Violence or Fraud?

Dante, shows his readers that he believes that fraud is worse than violence. This meaning that being a hypocrite is worse than murdering someone. It may be unclear on the reasons why he thinks this but he shows it discretely through his writing. The sins of Fraud is the first place where we see some of Dante's new emotions. I saw among the felons of that pit/ one wraith who might or might not have been tonsured--/one could not tell, he was so smeared in shit."(147) Here is the first time I believe that we see Dante use profanity. This shows the seriousness in which Dante starts to take the next couple of Bolgias and circles. Also, it could be that this is what had affected him the most or not this Bolgia but the sins of fraud in general which calls for the fowl language.

Dante also shows this emotional side to him through the fifth Bolgia which relates to the Grafters. Unlike the other one, in which he used profanity, Dante is actual very fearful throughout theses cantos. "I pressed the whole of my body against my Guide, and not for an instant did I take my eyes from those black fiends who scowled on every side."(173) Yet again Dante is very emotional with the eighth circle of hell. Dante sees these demons all around him which is actually the first time in which we see demons in hell. This is funny because usually the first image of hell is a demon looking thing with wings and lots of fire but it is not really the case with Dante's hell. But, this also shows the seriousness of the situation at hand for this is the first time Dante is scared and can be because one of the reasons he was exiled from Florence was because he was accused of being a Grafter. Therefore, Dante is afraid that this will happen to him yet again.

Now, from Dante's perspective, these sins of fraud, some of which are mentioned above are overall worse than the sins of violence. This can be because Dante is all about not cheating your way through life. He does not like when someone finds loopholes throughout society so that they may be able to gain more power, or money, or even favors. These sins of fraud are of lying or blackmailing mostly so that people can get something out of it which Dante believes is worse then taking life as it is and maybe being violent sometimes to yourself and others.

Another way to look at the situation is the fact that when someone is a grafter or a hypocrite they affect many more people than if someone killed someone. These people of fraud also mostly live a lifetime of sins rather than just possibly killing someone out of blind rage or yourself as well. I agree with Dante's assessment on the matter of the fact that in today's time it seems that people are more hurt by these people of fraud. Such as the many people who were victims of Bernie Madoff. He had taken a tremendous amount of money from people and eventually got caught and is now in jail for life a believe. Thus affecting many more people and causing much more trouble than possibly him murdering someone. Not to say that murdering is not bad it is, it is just, in my opinion, behind some pieces of fraud.

Here is a clip of Bernard Madoff and his actions.

The Talk With Farinata

My eyes were fixed on him already. Erect,
he rose above the flame, great chest, great brow;
he seemed to hold all Hell in disrespect.


My Guide's prompt hands urged me among the dim
and smoking sepulchres to that great figure,
and he said to me: "Mind how you speak to him."


And when I stood alone at the foot of the tomb, 
the great soul stared almost contemptuously, 
before he asked: "Of what line do you come?"


Because I wished to obey I did not hide
anything from him: whereupon, as he listened,
he raised his brow a little, then replied:


"Bitter enemies were they to me,
to my fathers, and to my party, so that twice
I sent them scattering from high Italy."


"If they were scattered, still from every part
they formed again and returned both times," I answered,
"but yours have not yet wholly learned that art."
(Dante 77)


The readers can see that Dante uses specific pieces of imagery to tell this part of his journey. The person whom this Dante is talking about is Farinata Uberti a soul who is trapped in one of the tombs in the city of Dis located in Circle Six. Dante writes how Farinata's physical features are "great" relating to his chest and brow. This shows how Farinata is different from most other people or souls in the Inferno because instead of the wrinkled skin, starving bodies with no muscle, it seems, from what Dante says, that he is actually prestigious in his manner and deserves respect. As for the line "he seemed to hold all Hell in disrespect," this shows that it is as if, Farinata does not belong in Hell or that he is superior to all the others within this circle. As for the next stanza, Virgil I believe is encouraging Dante to go and talk to Farinata. And once again, Dante uses the word "great" to describe Farinata. He even uses it again when he first walks up to the "great soul", and so the repetition of this word shows that Dante must think highly of this soul compared to the others that he has seen.


This leads to  Virgil saying, "Mind how you speak to him." Here, Virgil actually is telling Dante to show this soul respect. This is different because he felt pity for the souls once before then anger and frustration towards other and now, he is somewhere in the middle where he is asked to treat Farinata with respect. This leads to where Farinata asks Dante of what line does he come. If you did not understand what this meant, he is asking what family does Dante come from in Florence because back in that time families usually had feuds with each other. This leads to Dante not wanting to hold anything back from him where he writes, "I wished to obey," this the first time where Dante seems to be the subordinate one in the conversation with a soul. It is as if Farinata has more power over him than anyone else and that he deserves Dante's total obedience. The physical response that Farinata gives to Dante is that he raises his brow towards him. This shows that Farinata is actually listening to what Dante is saying and shows curiosity in what he is telling him.


Farinata gives an unexpected response for how Dante was treating him. Dante is being very respectful but, Farinata goes on to say that Dante's family had caused many problems towards Farinata and his family. He tells us these problems in the whole fifth stanza of the passage and Dante responds with a rather crude remark. Dante goes on to say how his family had the ability to regroup and come back together after they were "scattered", and then goes on to say how Farinata's family had yet to learn this "art." This is where we see Dante actually take a shot at Farinata and his family and shows the rivalry between the two.


From this conversation, I can see that Dante had respect for Farinata because he had treated him with respect and regarded him highly. But, I still see that Dante had some problems with him because if not, he would not have been in Hell to begin with. The rivalry between the two is definitely there but it is not like Dante and other families because here it is visible that the two do share respect for each other.