Inferno: Canto 1 -- The Dark Wood
Dante finds himself in the dark wood of error and is prevented from achieving divine illumination by the beasts of worldliness that characterize the three divisions of the Inferno -- the She-Wolf of Incontinence, under whose spirit the carnal, the gluttonous, the hoarders and wasters, the wrathful, and the heretics are oppressed, the Lion of Violence, under whose spirit the violent against neighbor, self, and nature are oppressed, and the Leopard of Malice and Fraud, under whose spirit the fraudulent and treacherous are oppressed. Unable to cope with the oppression these beasts represent, Dante turns back in confusion and finds a glimmer of hope in the form of Virgil, who represents human reason. While it is possible for human reason to guide us to truth, it can only carry us so far, through the recognition of sin and its renunciation. Beyond that, Virgil explains, what is needed is divine love, which will appear in the form of Beatrice Portinari, the first and lasting love of Dante's life.
The introduction to the Inferno is unique in the Comedy, the other two books each being introduced by the one preceding it. Its purpose is not only to introduce the Inferno, moreover, but also to provide a blueprint for the cosmological scheme that Dante is creating -- hell is passable, human reason insists, and once beyond it, there is hope of achieving heaven after the vestments of sin have been burned off in the purifying fires of purgatory. The promise of the Comedy is that the pilgrim traveler will enter into communion with God, and that promise extends to each of us beginning our journey through hell.
Before responding on this discussion board, you'll want to first work your way through the activities link on the near left -- as you read the canto, you'll be able to hear it in the original Italian, so make sure your volume is on. If you've already read it in the Ciardi translation, you might take a moment to compare Ciardi with some of the other translations, and, even if you cannot read the Italian, with Dante's original script. You'll also find there a map of Dante's cosmos and some multimedia files with which you can interact. Responses on this board should deal with the material within the canto alone as each canto has its own discussion board on which you'll be able to post questions and comments. You can post responses general to the entire Inferno or Comedy through the "Pilgrim Prayer" link on the far left. To respond on this board, you have to click the "comments" link beneath this posting and register a username and password with blogger.com.
Finally, brace yourselves -- even though we've been promised salvation, we're about to enter a realm where there really is no hope.
posted by Sebastian Mahfood at 8:58 PM
27 Comments:
I would like to comment on the She-Wolf of Canto 1. The "She-Wolf drove upon me, a starved horror/ravening and wasted beyond all belief." I found it theologically appropriate that this She-Wolf, though devouring countless souls, was still starved, and only hungered for more. I guess it brings to mind the idea that sin breeds sin, and never truly brings any fulfillment. I immediately thought of the story in Luke 14, where Jesus cures a man with dropsy. Dropsy is a condition where the body retains water, and though a person afflicted with this disease may drink and drink, they can never satisfy their thirst. But Jesus cures the dropsy in all of us, by removing our sins and filling us with the life giving water as we read in John chapter 4:14, "but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The She-Wolf, like the man with dropsy, and indeed each of us, can never be satiated or quenched until the diet is changed from the corrupted nature of this world, to the uncorrupted bread and water that Jesus provide.
Oftentimes as I was reading the first canto, I kept picturing Dante running out of the forest as he kept trying to push his limits into the field, only to return in fear of the voracious beasts. Luckily, he has just enough time to make it back into the forest, only to recount his good fortunes, although trembling with fear. What seems to continually drive Dante to tempt his fate is some habitual desire that he is currently unwilling to name. "Concupiscence" might be a nice word to describe such an innate desire. After all, Dante can’t explain to Virgil why he keeps returning to those distresses. Nonetheless, it took another person in Dante’s life to call him to task and make him accountable for his actions. How humbling that must have been for Dante. As Dante will show us, it takes courage to face the reality of the situation before us! We can either face up to reality or we can humbly give up and let our predators devour us. Although Dante tempted his luck with the predators, I think that the thing that saved him was that he always kept the beasts in sight and then returned to the forest to reflect on why he did not like them. Finally he had enough and was able to begin his long journey to overcome them. Everyone knows that good predators kill their prey before their victims even know they are upon them. But this was not Dante’s experience. It was Dante’s vigilance in repentance, although habitually bound by concupiscence, that he was able to survive and seek change. As Virgil points out to Dante, he cannot return the same way that he came. This theme seems to be one of the many apparent themes in the New Testament, especially when overcoming Sin and avoiding evil. The Magi were warned not to return the way they came, by way of Herod; so they took a different route. Another example would be the woman accused of being caught in adultery and Christ told her that her sins were forgiven and to sin no more. As I reflect, Dante’s allegorical representation of his experience preaches with warnings that if a person is to overcome sin, he must do so by humbling oneself to the help of others, and then they must not return to whence they came or they become worse off. The journey will be long, difficult, even sometimes despairing, but with God’s graces anything is possible. Not even the gates of hell will prevail, even if one has to go through hell to be resurrected. Thank God, for His redemptive mercy!
I find it quite interesting that Dante finds himself in the middle of the dark woods on Good Friday. Good Friday the day in which our Lord found himself weighed down by his own dark wood, the wood of the Cross. Christ on that day is found climbing up his own hill toward his death, so that we may be able to have salvation. In Scripture we are told that we each will have our own cross or crosses to bear, Dante in his attempt to reach the light (salvation) at the top of the hill is continually be pushed back by the three animals which require him to back through the dark weight of the wood to face and carry his own cross, in order to reach salvation. Also if you stop and think about it Christ really had to suffer the wrath of the three beasts that first Good Friday on his way up the hill.
Fr. Martin2B,
While Ciardi points to some flexibility on interpreting the She-Wolf as either a symbol of incontinence or a symbol of fraud, I'm one of those who believe that the She-Wolf can be nothing other than a symbol for incontinence and addiction. Like yourself, I find it not only "theologically appropriate that this She-Wolf, though devouring countless souls, was still starved, and only hungered for more," but also characteristically appropriate of a wolf (ever seen one eat?) to symbolize extreme immoderation and a leopard (because of its spots which act as camouflage) to symbolize fraud. In any case, though, all three of these beasts bring "to mind the idea that sin breeds sin, and never truly brings any fulfillment." As you descend through the first division of hell, you're going to see immoderation continuing in immoderation, violence continuing in violence, and fraud continuing in fraud. Ultimately, the method of contrapasso that you're witnessing is more than the idea that "the punishment fits the crime" but also the idea that we are in death what we were in life -- our state of being remains constant even though we undergo the metamorphosis into death when our bodies fail us. That "the She-Wolf, like the man with dropsy, and indeed each of us, can never be satiated or quenched until the diet is changed from the corrupted nature of this world, to the uncorrupted bread and water that Jesus provide[s]," then, demonstrates an appropriate understanding of why Dante has to walk through hell -- he has to recognize the nature of sin in order to understand the corruption within the diet of his life.
So, why couldn't Adam and Eve have skated on that excuse? Instead of saying, "Well, I ate the apple because Eve told me to," couldn't he have said, "Well, you see, God, I had to understand the nature of sin and disobedience in order to rise above it"?
S.
Sean,
By arguing that concupiscence (defined by dictionary.com as "a strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust," you're basically arguing that not only does Dante's character gets in the way of his salvation, but that his deliberate will to remain confused and in the dark wood also gets in the way. This is a good point -- Dante's got too much of a desire for the distractions and confusions of the material world to enable him to see the path to righteousness -- incontinence, violence, and fraud all pose threats to him (especially incontinence) because he has all of these things within his soul. Human reason alone can help him begin to see his way through to salvation, but, as you'll find, it can't take him all the way there -- grace must take over at some point. In the meantime, he must shed concupiscence, or, in a looser translation, immoderate desires.
Another scriptural passage to complement those you've quoted here can be found in Luke -- "24 When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, 'I shall return to my home from which I came.'
25 But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first." The unclean spirit is a concupiscent one.
Dante cannot return the same way he came, you rightly point out, because to do so would be to fall back into the same trap of addiction and worldliness from which he's trying to escape. Had human reason not come to his aid and shown him a different (albeit more dangerous road), he would surely have been devoured by those beasts, the She-Wolf first of all (though we will see later he has reason to fear the leopard, too).
Of course, we are left with the problem you describe that we should humble ourselves before God before we can take the first step toward him. If concupiscence alone is sufficient to confuse our journey, then how are we to reach the gift of human reason that is otherwise so easily thwarted? Even after we exercise our human reason, we may find that it gives us a power that is not humbling -- how do we avoid being filled with pride to the detriment of our humility, pride being the very thing that may cause us to abuse our human reason in the justification of our wrongdoing? (You'll see later that Dante expects to spend some time on the cornice of pride in Purgatory.)
