Day 1
It begins with "Midway upon the journey of life, i find myself within a dark forest, for the straightforward path was lost". Dante informs the reader that he is lost in life, unsure as to what to do next. This sounds suspiciously like a mid-life crises. Unfortunately for Dante, the world was about 750 years away from the sports car, so he wrote an epic poem. It begins with a lacking in one's own life. We all look for exterior remedies, quick-fixes, or solutions to crises that can only be answered by looking within. That is for most of us a terrifying prospect, because you expose yourself to a lifetime of regrets, fears, anger and pain. But there is also joy, bliss, and hope, if you search hard enough. And that is what this whole epic is about. It's a work of fiction. Dante did not actually go to the afterlife. He journeyed to his inner self, through his own darkness out through his own divinity. It is Dante trasnforming his own desires, showing us his own artistic representation of finding a path to the interior heaven. All of us have this capacity, if we are brave enough to face the darkness.
But before Dante can even start down the path, he is confronted with three beast. I wrote about this in my last blog, so I'm going to do a little copy and paste, because I rather liked what i wrote before. I am quite certain in Dante's Inferno, this sort of self-congratulatory business would get me a nice place amongst the prideful.
Before Dante is united with Virgil, he encounters three beasts; a Leopard, a Lion and a Wolf. There have been a variety of interpretations of what these beasts symbolize, but the common line is they represent lust pride and avarice respectively. This is relatviely easy to recognize. In Canto I, Dante meets the leopard, who is "very quick and lithe and covered in spotted hide." The leopard, in all of its lusty litheness, obstructs Dante from his path several times. It's fascinating that even before Dante is allowed to begin true physical, psychological and spiritual transformation, he is obstructed from initiating the process.
After becoming frustrated at trying to find the path, the sun arises and Dante seemed to be looking forwarded to seeing the leopard again, which strengthens the case that the leopard does indeed represent lust. However, Dante doesn't see the leopard. He comes face to face with a lion. Dante says that "his head held high and ravenous with hunger-even the air around him seem to shudder." It's the head held high line that clues most folks into the pride sin. Well, that and the fact that we are trained to associate the lion with pride (it is, afterall, what we call a whole bunch of them). Dante cowers before this menacing symbol, but is quickly confronted by the third beast, the wolf. He says that "she seemd to carry every craving in her leanness; she had aleady brought dispair to many." So this is avarice, the unquenchable greed that has afflicted many before Dante. Dante was so afraid of the wolf that she actually scared him out of the light back into the darkness. Very fascinating symbolic imagery. Dante is clearly struggling with the very idea of examing these very human tendencies. He is at the place so many of us are when we see the need to change. We recognize our lives are filled with happiness, which is a great first step. But that second step, actually doing something about it, is filled with fears. We have to acknowledge the things that make us unhappy, even if it means staring down leopards, lions and wolves. Oh my.
I have a couple of new thoughts (and I promise not all posts will be as lengthy as this one. There's a bit of set-up that needs to happen. I had originally wanted to limit myself to 100 words per day/post, but immediately realized that that was never going to happen. But i promise more brevity)
Is it any wonder that if you walk into any bookstore, the self-help section is one of the largest in the entire store. And is it a coincidence that we Americans are some of the most unhappy people on Earth? We spend so much time trying to find just the right book that will unlock the secret to happiness, but refuse to look ourselves in the mirror. That reflection shows those beasts.
A final thought structural thought. I am convinced that Dante did not intend for this first Canto to act as "Canto 1". The entire epic is filled with numerology, specifically Trinity numerology. Three books, 33 Cantos in Purgatory and Paradise. Why 34 in Inferno? Wouldn't 99, or three pairs of 33's be a much more symbolically meaningful division? I've heard arguments for both sides, and it does appear that original versions do in fact have 100 cantos, so I guess that's what we have to go on. But it's always bugged me, as I know how meticulously Dante mapped out everthing in his epic.
Until next time, take that first step into the dark forest. It's worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment