Ulysses Alighieri Essays -- Dante Inferno Essays

Ulysses AlighieriIn Dantes Inferno, among galore(postnominal) separate sins, in Canto XXVI the counselors of fraud are being punished. These people are being constantly consumed by flames, and more importantly, as Dante points out, are forced to tell through the tongues or fire, which pains them greatly. This follows Dantes idea of punish workforcet that is the comparable as the sin -- just as they spoke wrong at ease, they should have great difficulty speaking now. The most large man in this bowge is a legendary figure -- Ulysses. The description of his sin, which Dante creates for Ulysses, is an peak that conflicts with some of the previous works about him, like Homers, so we are forced to assume that Dantes Ulysses is completely, save for his name, the authors creation. The beginning of Canto XXVI is Dantes reproach to the people of Florence, whom he places in almost all layers of sine. Dante uses irony in his reproach Florence, rejoice, because thy soaring fame / beat its broad wings across both land and sea, / And all the hidden of Hell rings with thy name (Canto 26, 1-3), but after these few lines of hurt his fellow citizens, he completes the Canto without mention of any Flourentines. There can be many interpretations to this fact, and one of them is that Dante wanted to show that evil in men has existed since much earlier times, and it is not only their generation of Florentines that goes to Hell, but many legendary figures from other great nations as well. Also I take Dante is also trying to have all sides represented in Hell -- the Italians, as well as their legendary enemies -- the Greeks who conquered Troy, and tried to destroy their ancestors. hitherto Ulysses is not placed with Brutus into the mouth of ... ...by his utter shame in his position, for in the next Canto, another flame, Guido da Montefeltro, is very anxious to speak to the poet. I think that Ulysses does not talk freely because he does not completely deserve to be punish ed for his sin, since he did not amply intend to fool his crew into killing them, but rather he was driven by the desire for good, for searching out a natural way, which Dante holds in high esteem, but he accomplishes this through sin, and must and then be punished. He is in that respectfore reluctant to speak of his sin, for he believes there was none.I believe that in part of Ulysses, Dante is trying to see himself, with the battle that Ulysses strives for the exploration of the forbidden, while Dante strives for the exploration of the divine and righteous, but otherwise the same, with the same desire to explore previously untouched territory.