The Divine Comedy: “Canto XV” of Inferno begins with the reader joining Dante and Virgil's pilgrim as they emerge from the wood of suicides in road to the third ring. of the seventh circle of hell: the burning sands. This is where blasphemers, sodomites and moneylenders are held for their eternal punishment. Dante and Virgil walk at the top of a narrow stone path and when they reach the point where the wood is no longer visible, they see a group of damned souls rushing towards them. Among these souls is Brunetto Latini, Dante's former teacher, and Dante is both delighted and discouraged to see him in this state. Brunetto asks to speak to him but admits that part of his eternal punishment is that he can't stop moving for fear of spending a hundred years lying on the sand and unable to erase the brutal rain of fire from his body. skin. Dante advances along the path with Brunetto tugging at his hem, the two discussing Dante's journey through the nine circles of hell which Brunetto encourages him to continue to reach heaven. He laments his untimely death, mistakenly believing that if he had lived longer he could have not only supported Dante in his work as a poet, but also seen his own literary achievements achieve greater fame, thus making him a great man and immortalizing it. After naming a few other sinners within this circle, all of whom were respected men, Brunetto spots another group of sodomites with whom he is forbidden to have contact. He rushes to catch up with his group and is so far behind that Dante feels like he's first. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. It is interesting to note that the term sodomy is never mentioned in this song, but is instead clarified in Virgil's "Canto XI" when he mentions the cities of Sodom and Cahors in context with his explanations of the sin of violence against Nature and God. The city of Sodom is the origin of the term sodomy, referring to the biblical account of Genesis 19, and is used in modern English to refer almost exclusively to relationships between homosexual men. In the 1300s, however, the term had not yet been coined and Genesis 19 was not interpreted solely as a condemnation of homosexual relations. With this in mind, throughout this essay I will explore Dante's interpretation of the biblical tale in comparison to other understandings of it, as well as how "Canto XV" of Inferno translates into artistic work, ultimately concluding that what gives meaning to the song is not the original intention. but rather what readers absorb from it. Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-29) tells the story of two angels who, while visiting the city of Sodom, are grossly mistreated by all the townspeople except Lot and his family. While staying with Lot, the townspeople come to him and ask him to “bring [the angels] out to [them], [that] they may know them.” Biblically, the act of "knowing" refers to carnal knowledge and sometimes denotes sexual behavior, but the story of Sodom and Gomorrah makes no effort to explicitly state that the sin in question was homosexuality. Due to this lack of clarification, a number of alternative interpretations have arisen, including that the men were betraying or trying to humiliate their guests, engaged in bestiality, or hoped to acquire the sacred abilities of angels through sexual contact . concept of lack of hospitality, the oldJewish culture described in Genesis placed a strong emphasis on the importance of neighborliness, so the practice of engaging in sexual acts with an unwilling visitor would have been considered an act of extreme violence and therefore an act against God. It is unlikely, however, that Dante would have used this interpretation because the Sodomites would then have had to be placed in the ninth circle of hell with those who committed treacherous fraud against guests. Possibilities of other forms of sin arise with the interpretation of Sodom in Ezekiel 16 stating that "[Sodom] and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and the needy,” which implies greed and gluttony. Again, Dante did not place the sodomites with the incontinent or avaricious gluttons of circles three and four, but rather in the seventh circle designated as "violence" with murderers, suicides, blasphemers, and usurers. Separated from “violence against others” and “violence against self,” the sins of the Sodomites are categorized as “violence against God.” They are just as condemned as those who spoke sacrilegiously about God and those who lent money and charged unreasonably high interest rates, thereby wasting productive skills intended to be used to imitate the goodness of God. This concept of unproductive behavior is essential to exploring sodomy as a sexual sin. The possibility that Dante interpreted sodomy as a sin of betrayal or incontinence aside, the idea of ​​sodomy as a sexual sin is worth exploring. The idea of ​​the act as bestiality comes into consideration when one recognizes the fact that angels would technically be a species