with the other’s crime. (Sinclair, notes Canto XIII). Dante and Virgil hear a voice but they do not see anyone there. Dante gets close to a tree and breaks on its branches; the tree starts bleeding and later identifies himself as Pier delle Vigne, a former Chancellor of Emperor Frederick II. Pier, then, tells Virgil and Dante the reason why he committed suicide was because envious groups turned the Emperor against him, destroyed his reputation, and put him in prison; he was tortured, and after loosing his good reputation and name he felt too ashamed and decided to take his life. Dante feels sorry for him, because he too understands the importance of a good reputation. When telling his story, Pier tries to justify his suicide by playing the victim, explaining the fact that he was innocent and that he did not do anything to hurt others. The reader can argue, regardless of what the envious group did to Pier, he still denied a gift from God, life. Once Virgil and Dante finished talking to Pier, they went ahead with their journey to later find themselves on the edge of a cliff with a waterfall. This cliff and waterfall are the transition between violence and the eighth circle, the circle of fraud, or also referred to as the Malebolge, â€Å"Malebolge is translated as an evil ditch or evil sewer† (Brand, Lecture Canto XXVII). Dante the poem describes the place as very stinky. Dante’s descriptions of the Malebolge are filled with symbolisms of fraud. The Malebolge is the sewer system of human society and it is â€Å"stinky because of all the sins and corruption humans are guilty of† (Brand, Lecture Canto XXVII), this represents the reality of fraud. Fraud is the corruption of human society, fraud is â€Å"stinky†, and it is also the â€Å"byproducts of humans† (Brand, Lecture Canto XXVII). In the Malebolge we find ten bolgias that represent the different kinds of fraud; each bolgia is worst than the previews one. In these bolgias is where find souls guilty of seduction, flattery, thieves, false counselors, to falsifiers, and alchemists. In the eighth bolgia, where those guilty of false counsel reside, Dante and Virgil meet Guido da Montefeltro. Guido was a very important military strategist and a politician. Guido fought for the interests of the empire, he was basically fighting against â€Å"the people’s army† (Brand, Lecture Canto XXVII), against the church, â€Å"He fought repeatedly as leader of the Ghibelline forces against the Papacy† (Sinclair, notes Canto XXVII). After a while, Guido felt guilty and not right to fight against the church; he reconciled to the church and became a Franciscan Friar. Pope Boniface asks Guido for military advice because he needed help recapturing fortresses form the army. At first, Guido was a little skeptical about giving the Pope advice. Pope Boniface knew that Guido felt extremely guilty about fighting against the church, so he used that on Guido. Pope told Guido that he will have eternal absolution, and Guido gave him advice. Guido’s tone is very resentful; he plays the victim, and uses the excuse that he was eaten up by guilt to justify his sin, â€Å"These evil counselors, thinking to lessen their guilt by sharing it, in fact add to their offence; ‘making division’ they ‘gather their load’†. Sinclair, notes Canto XXVII). The similarities and differences from both characters are easy to distinguish. Both Pier and Guido while telling their story, have a tone of resentfulness and guilt. They both try to justify their sin by blaming others and the situation they were in. Both characters fail to address the real truth about the reason why they committed a sin is pride. They sought that their reputation, their name, and pride were the most important thing to them, â€Å"In this plant one thing only of human remains alive and present, his memory on earth† (Sinclair, notes Canto XIII). The have their priorities wrong, â€Å"they live for the city of. men instead of living for heaven, for God† (Brand, Lecture), even while dead and in hell, they still focus their attention to the city of men and their reputation. Although both characters are prideful and some ways similar, the sins they committed are different. In the poem, Dante fells sorry specially for Pier delle Vigne, because Dante as a politician is too living for the city of men and shifted his attention away from God, and understand the importance of a good name and a good reputation. The reader can argue about whether or not both characters deserve pity or sympathy, which is ultimately what the characters beg for. Though both characters were pushed to the limit by others, one can argue that they do not deserve pity and that their punishment is just. Pier and Guido acted and made a rash decision because they intrigued by others, but they only themselves and their reputation in mind. They never analyzed the situation through and made an educated decision.