S.
Adam,
Dante's having found himself in the dark woods on Good Friday is one of the examples we have of allegory within the text. In particular, this is the second level of Dante's four-fold structure of allegory, the symbolic. According to Dante's scheme, you'll find that when Christ died, an earthquake shook hell and broke it into several places. Christ entered hell and preached to the damned in Limbo, the virtuous pagans, taking with him into heaven a healthy number of them. Before his descent, which broke open the doors of hell, no one ever left the place, and this resonates very well with the classical mythology of the underworld of Hades visited by Aeneas. (After all, that underworld was pre-Christian and contained shades, so why not Catholicize it and proclaim the freedom from death the elect shades ought to enjoy? There is, of course, a problem with this interpretation which lies in Christ's having promised the sinner on the cross next to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). If the sinner were to be with Christ in Paradise on Good Friday, then Jesus would have had to ascend to heaven with him, then descend to hell, collect the virtuous pagans, and reascend with them to heaven, but all things are possible with God.) Nonetheless, Christ's having been in the world of the dead for the rest of Friday and Saturday corresponds well to Dante's own journey -- he doesn't emerge from hell until Easter morning, when Christ emerged from the tomb. The symbolism is clear, then, Dante is walking in the footsteps of Christ during the Jubilee Year of 1300, which was a festival year proclaiming reconciliation with God and forgiveness of sin, and learning how to be a Christ (or at least how to avoid being a Satan) for others in his society. Symbolism like this is prevalent through the Comedy.
Your Christological approach to this, you know, actually has a great deal of use value for a semester project if you're interested in pursuing it. Dante walking on Christ's footpath, so to speak. See what you can do with that and whether it bears out in practice what seems promised incipiently.
S.
In the opening lines of Canto I Dante observes that he does not know how he get into this dark valley when he abandoned the true road. I find that many people have that same experience with sin, in their failure to live the Christian life. All of a sudden they are in a terrible predicament, and they say that they do not know how they got themselves into this mess, although they do know that they have abandoned "the true road." I find this paradox of Dante's to resonate with the life of struggling Christians.
I am curious about the three animals chosen to represent sin: a handsome leopard, a ferocius lion, a fierce she-wolf. Is the charcteristic behavior of these animals descriptive of the sins they represent? And why did Dante choose Virgil as his guide? Did he consider poets to be the most insightful of all people, and Virgil to be the greatest of all poets?
I also found the She-wolf to be a very interesting part of the first canto, one of the main reasons that the wolf had my interest was due to its degree of agressiveness. The commentary in my book suggests that the animals signify the three types of sin: The leopard signifies the sins of self-indulgence, the lion represents the violent sins and the she-wolf embodies the malicious sins.
As Chris mentioned, the ravenous wolf is never content despite the knawing on the souls of sinners and the more she eats of this sinful meal the emptier she becomes.
I also found it noteworthy how powerless Dante is to repel these beast or to find his way alone. How true this is for us as well as we try to journey from death to new life with Christ as our guide and way.
Fr. Earl,
Your finding that "this paradox of Dante's . . . resonate[s] with the life of struggling Christians" is quite apt -- while Dante would consider himself to be a cut above the average person (for evidence of which, you need look no further than Canto IV of the Inferno where Dante considers himself worthy of being invited into the guild of immortal poets and Canto X of the Purgatorio where you can see that he realizes he's going to have to spend some time on the ledge of pride atoning for his sins), we find in Canto X of the Inferno that he's also an everyman, for he tells Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti that it is not really genius that guides his ascent but the God-given power of human reason (though this could be a jibe at his friend Guido's lack of it -- symbolically, he's saying that Guido held human reason in scorn). Human reason, Dante believes, is a power given to all humans as evidenced by the punishments you'll later find in the eighth circle of those who abused it. In that sense, then, Dante's struggle is the struggle of all Christians as we try to find a clear path home to God. Dante's path, like ours, is blocked, though, by the three great distractions of this world, incontinence, violence, and malicious fraud. Your idea, Fr. Earl, that the "characteristic behavior of these animals [is] descriptive of the sins they represent" is quite right. The leopard symbolizes fraud because of its spots -- it can camouflage itself