Regan Bloss
Nikki Morrell
Honors English IV
December 1, 2011
Why does Dante utilize animal imagery for the sinners? Create a thesis and use a few specific examples to support.
The animal kingdom makes up the entirety of this Earth, and since the beginning of human history, we have had our very own experiences with all sorts of animal species. Over time, we have characterized animals by their inherent characteristics and behaviors, and then only naturally, we have compared animal characteristics to human characteristics. Anciant cave drawings, medieval sculptures and murals, as well as present-day art are a testament to our connection with animals and the same characterizations can bee seen in literature, both new and old. Dante Alighieri, in his world-reknowned masterpiece La Divina Comedia- Inferno, uses anamalistic imagery for comparative characterizations, behaviors, and allusions.
Perhaps one of he most noticeable uses of animal imagery occurs in canto seven, when Dante is exploring the fourth and fifth circles of hell, where the avaricious and sullen are respectively punished. In the beginning of this canto, Dante and Vigil cross paths with Putus, who is identified as an infuriated wolf. Virgil says to Plutus, “Silence, cursed wolf! Consume yourself with your rage within,” (Alighieri 7.8-7.9). This reference most likely has a two-fold meaning. First, wolves are generally associated with greed, which would link Plutus to the fourth level of hell and the avaricious; and second, wolves are reknown for their ferocity, which would link Plutus to the fifth level and the angry or sullen. In either case, Plutus is appropriately the center-point for introduction into both the fourth and the fifth circles of hell.
In the same fashion, Dante not only links the characteristics of animals, but also the allusions to which animals are associated with. Namely, Dante uses dolphins in canto 22 to allude to an old conjecture about the sinners. This canto, which takes place in the 5th pouch of the 8th circle of hell, is filled who those who have exploited public office through corruption. Their punishment is to now be tortured by demons in a boiling pitch; however, “as dolphins do… to lessen the pain, a sinner would show his back and hide it in less than a flash,” (22.19-22.21) The allusion comes from an old idea that dolphons warm sailors when a storm is approaching. In hell however, sinners, who are acting like “dolphins,” warn others of the oncoming demons.
Finally, Dante uses characterized bahviors of animals to relate to sinners. This use of animals couldn’t be more enumerated than in Canto 33, when Count Ugolino is gnawing on the back of his rival Archbishop Ruggieri’s skull. Ugolino “took Ruggieri’s wrtched skull with his teeth… like a dog,” and gnawed on it from behind (33.78). This depiction was perhaps the most vivid and animalistic depiction in The Inferno and made for one of the most unforgettable uses of animal imagery in La Divina Comedia.
But why do writers, Dante included, use animal imagery? Well, swiss psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung emphasizes on the “collective unconscious,” to answer this question. He describes the “‘collective unconscious’ as being inhabited with archetypes that are derived from primal animal behaviors that all humankind possesses,” (Huffman 494). In simpler terms, everyone can relate to the charactistics of animals.
By experiencing Dante’s animal imagery and symbolism, the reader has the ability to better understand, and extract the important behaviors and fellings that Dante tries to convey. And Dante does not hold back on the imagery. For instance, in canto twenty-two alone, Dante refers to dolphons (22.19-22.21), frogs (22.25-22.27, 22.32-22.33), otters (22.36), boars (22.56), cats (22.58), mice (22.58), birds (22.96), dogs (22.106), horses (22.114), ducks (22.30), falcons (22.132), and even hawks (22.139); and he compares these animals to both sinners and devils alike. As can be seen then, Dante frequently uses animal imagery for comparative behavioral characterizations that are essential to the reader’s understanding, and fundamentals of the novel.
Works Cited
Huffman, Karen. Psychology in Action. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2005.
