Prompt Post 2 - Dame Fortune

2) Consider the following passage from Circle IV where Dante and Virgil discuss Dame Fortune :


"No mortal power may stay her spinning wheel.
The nations rise and fall by her decree.
None may foresee where she will set her heel:

she passes, and things pass. Man's mortal reason
cannot encompass her. She rules her sphere
as the other gods rule theirs. Season by season..." (54).


I think Dante is trying to convey that fate and fortune are unable to be controlled. By stating that mortal reason cannot understand "her," he places a focus on Fate being a higher kind of power. He compares her to a God in his last lines, writing that she will rule as She sees fit and without the interferance of man.

Dante compares Dame Fortune to the likes of a God, stating that she behaves like one. Since this passage is used to show that man cannot defy her will, it conveys that man cannot defy God's will either. This, however, appears to be the only thing that Dante truly likens to his God as he does not share this opinion of Him being fickle. Dante does evidence that he beieves in God and His decisions above all else, however, though he only places a certain degree of respect when he references Dame Fortune.

Dante also gives Fortune a sort of personification by titling her as a dame, a form of address given to a woman of rank or authority. The use of a woman, especially a high-ranking one, to depict Fate could be used to allude to her being fickle and maicious by nature as many Catholics of the time did. Dante was most likely a Catholic man, especially considering his former life in Italy, and might have shared or used the opinions of the Church to get the idea across that Fortune was unpredictable and untrustworthy.

Others have also claimed that Fortune is unpredictable, such as the highly influential Renaissance writer Machiavelli. Machiavelli claimed that “fortune is the arbiter of half of the things we do, leaving the other half or so to be controlled by ourselves,” meaning that man was inneffective against fortune because it judges and determines without control or influence (The Prince). He makes the argument that you must always be ready for change, but to not depend on Fortune as she is a fickle being. Fate's decisions cannot be controlled and Machiavelli outright states this as a fact when he goes on to say that “men have no influence whatsoever… he should submit to the rulings of chance” (The Prince).


The symbolism of the wheel is also important, as the wheel rotates and changes. This is most likely intentional as the wheel seems rather random and fluid by nature, always changing where it lands.

Many versions of Tarot cards contain a Major Arcana card titled the Wheel of Fortune, pertaining to Dante's time period as the Deck has been traced back to the Italian Renaissance, among other places. The card has been interpreted to exhibit many of the same ideas that Dante represents with Dame Fortune.

The Wheel of Fortune when upright represents unexpected events and changes in a cycle that are usually well percieved or beneficial in the long run as the change envokes growth and wisdom. The reverse of this card represents a failure or particularly difficult change in a person's life. This complete reversal is used to depict the fickleness of Fortune as is the card's use of day and night.




Sophocles, unlike Dante, believes that Fate has the highest power above all else. He has shown in all of is works that prophocies will always come true despite the will of the character while Dante gives Fate little credit. Dante evidences some belief that Fate only has a partial role in the events, paying her little regard in relation to the Christian faith. Dante references God, Christ, and Beatrice, who sent Virgil to Dante and represents Divine Love, much more than he references the Dame. For instance, Dante remarks on Christ's descent into Hell shaking not only the Earth above, but all of Hell as well. This is developed in multiple Cantos, first expanded upon by Virgil in Limbo and reaccuring throughout.

Wrathful and Sullen - Decadence

The Swedish Metal band Decadence has a song entitled Wrathful and Sullen, "singing" about the hoarders and wasters continual fighting before transitioning into talking about the Fifth Circle: the Wrathful and the Sullen.



Their souls encumbered by dead weights
One serves the other to punish with hate
Their souls have become dimmed in fruitless wrath
There's no hope left in this bloodbath

Lost souls doomed to battle
Forever face each other
Wrathful opposing sullen
On going vital fighting

They are never to die
Howling frantic endless sighs
No coming triumph in sight
Because they refused the light

Was this worth all anger?
Trapped in hell forever
Caught in endless pain
Never to return again

Doomed to be immortal
Hate and being brutal
Skinning, biting, destroy
Hungering for final death

Countless souls attacking in the foul slime
In life refused to accept the light
In death they are buried in the wastes
Gargling the words of an endless chant

Lost souls doomed to battle
Forever face each other
Wrathful opposing sullen
On going vital fighting

They are never to die
Howling frantic endless sighs
No coming triumph in sight
Because they refused the light

Was this worth all anger?
Trapped in hell forever
Caught in endless pain
Never to return again

Doomed to be immortal
Hate and being brutal
Skinning, biting, destroy
Hungering for final death

Sullying and squandering, wasted all their light
Bringing them to the brawl of wraiths in fright
Easily grasping their depressing plight
They are doomed to Hell in an endless fight

Lost souls doomed to battle
Forever face each other
Wrathful opposing sullen
On going vital fighting

They are never to die
Howling frantic endless sighs
No coming triumph in sight
Because they refused the light


I believe that the song is a great depiction of the Fifth Circle of Hell. The song talks about the feelings of the sinners, their punishment, and the reasons for their position in Hell.

The Wrathful are continually fighting as they did in life, done so in the disgusting slime that represents hate and anger. The Sullen are choked on the mud that they are submerged under so that they cannot speak or utter any of the anger that they focused inwardly in life. They oppose each other in their expression, one focusing the anger they feel outwards, on others, and the the other inwards, on themselves.

Prompt Post 1 - Primordial Love

"I AM THE WAY INTO THE CITY OF WOE.
I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN PEOPLE.
I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL SORROW.

SACRED JUSTICE MOVE MY ARCHITECT.
I WAS RAISED HERE BY DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE,
PRIMORDIAL LOVE AND ULTIMATE INTELLECT.

ONLY THOSE ELEMENTS TIME CANNOT WEAR
WERE MADE BEFORE ME, AND BEYOND TIME I STAND.
ABONDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE" (18).

Dante as an author writes the inscription on the First Gate of Hell to convey that God has created Hell himself instead of Satan. It shows that though Hell is a dismal and sorrowful place, it also serves a purpose according to God.

God created Hell for the people because He believes that the sinful need and wish for the punishment that will be given to them in Hell. God loves all people, even sinners, enough to show them their errors. His punishments are meant to show His wisdom and knowledge, depicting that he knows that people need a substantial ] and relative punishment. His links between the sins and the punishments are meant to make people think both during life and death about their actions and their consequences.

The diction, such as "Primordial Love," is foreign to the usual concept of Hell. Many believe that Hell was created out of hate and sin, not the love of God. Since this love is sypposedly present since the beginning of time itself, the passage conveys that God knew people would need punishment. God's punishment of the sinners is His way to show His love for the wicked, as the wicked need to learn the error of their ways. By punishing them, He shows that he knows what the people need, even if it seems like the last thing they would want.

Throughout he book, we can see that the sinners have some sort of contentness in Hell, as if they have truly accepted that this is where they're supposed to be. Virgil is accurately able to describe this feeling by saying "Divine Justice transforms and spurns them so / their dread turns wish: they yearn for what they fear" (22). This especially exhibits the feelings of the sinners as they are being reprimanded for their wrongdoings. The acceptance shown they have is because each and every one of them can sense this as a part of God's love and wisdom. They eagerly await their place because it comes from a higher and positive power.

Hell is a place for eternal punishment to be served as time does not affect Hell. Because a person condemned to Hell will never ascend, they have no hope to do so. Despite this, Hell is a sort of Holy place for being created by God. Though this goes against most modern day theories, Dante presents this new version of Hell with
an expressive and foreshadowing inscription on the very gates to the realm.