to appear what it is not and pounce with deadly strength on one caught unawares. It is handsome because fraud does not have a foul appearance -- even Geryon, in the 17th canto, the beast of fraudulence, has an honest, human face. Take a moment to consider the qualities of a lion and a wolf (bestial qualities anthropomorphized into human equivalents) and you'll see their use as symbols is also appropriate. Given, then, Dante's penchant for symbolism, it makes sense that he would choose Virgil as his guide -- Virgil, to Dante, represents human reason. A useful site on this question can be found at http://users.erols.com/antos/dante/why_virg.html The idea that Virgil had a profound impact on Dante's sense of place and structure would lend itself to his having been chosen as the symbol of reason. There's also the convention Dante introduces that Virgil had gone through hell before the harrowing at the insistence of a medium who wanted him to bring up a spirit from the bottom of the pit, not to mention the fact that Virgil's Aeneas entered the Underworld in Book VI of the Aeneid to meet his father (and be scorned by Dido who killed herself "out of love" for him). Virgil's a good guide because he knows the route. Finally, there's one more compelling reason for Virgil -- the fourth eclogue (which you'll read as you enter Purgatory) was claimed by early Catholics to be a messianic vision. It's Virgil's having prophesized the coming of Christ that enables him to effectively enter heaven (through the gates of St. Peter's) though he cannot rise higher than the renunciation of sin and has to return to hell when he's done. (More on the justice of that to come.) As for your idea that Dante had an affinity for poets, you may be on to something -- he certainly was widely read concerning them and he most certainly used them as foundations for his own work. The arts are a demonstration of our affinity toward God, and you'll find evidence that Dante believed this further below.
S.
Dante seems to be going through a mid-life crisis. He has become so deeply ingrained in his sin that he is in the dark. This seems not only to be a path to paradise in death but also in life. to come out of the darkness of sin to get back on the path to paradise. He can not take the direct path because his sin stands in his way. So he has to go a different path guided by Virgil. Not a easy way much like the Christian life itself. He gets to see all the aspects of the afterlife like suffering which is common to both. Like reason can only go so far Virgil can only go so far. So Dante has to bring faith with him. The afterlife seems very much to parallel the life we live on earth.
"The commentary in my book suggests that the animals signify the three types of sin: The leopard signifies the sins of self-indulgence, the lion represents the violent sins and the she-wolf embodies the malicious sins."
Kevin, from which translation are you working? Ciardi includes in overview on page 16 that the leopard symbolizes malice and the She-Wolf, incontinence, though he allows in his footnotes that he is "not at all sure but what the She-Wolf is better interpreted as Fraud and the Leopard as Incontinence. Good arguments can be offered either way" (16). While my preference is to see the She-Wolf as incontinence, and you'll hear me reference that throughout my own interpretation of the text, like Ciardi, I'm open to the idea that the situation could be flipped. What arguments can you advance for the Leopard's being incontinence? for the She-Wolf's being fraud? One obvious one is the order in which they appear to Dante -- the leopard first, the lion second, and the She-Wolf third, and if you take these to symbolize the order of the stages through which Dante will advance, then you could argue on chronology what I argue on character and appearance.
If you find the She-Wolf to be the most interesting member of the trio, under your interpretation, you'd find the sins of lower hell to be more interesting than those of upper. Your having written, though, that your interest extends more to the She-Wolf "due to its degree of agressiveness" and your having quoted Chris, who said that "the ravenous wolf is never content despite the knawing on the souls of sinners and the more she eats of this sinful meal the emptier she becomes" would lead me to believe that you simply miswrote the order of the beasts you listed above. Clarify your thoughts on this, though, either way.
Dante is "powerless . . . to repel these beast[s] or to find his way alone" and so much so that he begins to despair of his being able to find his way back to the light. How often does human reason reason really come to our aid in times of crisis? How often can we call upon a structured and ordered understanding of things in times of emotional and spiritual distress?
This first division of hell, which I call the sins of the She-Wolf, are filled with what we'd call today addictive behaviors. We become so ravenous and greedy and consuming that we have trouble stopping ourselves, and we have to call upon the metaphorical Virgil within us to see our way through. As you say, thank God that God is on our side and has given us the tools with which to do this.
S.
