Dante’s Inferno, one of the literary cornerstones of today’s society, establishes fundamental relationships between the first-person narrator, thought to be Dante and the rest of Hell. The Italian poem not just expresses characterizations of elements of society that are not usually delineated, but also provides a distinct glimpse into Dante’s religious and political views which are incorporated in the story. Dante clearly personifies elements in Hell and the realm in which the storyteller immerses the characters in a world where everything is alive, sentient, and watching.

Dante first personifies human emotions in Inferno using animals, representing the emotions as the guardians of the forest that leads to hell. The first guardian is a leopard, and then a lion, whose “head [is] held high” (Pinsky, I, 36), followed by a she-wolf representing “all the world’s cravings” (Pinsky, I, 39). Since the lion holds its head high, it is a representation of pride, and the she-wolf, or all the world’s cravings, is avarice. Dante expresses his astute opinion on the two emotions as worthless since they have taken the form of rabid animals who guard the gates of hell. He takes a specific stance on avarice, stating that “envy first dispatched her on her mission” (Pinsky, I, 87), demonstrating how avarice begins with the envy of others. The use of the word ‘mission’ is odd, as it takes some of the onus away from Avarice, for Envy is the one to dispatch it on its mission. Dante expresses here how Avarice is not at fault for the crimes it commits, but rather Envy is to blame. Even the hidden, forbidden emotions that humans feel are alive in this world that Dante has created, pride and avarice snarling with all that humans feel when influenced by the two sins. It also shows how taboo these emotions are, for it is not a good thing for society to see one’s avarice or pride put on display, though Dante brings them up using personification in order to show how the narrator is always surrounded and being watched.

Along with the personification of emotion, Dante personifies the element of air as alive, a rather cruel irony seeing as how Hell is the land of the dead. He uses personification to describe “sighs that trembled the timeless air” (Pinsky, IV, 20 – 21). This demonstrates how heartbreaking the wretched sighs of the damned are using the trembling of the air in hell, a place where the pain is commonplace, yet their cries are so wounded and full of agony that even the air trembles. The phrasing of “timeless air” is also rather unique in that it portrays hell as a never-ending, unceasing landscape, where time has no grasp on anything, not even the air. He continues to describe the horror that is hell by stating that “malignant air” (Pinsky, V, 41) pervades the atmosphere. The environment of hell is so fantastically tense that even the air is malignant, evil and rotted to the core. The air — timeless, malignant, and trembling with wretched sighs — the environment tense and without respite for the reader and the narrator.
The personification of rebellion is also used to add to the unease and tension that surround the narrator. Even the very elements that form hell, such as the earth and wind, don’t give a moment’s respite, Dante stating that “a wind burst up from the tear-soaked ground” (Pinsky, III, 110 – 111). The wind bursting up from the ground showed how one could never be at peace, for the elements could jump up and revolt at any moment, which is a form of personification. The idea of wind rebelling at any moment contributes to the feeling of unrest in Hell, for nothing, not even the wind, will stay on its directed course. Hell is the epitome of chaos, according to Dante, and the wind’s potential rebellion only adds to the discord that pervades hell – goodness is not a thing, and loyalty to their masters is nonexistent for the beings of Hell. The phrasing of the “tear-soaked ground” is also unique, for it again emphasizes the horrors of hell since the people are in so much pain that the ground is constantly waterlogged with their tortured tears. This all adds to the atmosphere of fear and tension that vibrate like plucked guitar strings, and also alludes to Dante’s feelings on treachery, expanded upon later in the poem. Treachery is the deepest circle of hell and reserved for the worst sinners, and wind’s potential treachery brings the unrest and evil in hell to the forefront. Readers pull this from Dante’s mind and the dredges of society, where society has relegated rebellion and anger to the deep depths of hell.

The gate through which one enters Hell pushes the unrest and sense of life to the forefront, with personification used in the main phrases to liken the gate to a spirit that is alive. The paragraph that gives the damned spirits a foreboding message says, “Through me, you enter into the city of woes…into eternal pain…[into] the population of loss…” (Pinsky, III, 1-6). The phrasing “through me” is personification because it gives the sense that the gate is watching and acting as a silent gatekeeper to Hell, regarding all who enter with a keen eye. It is a warning of sorts at the same time, stating that the moment a spirit passes through the gates, they will be in the city of woes and a part of the population of loss. What the gate attempts to say is unclear – it could be telling the spirits to go back to Limbo, or taking perverse glee in the distress and dismay they feel as they realize that they must forge onwards. Whatever Dante’s meaning, it contributes to the tension and fear felt by the narrator as he takes the first step into the first circle of Hell.

Throughout Dante’s Inferno, Dante uses the personification of elements and emotions that cannot feel or take actions in a way humans can to add to the fear and tension in the cruel atmosphere that the narrator is wading through, keeping the readers on edge and invested. The imagery of the very elements that make up hell being alive and ready to pounce at any moment is one that is present in a subtle way throughout the entirety of Inferno, and one can only wonder at depths of Dante’s unreachable mind that pushed him to write such a striking masterpiece.

Sources

Dante, Inferno. Translated by Robert Pinsky, 1994.

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