other than man, as Jude 1:7 of the New Standard American Bible translation states: "Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they, in the same way as these, indulged in gross immorality and sought strange flesh, are set forth as an example in suffering the punishment of eternal fire. Here, this term "strange flesh" refers to the bodies of angels, but it is unclear whether it is strange because of their sacred nature or because they are presented as men. Whether or not this was a reference to bestiality or homosexuality, the problem at the time of Genesis would have been the same: no reproduction. Having children was of paramount importance in Dante's time, and male sexual relations would have been considered a behavior that failed to result in family expansion and therefore an act of sterility. This is where we see the connection between murderers, suicides, blasphemers, and loan sharks, as their actions fail to result in a productive movement. Despite the absence of direct reference to homosexuality, there is a link between Dante and Brunetto Latini which fits into this area of ​​sterility. In Dante's time, it was not uncommon for there to be relationships between an older man and a younger man, especially in terms of scholarly associations. Although Dante may not be referring to a male-male relationship between himself and Brunetto Latini, it is not entirely unlikely that what he is noticing is their collective obsession with their poetic work rather than their devotion to God and what is considered “natural” behavior. . In the same way as what was interpreted in the Bible as the sterility of the homosexual relationship, the literary achievements of Brunetto Latini and Dante could not be what allowed them to be immortalized. The concept of creative success being what defines a person resonates strongly inartistic movements of the 20th century. Robert Rauschenberg is a great example as a neo-Dada painter who paved the way for the evolution of the art scene. As a gay artist, Rauschenberg had a unique perspective on Dante's Inferno, particularly in terms of the comparison between himself and Brunetto Latini, as he also had a half-professional, half-personal relationship with the young gay artist Jasper Johns. In Rauschenberg's work Canto the outline of his own imprint. on the canvas. As the sodomites are the sinners forced to walk on the burning sands while the other two sit or lie down, Rauschenberg puts himself on an equal footing regardless of the sin they represent. Despite the fact that his relationship with John and their artistic endeavors align well with those of Brunetto and Dante, it is highly likely that due to the popularity of "don't ask, don't tell" art, it is of a reference. to his closeted sexuality. The solvent transfers of athletic-looking men and the repetition of a man wearing only a towel reference Dante's comparison of the Sodomites to professional wrestlers in "Canto XVI", attempting to capture the idea that there is a marked difference between male-to-male contact. a sexual nature and a sportsmanship. Rauschenberg's depiction, however, leans more toward an obsession with his own sexuality and a combination of sport and sexual attraction than toward an effort to separate the two. The selected transfers are significant in that their inclusion activates an association of the male physique with gay erotic culture, particularly in the form of sports pornography. In this case, imagery was used as a method to make a thoughtful statement validating the reality of what might otherwise have been swept under the rug: the fact that gay men exist and that they exist in all social groups , including sports. This element of the play presents an interesting contrast to the comparison of professional wrestlers in "Canto XVI" because it essentially confirms what Dante is trying to ignore. Although there are a number of ways to interpret this section of The Divine Comedy, either directly from references to the Bible or from Dante's description of the sin of the Sodomites, Rauschenberg took the scenes from the song as an opportunity to express oneself in a personal way. criticism through his daring personal insertion. Another image that takes a unique stance on the events of "Canto XV" is Tom Phillips Canto , his body covered in red marks probably from the constant rain of fire on the burning sands. However, the year the work was created was the first time the United States began to see rare diseases developing among young gay men due to immunosuppression caused by the HIV virus. Adding to this risk of infections were various types of wounds and skin lesions, many of which appeared in forms similar to those shown on Brunetto's body. Although this work differs from Rauschenberg's in that Tom Phillips has never publicly come out as gay, he continues to be actively involved in events in the world around him that correlate with interpretations of The Divine Comedy. These two pieces in conversation, it becomes clear that, although..