Atskro,
The parallels you've noticed between the afterlife and the life on earth will grow increasingly more prevalent throughout the entire Comedy, and this is what makes Dante's system of contrapasso possible. The souls are in death what they were in life -- our personal eschatologies are marked not by a transformation in our state of being but in our movement from the material to the spiritual realm. Our state of being remains constant, that is, and this is what defines us for an eternity in hell. Aside from the suicides, moreover, all the dead still have their spiritual bodies that resemble to varying degrees what their physical bodies were like on earth. The body, therefore, becomes subjugated to the condition of the spirit and cannot grow beyond what it is -- the time for growth, for verdancy, is over in hell, and we don't see regrowth again until we get to purgatory. Because no one can grow in hell, their spiritual damnation is a fixed point; at least on earth, we still have the power to grow, to use our reason (the use of which we owe to God). How hard is it to envision an eternity without hope when a vision of everlasting hope has already been revealed to us? Why don't we just reach out and take the prize that God offers us? Even hedging our bets on Pascal's wager, as you'll later see, would get us to heaven sometime. Once in hell, though, at least in Dante's hell, there's no ladder. The damned are damned for all time. (Of course, we see exceptions in the text -- Virgil gets to "enter" purgatory (which is effectively heaven since everyone there gets to go) and we learn that he was once forced to descend to the bottom of the pit to retrieve a traitorous soul for a witch. We also know that the black angels get to leave (we'll see that in Circle 8) and haggle over the souls of the dead with the saints who come to fetch them to heaven. Demons also get to inhabit the bodies of the living (which seems like a loophole in that they would then be incarnate flesh capable of prayer -- like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Dogma.
S.
"But you, why do you make such a desperate Descent toward misery, instead of climbing that mountain
From which all the world's joy and gladness emanate? "
It is odd that Virgil would ask this question to Dante, especially since he knew of the beast which prowl the dark wood. Although it seems like a childish question in this context, it is more fitting to us, soon-to-be-weary-travelers of the Divine Comedy. How often do we hear this question put to us so gently by our Lord?
"Why do you make such a desperate descent into misery?" this would actually make a great penitential rite intro! The question draws us farther into ourselves...why do we make the miserable decent into sin and error when we know the way of Truth and Light? I'm afraid the answer is no easier for us to answer than it is for Dante...there are things that block us, and things that lead us to the "dark woods" of our soul. These "obstacles", however, are not to be blamed, rather, it is our actions which feed then hungry beast, and we are the reason for our own decent. Why? Because we do not fully comprehend what lies ahead for the sinner and the unrepentent. Virgil, much like the rich man staring into heaven, begging Lazarus to quench his thirst, is warning us to heed the straight path.
As desperate and hopeless of a situation that Dante finds himself when he is lost in the dark wood ("Its very memory gives shape to fear. Death could scarce be more bitter than that place!"), he still finds the strength and courage to continue toward the light of the Sun after seeing the light ("and the shining strengthened me against the fright"). This scenario is not altogether unfamiliar. Although I don't think I've been in a situation as hopeless as Dante finds himself, there have been situations where there was little hope and much fear. However, just as our author caught a slight glimpse of God and it gave him the strength to run toward Him as fast as he could, in desperate times when we catch a glimpse of God that reminds us of His presence and magnificence, we cannot help but be filled with new hope and strength and pursue Him with renewed fervor.
Welcome to the board, Romani Sum, but you'll have to identify yourself with a greater nomination than that if you want to be remembered in the world of the living. You point out that Virgil asks Dante why he would "make such a desperate descent toward misery" (ironic because that's the direction Virgil will take him) when Virgil already knows the answer and has, in fact, been commissioned by none other than the Queen of Heaven via Beatrice to lead Dante through that very path; moreover, you say, Virgil already had knowledge of the beasts that prevented Dante's ascent. Remember, though, that Virgil is human reason personified, and his approach to Dante is both ironic and justified. I once had a friend, for instance, who had difficulty writing essays over material he had studied, and I once went to him and said, "Why do you struggle so hard expressing a thought that's already in your head?" I, who had little problem expressing myself in text, felt that the path towards doing so was clean and clear. Likewise, those who are clearer thinkers may wonder at those who are not, and Virgil's wonderment at Dante's not having been able to resolve this puzzle for himself with the reason of which he was capable could be a possibility. The question is also largely rhetorical, as you point out, and it is something that people of faith would put to people who are living without faith -- we'd ask with Christ not only "Why do you make such a desperate descent into misery?" but also "Why are you fighting the way you were made?" The reason you provide of there being obstacles in our path that create for us distractions is evidence of the weakness of our wills rather than of our nature. It is true that nothing outside of ourselves can destroy the grace within us; rather, it is what we allow in that alters our ability to respond appropriately to the Divine Will, and this puts us in a perilous state of being. Of course, it is not appropriate for us to talk about grace in this infernal place -- let's focus on the recognition of sin as it is into the pit that we descend.
