Dante crafted his Commedia in such a manner as to encompass as many opposing yet intertwining disciplines as possible, thus allowing a variety of readers emotions to be aroused, while still pulling through his own beliefs shaped by his political experiences and belief in Christianity. Using his own established literary style, Dante explores the disciplines of theology, Christianity, paganism, ethics, philosophy, history, and art. He depicts a full array of life through each sinner, providing a sound and well-rounded argument based upon morals as well as the disciplines. The Seventh Circle of the Inferno holds those who have committed violence against self and in Canto XIII, the contrapasso of these tormented souls is developed and revealed through Pier della Vigna, Dantes literary techniques, and the various disciplines.
Dante makes the Divine Comedy extremely realistic by drawing characters from history. Pier della Vigna is one such character. He was born in 1190 and ended his own life in 1248. Pier rose quickly through the ranks and became very close to Frederick II; he was a close confidant of the King and supposedly had the power to sway Fredericks decisions. Some envious colleagues falsely accused Pier of betraying the Kings trust and Pier was thrown into prison where he took his life.
All of these key points in Piers life are captured by the story he tells to Dante the Pilgrim. Pier introduces himself as I am he who possessed both keys to Fredericks heartand I turned either, unlocking and locking with so soft a twist I kept his secrets from almost any other.[i] Piers just nature and complaint of the harlot of envy makes him a pitiable character. He thought Dying would be a way to escape disdain (of jail), making me treat my juster self unjustly.[ii] Even though Pier was a just man, the sin of suicide was truly wicked and deserving of a proportionally wicked punishment.
Pier della Vigna was involved in the Sicilian School of Italian Poetry and was extremely famous for his eloquence. Dantes writing in this portion of the Inferno is reflective of this style, thus serving to enhance the relationship between Dante the Pilgrim and Pier. Dantes terza rima, poetic form of triple rhymes, is further enhanced utilizing the poetic device of anaphora to make the opening words of the canto negatory. These first tercets are an introduction to the woods where The leaves not green, earth-hued; the boughs not smooth, knotted and crooked-forked; no fruit, but poisoned thorns.[iii] The forest is a symbol of death, or rather a negation of life. All of the negatives accentuate that the sin of suicide can have no positive consequences.
This emphasis on the iniquity of suicide is mostly based in religion. In pagan times, suicide was sometimes looked upon as the honorable choice, but Dante was a strong Christian, which is reflected in Dante the Pilgrims journey from being off the true path[iv] to being one who could discern between right and wrong. In the Christian belief of hell, the damned failed to repent in life, an opportunity of which they are deprived in hell. Dante the Pilgrim has less and less pity for the sinners as he moves through the circles of hell because his belief in divine justice is strengthening with his ability to differentiate between the sinner and the sin.
Those who commit suicide are condemned by Minos twirling tail, and their soul is dealt with in the following manner: It falls to the wooded placeno chosen spot, but where fortune flings it in.[v] Because they did not allow divine justice to choose their path of life, they are now deprived of making a choice for where their soul falls. They treated the gift from God (their body) in a haphazard manner, and thus their souls are treated the same by God. The souls Sprouts like a grain of spelt, to shoot up as a sapling, then a wild plant.[vi] They took their own life and are denied a bodily form, instead receiving the form of an accidental shrub. This is the divine justice of the sin and its punishment that Dante the Pilgrim comes to accept as only fair.
Dante also makes many pagan references in this canto, which is typical of The Inferno. Virgil, Dante the Pilgrims guide, represents the highly valued quality of reason; this does not however, downplay Christianity because Virgil cannot carry out all of the tasks on his own. He needs divine help to be able to open the gates of the City of Dis and in other instances. Virgil is also constantly emphasizing morality and the real nature of sin to Dante the Pilgrim. Virgil instructs Dante the Pilgrim: If you remove a little branch from any one of these pieces of foliage from around us, the thoughts you have will also be broken off.[vii]
Dante the Pilgrim breaks off a shoot of a mighty thornbush[viii] and then Flames spurt at one side of a green log oozing sap at the other end, hissing with escaping air so that branch flowed with words and blood together.[ix] The scene alludes to the Aeneid, when Aeneas unknowingly pulls the branch off the corpse of Polydorus and blood rushes out. When the first stalk came torn out of the earth and the root network burst, dark blood dripped down to soak and foul the soil.[x] Polydorus calls to Aeneas to have mercy on him, just as Pier calls to Dante the Pilgrim to have mercy, a valued quality of a religious man, on his poor soul. Dante cannot show this mercy because the sin committed is truly evil and God Himself does not even show mercy to this soul.
Pier della Vigna, Vigna meaning vineyard, is fed upon by the Harpies, important figures from mythology. The Harpies are also mentioned in the Aeneid, where they desecrate the offerings of Aeneas and his followers to the gods, and Drove the Trojans from the Strophades with dire announcements of the coming woe.[xi] These Harpies are part human, part bird, and completely monstrous. Their original function in mythology was to steal away the souls of men for the gods. Here they feed on the foliage and Create pain, and an outlet for the pain as well[xii] because the souls cannot make a noise to alleviate their pain unless a branch is broken off. Thus, in a way, the Harpies fulfill their original mythological purpose of stealing the souls of men.
The moral standards of a culture and the system of these standards usually require some appropriate conduct. The ethics are laid out by either a society or a religion, and Dante uses the latter to outline the ethical standards of his work. Thus, because suicide is destructive to self, family, society and disrupts the natural way of life, it must be punished in an equally serious manner. Pier acknowledges this and comments, For justice must forbid having what one has robbed oneself of.[xiii] The condemned can never get their bodies back, and even after the Day of Judgment when their bodies are returned to them, they cannot reside in them, because their bodies will be hung on the respective thornbushes as a constant reminder of the wicked deed committed.
Dante uses the disciplines of literature, theology, philosophy, and history in such an interlocking manner where one cannot be fully differentiated from the other. He also plays upon the emotions of the reader by creating a sense of catharsis for the sinner Pier della Vigna who was once a just man and made but one fatal mistake for which he is being fully punished. Dante the Pilgrims spiritual journey is further emphasized and Dante the writers position is clarified. Dante wrote the Commedia with the intention that The sacred poem to which both heaven and earth have set hand would win for him an honorable return to his native city.
