Examples Of Greed In Dante's Inferno

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Dante’s Inferno, is the account of Dante’s voyage through Hell. Along the way he meets and talks to several sinners, and learns their back stories. I am going to use these back stories, to discover how these sinners fell into sin and what idols they had. Idolatry is the extreme love for something or someone. Idolatry has affected mankind since the days of Moses, and the golden bull. If someone has an idol, they are placing this person, or thing above God.The main sinners in this essay are Francesca Da Rimini, the greedy, and Pier delle Vigne. If Francesca, the greedy, and Pier had identified their idols, and placed God before them, they would not have lived a life of sin, and ended up in Hell.
In the Inferno, Francesca Da Rimini, is in the …show more content…
Dante never speaks to, or identifies any of the greedy. He also does not spend a lot of time in the 4th circle, the circle of the avaricious. When he first see the 4th circle, he is very taken aback, and has to ask Virgil what is happening. Virgil explains, by saying “In their first life all you can see here had such myopic minds they could not judge with moderation when it came to spending”(7.40-42). These sinners’ idols were material objects. The hoarders and wasters of circle four must always push huge boulders. They then ram into each other, yelling “why hoard”, and “why waste”. They each have a different sin, and a different idol, but they both pertain to excess material objects. The hoarders, hoard their money and possessions, and let their greed control them. The wasters, throw their money away to find pleasure, and waste away with their wasted possessions. These sinners must push their material wealth that they possessed on Earth, in a huge semi-circle. This makes a huge circle, and where the two groups collides represents the middle point, or perfect balance between the sins. The perfect balance, would be moderation, not hoarding wealth, not wasting it, but using it sensibly. After Virgil explains what these souls are punished for, Dante asks if they are all priests. He even thinks he may be able to find some he knows, and says “in such a group as this I should be able to recognize a few who have dirtied themselves by …show more content…
The first is for those violent against their neighbor, the second for those violent against themselves, and the last part is for those who were violent toward God Art, and Nature. I am going to focus on the souls who committed suicide, or were violent toward themselves. These sinners idol, was their pride, which they tried to save by committing suicide. The souls in this section, have been turned into trees, and Dante must break a twig off of a tree to hear one. The particular sinner Dante talks to is Pier delle Vigne. He was a trusted adviser to Frederick II, but the others in the court of Frederick envied him. They turned Fredrick against Pier, and he was imprisoned. Pier says that his “mind, moved by scornful satisfaction, believing death would free me from all scorn”(13.70-71). He is trying to save his pride, and his reputation. He killed himself before he could be publicly shamed, and executed. Pier wanted to save his reputation, and his pride, and he let that control him. Everyone in the wood of the suicides, has forsaken their bodies, and tried to save their pride. So, when all the souls return to their bodies, they will not wear them. They will have to drag their body, that they themselves killed. Dante obviously has a strong connection to the suicides, because he was exiled from his home. After Dante and Virgil leave the Woods of the Suicides, he doesn't look back, like he is trying to leave
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