Dante's Divine Comedy

• What is grafting?

Grafting is the civil equivalent of simony punished in the third bolgia.

• 2. Once again in line 3, Dante refers to his poem as a comedy. Given his comments in the two works noted above, do you agree? How has he departed from either or both?

The Commedia represents a new conception in which the many levels of subject matter, ranging from the most abject to the most sublime and apocalyptic, require all levels of vocabulary and style, from the most familiar, dialectal, and obscene to the most learned and technically precise, including Latinisms and neologisms.

• 3. What do you make of the epic simile in lines 7-18?

The term arsenal (derived from an Arabic word meaning “factory”) was narrowed in Italian to mean “shipyard.” In Dante’s time, Venice had the most powerful navy in Europe; the site of its shipyard still exists. While formally positive (i.e., the infernal pitch is said to be like the Venetian). In fact, the simile sharply contrasts the elaborate scene of organized and purposeful social activity in the Arsenal with the solitude and silence of the infernal scene (and, by implication, with the later rowdy undiscipline and futile malice of the devils).

Further, the honest mercantilism of the Venetians, with all its vitality, stands against the sordid conniving of grafters. The pitch, the punishing agent of this bolgia, is the apt sign of the nature of grafters, working in secret and leaving such practitioners immersed with its sticky sign, attaching to all who practice this kind of fraud.

On the other hand, the picture of busy activity in Venice stands in ironic relationship to the scene of civic corruption that follows it. The refitting of ships emphasizes the eternal “wreckage” of the souls for whom the pitch cannot act as a restorative, especially since the Comedy repeatedly uses the imagery of the sea and boats to suggest man and the voyage of life.

At least one critic sees in each of the various activities in the arsenal a reference to a different type of governmental malpractice, the whole to be seen as an illustration of corruption in the papal curia. Those who make new boats are scheming to enter the curia, while those who repair the old are using gifts and bribes to appease the envy and slander that have already damaged them, the bubbles of the pitch itself representing the rumors and whispers that circulate in such a situation.

• 4. Here in the bolgia of the grafters, Dante employs the traditional medieval devils of plays and festivals. We saw them earlier in the first bolgia where they punished the panders and seducers with whips.

Read lines 30-54. What is your reaction to the image of the devil with the sinner thrown over his shoulder?

The anonymous sinner is probably unnamed to emphasize not only the ignominy of being carted along like a piece of butcher’s meat, but also to indicate his representative nature as one of the many administrators of Lucca under attack.

Early commentators identified him with one Martino Bottaio who died on the night between Good Friday and Easter Saturday in 1300, an identification documented in the twentieth century. He seems to have shared political (and thus grafting) power with Bonturo Dati, mentioned in line 41. Dante may have suggested that this sinner was snatched straight from earth to the fifth bolgia without going through the tribunal of Minos to emphasize the contrast between this “black” descent and the descents of Christ and of Dante himself at the same time. Not everyone agrees that Dante would allow such an exception to Minos’ judgment.

Another critic sees the devil shouldering the; sinner as a parody of the traditional representation of the Good Shepherd carrying his sheep, with the substitution of the devil’s hooks for the pastoral staff.

Dante identifies this class of devils as Malebranche in Italian, “Evil Claws” in Esolen’s translation. Can you see any reason for this name?

The name could refer to their hooked hands or to the grappling hooks.

Look at lines 43-46. Who sped “over the rough ridge” and why?

The demon pursues the sinner he has just flung down because that sinner has run off and now plunges into the pitch.

What do you make of the sinner’s bobbing up from the pitch and the reference to the Holy Face?

Esolen’s translation has him “bobbed up with his rear.” Another translator has him rising “with his face all pitch.” The difference depends on the interpretation of the Italian convolto which means “contorted, twisted, or distorted.”

If he bobs up with his backside from the pitch, he looks like a citizen of Lucca kneeling to prostrate himself before the ebony face of Christ on the much-venerated image of the Crucifixion in the church of San Martino in Lucca. If he emerges with his face covered in pitch, he looks like a parody of the image itself.

Look at lines 52-54. What can you make of the face appearing on the coins in connection with these lines?

Grafting is not possible here. There can be no profits made.

• 5. Look at lines 58-99. How would you characterize Virgil’s tone in lines 58-63?

He is confident in his ability to deal with the devils though he has Dante hide just as he had him stand aside when he left his charge to negotiate with the Fallen Angels outside the walls of Dis.

How do you interpret the tone of Virgil’s words in lines 72-84?

He maintains his confidence. He uses once again the defense that his journey is willed by God. However, he does reveal that he has someone else with him even though he has instructed Dante to hide.

How do you interpret Malacoda’s statement in line 87?

At first, it seems he might be backing down. However, the word “now” leaves open the possibility of stabbing later. He is only pretending to submit.

How does Dante’s behavior in lines 91-99 belie Virgil’s confidence?

He is not as confident as Virgil as he sees the devils hurry toward him as if to lunge and seize him. He is clearly afraid.

• 6. What information does Malacoda convey in lines 107-114?

He claims that though this bridge is smashed, another intact bridge stands not too far away. He goes on to establish the exact day and hour of the bridge’s collapse. It coincides with Christ’s Harrowing of Hell and the accompanying earthquake.

What possible interpretations of Malacoda’s command in line 125 can render it either reassuring or sinister?

He commands his squadron to “keep these men safe until that other ridge.” It could be a genuine promise. It could also be a signal that after they reach the ridge, they can do with Dante and Virgil as they wish.

How do you interpret Dante’s words to Virgil in lines 127-132?

Dante observes the devil’s appearance and actions and interprets them as surely threatening.

Does Virgil’s response support the general interpretation of the poem as purely allegorical and that Virgil represents Reason in that allegory?

This is an OPEN QUESTION

What do you make of the final line of the canto?

This is an OPEN QUESTION