S.
Before you applaud Dante too strongly in this canto for his having still found "the strength and courage to continue toward the light of the Sun after seeing the light," you'll find in the second canto he falters and despairs of his being unable to walk this path. It is not until Virgil tells him of the divine trinity of women in heaven who have come to his aid that Dante is able to strengthen his resolve again though there are several places throughout his journey where he finds himself scared enough to turn back. Over and again, Virgil, the embodiment of human reason, reassures him in his travels. This constant reassurance is necessary because a mind untrained in reason and unaware of its grace will always falter -- and it will invite in sevenfold the banished demons of despair and madness. You conclude that "in desperate times when we catch a glimpse of God that reminds us of His presence and magnificence, we cannot help but be filled with new hope and strength and pursue Him with renewed fervor," but I would argue further that the true exercise of our faith is not only for times of desperation but especially for all the glorious moments in our lives, too. The reason Dante's in this predicament in the first place is because he did not fully live according to how he was made, and this caused him to slip into desperation. Live as you are made, and, like Beatrice in the second canto, you can rightly say that the flames of infernal torment cannot touch you.
S.
"Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but I know, it's my own damn fault." Jimmy Buffett, Margaritaville
AS I finally enter the fray, ready to begin my descent into Hell, I never thought I'd be quoting JB in regards to Dante, but here we are. It kept coming back to me over and over again as I thought about the She-Wolf. I've noticed this topic has been a common thread in many of these first posts, and for good reason. Ciardi posits that the She-Wolf represents Incontinence, which many, if not all of us(humanity, sinners) can identify with Dante. The line "She brought such heaviness upon my spirit at sight of her savagery and desperation, I died from every hope of that high summit." This line evokes thoughts of deep despair, caused by this sin, no escape, no easy way out. Dante can see the light in the dark wood, and moves toward it, but due to the three beasts, he cannot reach it. Reminds me of the movie "The Warriors", with "Nowhere to Run" playing in the background as the Warriors have to move/fight past several other street gangs to return to their home on Coney Island. Hmmm, I wonder if there's a parallel here? Stay tuned...
Ok. Enough musing there. Back to my original point. Dante is beginning to see The She-Wolf of Incontinence as she (It?) really is, as sexual sin. This brings to mind several Scripture passages exhorting us to avoid these sins, especially:
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery ... Rom. 13:13.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 1 Cor. 6:18.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires ... Col. 3:5.
The "savagery and desperation" of the She-Wolf implies the stranglehold these sins can have on our souls. Perhaps we run away from it, avoid it, as Dante attempts. As soon as we begin to think we are out of it, away from it, or any sin, we get dragged back in. There is no easy way out. We, like Dante, need a Virgil, a S. if, you will, to guide us out, to lead us from under our own sin... This is where a spiritual director, or a support group comes in.
OK. I'm rambling...The portion of this first canto that I have described is important for me and all of us and we seek a deeper understanding of our own sinfulness. The key is to bring it out form the darkness into the light, so we can see it as it truly is... Feels like I'm getting ahead of myself, and I'm only in the dark wood...
Finally, a curious thought... i wonder if the She-Wolf appears as a female only to males, and a he-wolf appears to females? Interesting... it would tie in with the whole idea of incontinence... Do all three beasts look the same to each of us, or are they unique to the individual?
Time to descend...
You don't have to have the song just playing in your head, PadreDunny. In hell, you're oriented to your state of being. If your eternal damnation is to hear that song over and over again, then may G-d grant you your wish.
I like your insight into the She-Wolf's being different for each of us -- there's a tradition of incubi and succubi that engage us sexually in our dreams and can destroy us if we welcome them in our sleepily unaware and inhibitionless state. The tradition of these creatures can be traced back to the mythical Lilith, Adam's first wife, who broke with Adam because he wouldn't engage in unnatural sexual acts with her and began copulating with the demons along the Red Sea area, producing demon children at the rate of 100 per day.
