Analysis: Cantos I–II
From a structural point of view, the first two cantos
of Inferno function as an introduction, presenting
the main dramatic situation and maneuvering Dante and Virgil to
the entrance of Hell, the journey through which will constitute
the main plot of the poem. In a larger sense, however, the opening
cantos help to establish the relationship between Inferno and
larger literary, political, and religious tradition, indicating
their points of convergence and deviation.
Inferno takes the form of an allegory,
a story whose literal plot deals entirely in symbols, imbuing the
story with a second level of meaning implied by, but broader than,
the events of the narrative. On a literal level, The Divine
Comedy portrays Dante’s adventures in the fantastic realms
of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, but these adventures allegorically
represent a broader subject: the trials of the human soul to achieve
morality and find unity with God. From the opening lines, Dante
makes clear the allegorical intention of his poem: “Midway on our
life’s journey, I found myself / In dark woods, the right road lost”
(I.1–2). By writing “our life’s
journey” (emphasis added) and with his generic phrase “the right
road,” Dante links his own personal experience to that of all humanity.
The dark woods symbolize sinful life on Earth, and the “right road” refers
to the virtuous life that leads to God.
In this way, Dante links his poem to the larger tradition
of medieval Christian allegory, most famously represented in English
by Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. A great deal of
medieval Christian allegory portrayed a character type known as
Everyman, a Christian protagonist (even named “Christian” in Bunyan’s
work) representing all of humanity; the Everyman character undergoes
trials and tribulations in his search to find the soul’s true path
in life. By making himself the hero of his story, Dante casts himself
in the role of Everyman; more broadly, Dante literally wishes each
individual to put him- or herself in the position described at the
beginning of the poem, since, according to Christian doctrine, all
people know some form of sin and thus wander lost in a dark wood.
Similarly, the path to the blessed afterlife awaits anyone who seeks
to find it.
The opening tercet (a three-line stanza) of Inferno also
situates the poem in time. The Bible’s Psalms describe a human lifespan
as being “threescore and ten years,” or seventy years. Because of
the many close links between The Divine Comedy and
the Bible, most critics agree that Dante would have considered man’s
lifespan to be seventy years; thus, “midway on our life’s journey”
would make Dante thirty-five, locating the events in the year 1300.
These cantos contain many passages, however, whose analysis has
produced more disagreement than accord. For example, one can reasonably
assume that the three beasts that menace Dante as he tries to climb
the sunlit hill represent dark forces that threaten mankind, but
it is difficult to define them more concretely. Early commentators
on the poem often considered them to represent the sins of lust,
pride, and avarice. The three beasts also have a biblical analogue
in Jeremiah 5:6: “Wherefore a lion out of
the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil
them, and a leopard shall watch over their cities.” Much
of the allegory in Inferno takes a political tone,
referring to the situation in Italy (especially Florence) during Dante’s
lifetime, and to the conflict between the pope and the Holy Roman
Emperor. It thus seems probable that the three beasts also carry political
connotations, a theory reinforced by Virgil’s prophecy about the
hound that will drive the she-wolf away, which some critics have read
as a symbol for a great leader who would one day unite Italy.
Virgil tells Dante that he lived in Rome during the time
of Augustus, in the age of “the false gods who lied.” The fact that
Virgil recognizes the old Roman gods as “false” and “lying” (in
other words, non-Christian) instances Dante’s use of a technique
called intertemporality—the mingling of elements
from different time periods. Having entered into eternity, Virgil—like
many of Dante’s other characters—can now see into times other than
those in which he lived. He is thus able to understand what Dante
considers truthful theology. The use of intertemporality
permeates much of the artistic and literary tradition of medieval
times; biblical characters, for example, were almost always represented
in art as wearing medieval clothing, and the “heathenism” of medieval
Muslims was emphasized by portraying them as worshipping the ancient
Greek god Apollo. Yet, while these forms of intertemporality often
seem merely anachronistic, the technique is more aesthetically and
logically satisfying within the context of Dante’s poem: his characters
can see beyond their time on Earth because in death they exist outside
of time.
