'Inferno': Delving into the realms of contemporary Tartarus

Inferno: Delving into the realms of contemporary Tartarus

By Hetvi Kamdar and Antara Agnihotri

“Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people.” 

―Dante Alighieri, Inferno  

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was an Italian poet eminent for his poem “La Divina Commedia '' which is widely known as the most significant piece of Italian literature even today. La Divina Commedia, or The Divine Comedy, formerly known as La Commedia, is divided into three sets - Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is called the ‘Comedy,’ not because it is humorous but because it has a positive end. It was also written in the Tuscan language and not in Latin, which was usually the language of literature back in the day. Dante was the first poet to compose a serious poem in the native language. And thus, he is known as the father of modern Italian. Dante wrote the Comedy when he was exiled from Florence due to his political activities, including himself banishing several rivals. His endeavour has proven that poetic imagination can cross tangible barriers and create a new perspective to see the world through. Dante’s Inferno was the most famous out of the three and Botticelli’s detailed illustrations of each Canto have helped the common man visualise Dante’s idea of Hell. There is a balance between the compositional arrangements of the paintings with the respective text; that is, the image and the word are bonded to give meaning and reveal the tragedy of humanity. This commission was Botticelli’s most ambitious artistic endeavour. The conjunction of these two literary works has formed a microcosm of society; presenting hell as mystical yet giving it a humanising ability by equality towards creatures from all walks of life. Through this paper, we aim to explore Botticelli’s visual remediation of Dante’s allegorical narrative and depict how artists can portray that which literature alludes to. 

Dante has earned his place in the avenue of literature through The Divine Comedy. His radical ideas, along with his poetic flow of grim realities, have set him apart from other contemporary authors. The inferno is an example of the world-shattering power of poetry that can transcend through time and space and create a mark on the world for centuries to come along. Inferno serves as an allegory for perceived morality and divine justice. Inferno is not a mere piece of work; it transcends our spiritual faith. It shatters all previous explanations for damnation and punishment while simultaneously giving a political commentary on the state of Florence back in his time. It forces us to recognise our sins and absolve them before it may be too late to do so. To be human is to make mistakes, but we only know the cost of these mistakes when its redemption is beyond us. Scholars spanning across the globe have studied Dante and elucidated on his theology; it is no longer a comedy, but more of an ethical way of life. 

The poetic story revolves around a knight, with the namesake Dante, who walks through the circles of hell, crosses the purgatory mountain and treads through heaven, to save the soul of Beatrice, the love of his life who has had an untimely death. He is guided by Virgil (one of Rome’s greatest poets, penned down the Aeneid). Virgil is a representative of human reason; the ability to distinguish right from wrong and stay cautious of sin. 

The poema sacro is an exploration into human nature - weakness, limitation and potential—a religious and spiritual allegory of perdition, transformation, and salvation; and a philosophical journey of the Christian soul seeking to understand God’s creation. Dante expressed his emotions by creating with words, sensations of sights, sounds and smell, thus visualising for the reader, the effects of good and evil in the world. 

Unlike most other Renaissance artists, Botticelli does not constrict himself to only depicting the significant divisions of hell as an overview; he puts in the labour to intricately illustrate each ghastly punishment endured and the subsequent travels of Dante and Virgil through each circle. This painting is not just a consignment assigned to Botticelli, it contains the heart and soul of the artist, and there is no better way to demonstrate this than to observe the detailed precision of each canto he sketched, which also extends to the imagination of the architecture and topography of the surface of Hell. 

While comparing Inferno by Dante and its parallel artistic creation by Botticelli, a viewer gets to experience two unique perspectives when discerning their trajectory of descent, all through the genius of Botticelli. If the painting is examined from top to bottom, we follow in the footsteps of Dante and Virgil’s journey, which is predominantly a portrayal of Dante’s personal narrative. Contrastingly, if we perceive the painting as a whole, we have the impression of viewing the entire journey simultaneously. Botticelli effectively transcends the linear experience of reading poetry to a panoptic display through his expertise on visual elements. His spatialization of the poetry can be distinguished through the specific features that he attributes to his artwork. He takes into account that which is undisclosed by Dante but is evident in the analysis of his literary piece.

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Case in point being the differences in the description of the ferryman mentioned in the inferno and the one illustrated by Botticelli. Dante, with his representation through demonic eyes like embers, hoary cheeks and fiery orbs, gives an economic explanation which suffices for the time being. Still, Botticelli elucidates this aspect by portraying Charon as a winged demon with an unambiguous diabolical appearance. Botticelli’s pictorial narrative differs from the poetic one in a meaningful way; there is no distinction between Dante, the poet and Dante the pilgrim. On the chart of Hell, Dante is objectified, forming an indivisible unit with his guide Virgil. One may conclude that Virgil is the more prominent figure, as Dante is also seen to be standing behind Virgil. In portraying the two travellers together, the chart elides the difference between the poet who narrates the story of his journey and the pilgrim who experiences it. 

 

It is certain that what Dante condenses in his poetic work, Botticelli here expands through his artistry. 