Your idea that in this "Dante is beginning to see The She-Wolf of Incontinence as she (It?) really is, as sexual sin" is particularly apt considering that the first real circle of torment the poets will come to (in the first circle, the only torment is a lack of hope, but the virtuous pagans still retain their light of human reason) is that of the carnal. The sinners in the second circle allowed their sexual passions to rule their reason and so are forever punished for their addiction to carnal love. More on that when we get there, but start thinking about carnality as an addictive behavior and you'll see why the other sins of this upper level of hell fall into it. Paul's words that you quote from 1 Corinthians 6:18 are appropriate here, for he exhorts us to "flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." The New American Bible translates the passage more chastely as "Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body," but footnotes the parallel between immorality and sexual immoderation. Immoderation can take other forms, though, that lead to the waste and destruction of the body, and upper hell is designed to account for them all as physical immoderation is also discussed in the third circle of the gluttons and in the immoderations of avarice, prodigality, wrath, and sullenness, bestial in nature because it is because of these that we turn ourselves inward and fully allow our passions to consume us bodily. The solution Paul advances that we ought to "put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to [our] earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires ... Col. 3:5." is well heeded in that instance, but he also writes that if there's a choice being marrying and burning, then it is better to marry and engage in a healthy (i.e., moderate) sexual relationship with one's legitimate spouse. The point is ultimately Aristotle's -- immoderation in anything is bad -- the she-wolf represents the extreme of excess.
S.
God imprints on the hearts of man an enduring desire for him, a proclivity for the good. Early into the journey of life man is easily led by this desire alone, it is natural and spontaneous. While living however, he encounters worldly influences; he is tempted by unnatural cravings and longings. Ambivalent he silently confronts his two minds and errs on the worldly side of right and wrong, naively he turns away from his heart away from God and goodness, unaware that he has made a deadly choice, the worldly influences. Midway into his life, or thereabouts, he realizes the choices that he has made have not fulfilled his deepest longing rather they have created a great distance between him and his true heart’s desire. Those worldly influences have brought him to the dark wood. The darkness is all around him and more so it is in him. He confronts the desperation that he is nearly past the point of no return. But who can save him? Who can redirect his life? What must he do to find that light in the darkness, find his way out? First, he must confront his demons, his sins. He must reflect upon his choices and the reasons he chose them instead of his authentic heart’s desire. But darkness prevails, he cannot do this work on his own, he finds that he needs help. Providence prevails and help arrives, a poet, a guide, a director who knows the world better than he and who knows the pathway to God better than the world. He needs this poet to shed light on his past, his present and his future. He needs this poet who has the words that will vividly describe and explain the process, colorful words that help him to reflect on the destruction and despair of his bad choices, of when and where he turned away, words that help him to give color, shape, texture, form, and light to his experience, strong words that will make his senses come alive and scare him straight. He realizes he must confront his choices and do the work starting at beginning, one step at a time, one small step, and work through the lengthy process until he is delivered safe and secure to the light of the true way. Only then, the real work begins.
Hail fellow, well met, marioneteer! The collaboration you've described between Virgil, the guide, and Dante, the guided, is on the mark. Without human reason, the one gift G-d denied to the animals to bestow upon us, we are lost in thought and in deed. Human reason is the moderating force in our lives that helps us to form dispositions toward the good -- too little exercise of it leads us into bestial acts that focus our energies on the satisfaction of our corporal appetites -- any perversion of it and we fall into violent and fraudulent acts designed to enforce our wills on others. In this upper level of hell, you'll witness the beast that humanity becomes. In the lower, you'll witness the monster of which we are capable.
Welcome hither on your journey, and rush to catch up with us if this is your first canto, for we've already crossed the river Styx and stand awaiting the archangel to compel the gates of Dis open.
S.
The allegory of Dante’s discovery of himself in the dark woods on a Good Friday could be likened to the human condition before salvation came through Christ. It also illustrates the Lenten session as a time of serious purification journey in the spiritual realm. The allegory of the She-Wolf can also be seem as the devil that sorts to lead human mind astray, and of which Good Friday is a time to strengthen oneself for defeating the spiritual enemy which Christ conquered on Easter Sunday through his resurrection from the dead.
Shalom Leka, you've made a good observation about the Lenten season, for this poem opens on Good Friday, the day Christ died, and the duration of entire Inferno takes place just before Easter Sunday. Dante's walking through hell, then, both during the waning days of Lent and, more importantly, in the same hours that Christ would have been here plundering hell for souls to rescue.
S.
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