Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Political Arguments
An unquestionably significant part of Dante’s aim in writing Inferno was to offer a large-scale commentary on the political nightmare
of fourteenth-century Florence, from which he had recently been exiled.
He makes his assertions in various ways. First, he condemns political
figures with whom he disagreed by scattering them ruthlessly throughout
Hell. Second, because Dante sets the action of Inferno several years
before the years in which he wrote it, he can predict, as it were,
certain events that had already taken place by the time of his writing.
He issues these seeming predictions via the voices of the damned,
apparently endowed at death with prophetic powers. In these
souls’ emphasis on the corruption and turmoil of the so-called future
Florence, Dante aims pointed criticism at his former home. Third,
Dante asserts throughout the poem his personal political belief
that church and state should exist as separate but equal powers on
Earth, with the former governing man’s spirit and the latter governing
his person. Thus, in his many references to Rome, Dante carefully mentions
both its spiritual and secular importance.
The poem’s arresting final image provides another testament
to the equal importance of church and state: Lucifer chews both
on Judas (the betrayer of Christ, the ultimate spiritual leader)
and on Cassius and Brutus (the betrayers of Caesar, the ultimate
political leader). Treachery against religion and against government
both warrant placement in Hell’s final circle. While Dante emphasizes
the equality of these two institutions, he also asserts the necessity
of their separation. He assigns particularly harsh punishments to
souls guilty of broaching this separation, such as priests or popes
who accepted bribes or yearned for political power.
Classical Literature and Mythology
Although the values that Inferno asserts
are decidedly Christian, on a thematic and literary level, the poem
owes almost as much to Greek and Roman tradition as it does to Christian
morality literature. Dante’s Christian Hell features a large variety
of mythological and ancient literary creatures, ranging from the
Centaurs to Minos to Ulysses. He even incorporates mythological
places, such as the rivers Acheron and Styx. In addition, Dante
often refers to and imitates the styles of great classical writers
such as Homer, Ovid, Lucan, and Virgil himself. He therefore attempts
to situate himself within the tradition of classical epics while
proving that he is a greater writer than any of the classical poets.
Dante incorporates this ancient material for other reasons
too, including the simple fact that mythological elements contain
much dramatic potential. More important, however, Dante includes mythological
and classical literary elements in his poem to indicate that Christianity
has subsumed these famous stories; by bringing many religious strands
under one umbrella, Dante heightens the urgency and importance of
his quest—a quest that he believes necessary for all human beings.