 

Reading is a one-dimensional process, with sharply defined and delimited focus. In contrast, the experience of interpreting a map is more diffused and fragmented, giving us viewers an opportunity to form our own beliefs and ideologies through the illustrations. Reading is all but the recollection of past events and anticipation for future incidents, but it is a painting which approaches the uncovering of intricacies inescapable. What Dante's reader can sometimes forget in the immediacy of the moment, Botticelli's viewer can never really evade in this visual synopsis.

 

Although Dante and Botticelli did not exist in the same century, it is their identical wavelength of thought that binds them together even now. 

 

Botticelli perfectly grasped the transition of tones in the canticles of Dante’s Inferno and was able to convey the same with different artistic motifs. Therefore, his contribution exceeds that of mere illustrations and goes on to include an educated commentary and visual translation of the Commedia. Ultimately the map of hell acts as a sliver of memory, meant to refresh the minds of its viewers and takes them back to the original piece of work through its impressive detailing and artful restitution. 

 

It serves as a memorialisation of not only Dante’s notable contribution to literature but also a rendition of Florentine culture and politics with all their luminous goriness. 

Sandro Botticelli, an Italian painter, residing in Florence, was known to all for the charm that his beautiful yet straightforward paintings emitted. During the period of renaissance humanism, a transition was seen in the perception of science, religion, art and culture; and Botticelli’s paintings gave form to this new vision. 

 

Vasari critiqued Botticelli for ‘having wasted so much of his time, bringing infinite disorder to his life’ in devoting so much time to study Dante. Still, such assiduous detail is not without considerable merit. Botticelli’s depiction of Dante’s Inferno has succeeded in becoming the most prominent illustration when perceiving hell, its gruesome beauty transcending cultures and millenniums, what more could an artist ask for. 

 

Dante’s Inferno is indeed a quite gruesome depiction of Hell. Some may think that the punishments given to the sinners seem harsher than the committed sin, while on the other hand, some may not even consider a particular action as a sin, especially if one does not share Dante’s Christian faith. 

 

However, a poem that encourages humans to reflect on their own behaviour will never be irrelevant. Dante’s poem manifests stories of people’s lives and the choices they made and why they ended up making those choices. These choices were fueled by human emotions of love, hatred, anger, sympathy, fear, despair and so on. Dante’s lines make us ponder upon the place of these emotions in our lives, how they influence our choices. 

 

The main highlight of the futuristic aspect of the poem is the depiction of corruption. In Dante’s context, it was the pope himself who had to face the penalty of being upside down, half immersed in a hole, with his feet on fire. A series of corrupt popes have to go through the same punishment for eternity. The corruption by the religious power resonates with modern society, with countless religious leaders exploiting their followers in the name of God. Similar is the case with unjust politicians, the ones who hold power above the common man and who exploit their power just because they can. Through this poem Dante speaks for those who have no voice. 

 

Another lesson we get from the poem is about the excessive greed of humans, the greed for worldly happiness, for power, or even for love. Helen of Troy brought about an entire war between the Greeks and the Trojans because of her love for Paris, the Trojan prince. The greed for power and money usually go hand in hand. And this can be seen in the modern age

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in the billionaires exploiting their workers, financial speculators, and even in the middle class although their greed for power and money is comparatively less. All of human life is unveiled for critique and vindication within the burning pages of Dante’s Inferno. 

To get back up to the shining world from there 

My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel; 

(. . .) 

Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars. 

The concluding lines of the Inferno reflect an essence of optimism that the rest of the poem is deprived of. It sets a tone for the upcoming endeavours of Dante in following Beatrice for the pursuit of God. Botticelli accurately rendered Dante’s themes, motifs, and intertextual relationships with his own innovative artistic methods. The illustrations deserve more attention in this light, because they are one of Botticelli’s most excellent works. Botticelli’s illustrations are a true Renaissance version of the Commedia. The ninety-two illustrations of Dante’s Commedia must be considered the most magnificent example of Florence’s contribution to the cultural, intellectual, and artistic rebirth that was the Italian Renaissance. Weaving Christian theology with excessive, sometimes scatological, images of illicit pleasures and grisly punishment involving historical, mythical, and contemporary figures, the Inferno understandably quickly attracted both commentary and illustrations. To understand the inferno, the reader does not need to be a Christian, a student, a teacher or an intellectual but what it needs you to be is a wholesome reader and everything else does not matter anymore.

Although Botticelli’s illustrations for the poema sacro have long been praised for their beauty and their fidelity to the text, those for the Inferno have been widely faulted for failing to evoke the horrors of the damned and Hell’s wretched desolation. His painting of the map of hell has been criticised mainly for being ineffectual in its portrayal of the inferno. Still, one specific comment that stands out is “one must look beyond the literal fidelity of his narrative treatment and beyond the beauty of his designs but focus on the pictorial parody which Botticelli inventively used to convey the spirit, style, and significance of Dante’s verse.” Botticelli’s illustrations deserve to be regarded at a higher status concerning the Commedia than just unfinished cantos. These illustrations are a demonstration of complete artistic freedom, a concept which was relatively unheard of during those times. 

Dante’s Inferno is indeed a quite gruesome depiction of Hell. Some may think that the punishments given to the sinners seem harsher than the committed sin, while on the other hand, some may not even consider a particular action as a sin, especially if one does not share Dante’s Christian faith. 

 

However, a poem that encourages humans to reflect on their own behaviour will never be irrelevant. Dante’s poem manifests stories of people’s lives and the choices they made and why they ended up making those choices. These choices were fuelled by human emotions of love, hatred, anger, sympathy, fear, despair and so on. Dante’s lines make us ponder upon the place of these emotions in our lives, how they influence our choices. 

 

The main highlight of the futuristic aspect of the poem is the depiction of corruption. In Dante’s context, it was the pope himself who had to face the penalty of being upside down, half immersed in a hole, with his feet on fire. A series of corrupt popes have to go through the same punishment for eternity. The corruption by the religious power resonates with modern society, with countless religious leaders exploiting their followers in the name of God. Similar is the case with unjust politicians, the ones who hold power above the common man and who exploit their power just because they can. Through this poem Dante speaks for those who have no voice. 

 

Another lesson we get from the poem is about the excessive greed of humans, the greed for worldly happiness, for power, or even for love. Helen of Troy brought about an entire war between the Greeks and the Trojans because of her love for Paris, the Trojan prince. The greed for power and money usually go hand in hand. And this can be seen in the modern age in the billionaires exploiting their workers, financial speculators, and even in the middle class although their greed for power and money is comparatively less. All of human life is unveiled for critique and vindication within the burning pages of Dante’s Inferno. 

To get back up to the shining world from there 

My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel; 

(. . .) 

Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars. 

The concluding lines of the Inferno reflect an essence of optimism that the rest of the poem is deprived of. It sets a tone for the upcoming endeavours of Dante in following Beatrice for the pursuit of God. Botticelli accurately rendered Dante’s themes, motifs, and intertextual relationships with his own innovative artistic methods. The illustrations deserve more attention in this light, because they are one of Botticelli’s most excellent works. Botticelli’s illustrations are a true Renaissance version of the Commedia. The ninety-two illustrations of Dante’s Commedia must be considered the most magnificent example of Florence’s contribution to the cultural, intellectual, and artistic rebirth that was the Italian Renaissance. Weaving Christian theology with excessive, sometimes scatological, images of illicit pleasures and grisly punishment involving historical, mythical, and contemporary figures, the Inferno understandably quickly attracted both commentary and illustrations. To understand the inferno, the reader does not need to be a Christian, a student, a teacher or an intellectual but what it needs you to be is a wholesome reader and everything else does not matter anymore.

Citations 

1.     “Botticelli Featuring Dante - Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, 

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2.     “Dante Is Exiled from Florence.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 Nov. 2009, 

www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dante-is-exiled-from-florence#:~:text=Poet and politician Dante Alighieri,six priors governing the city. 

3.     “Dante's Divine Comedy Endures as an Essential Book of Mankind.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 21 May 2015, 

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4.     Mythology and Fiction Explained, director. Dante's Inferno - A Summary of the Divine Comedy Pt. 1. Youtube.com, Mythology and Fiction Explained, 31 July 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xdcS66fKU. 

5.     “Inferno (Dante).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)#Eighth_Circle_(Fraud). 

6.     Jessup, Meredith. “Dante's Divine Comedy -- 'Offensive' and 'Should Be Banned'?” TheBlaze, TheBlaze, 17 June 2020, 

www.theblaze.com/ne8. “MyDante.” MyDante, 

dante.georgetown.edu/accounts/login/?next=/poem/inf/5/guide. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020. 

7.     Shaw, Prue. “Why Dante Is Relevant Today.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 20 Apr. 2014, www.huffpost.com/entry/why-dante-is-relevant-tod_b_4790634?guccounter=1.

8.     “MyDante.” MyDante, dante.georgetown.edu/accounts/login/?next=/poem/inf/5/guide. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

9.     Carson, Ben. “Botticelli Map of Hell - Explore Dante’s Inferno Drawings.” Love From Tuscany, 3 June 2019, lovefromtuscany.com/botticelli-map-of-hell.

10.  “Dante’s Inferno.” Gutenburg, www.gutenberg.org/files/1001/1001-h/1001-h.htm. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020. 

11.  “Danteworlds: A Reader’s Guide to the Inferno.” Dante’s Inferno, www.questia.com/library/117703018/danteworlds-a-reader-s-guide-to-the-inferno. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020. 

12.  “The World of Dante - Interactive Map.” World of Dante, 

www.worldofdante.org/dantemap_interactive.html. Accessed 12 Oct. 2020.

13.  M-A. “Dante and the 4 Levels of Literary Interpretation ».” Irregardless Magazine, 11 Apr. 2020, 

www.irregardlessmagazine.com/articles/dante-and-the-4-levels-of-literary-interpretati on. 

14.  Jones, Josh. “Botticelli’s 92 Surviving Illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy (1481).” Open Culture, 2 Oct. 2017, 

15.  www.openculture.com/2014/06/botticellis-92-illustrations-of-dantes-divine-comedy.html.ws/2012/03/14/dantes-divine-comedy-offensive-and-should-be banned.