Ulysses Alighieri Essays -- Dante Inferno Essays

Ulysses Alighieri In Dante’s â€Å"Inferno†, among many other sins, in Canto XXVI the â€Å"counselors of fraud† are being punished. These people are being constantly consumed by flames, and more importantly, as Dante points out, are forced to speak through the â€Å"tongues† or fire, which pains them greatly. This follows Dante’s idea of punishment that is the same as the sin -- just as they spoke falsely at ease, they should have great difficulty speaking now. The most prominent man in this bowge is a legendary figure -- Ulysses. The description of his sin, which Dante creates for Ulysses, is an account that conflicts with some of the previous works about him, like Homer’s, so we are forced to assume that Dante’s Ulysses is completely, save for his name, the author’s creation. The beginning of Canto XXVI is Dante’s reproach to the people of Florence, whom he places in almost all layers of Hell. Dante uses irony in his reproach: â€Å"Florence, rejoice, because thy soaring fame / Beats its broad wings across both land and sea, / And all the deep of Hell rings with thy name!† (Canto 26, 1-3), but after these few lines of insulting his fellow citizens, he completes the Canto without mention of any Flourentines. There can be many interpretations to this fact, and one of them is that Dante wanted to show that evil in men has existed since much earlier times, and it is not only their generation of Florentines that goes to Hell, but many legendary figures from other great nations as well. Also I believe Dante is also trying to have all sides â€Å"represented† in Hell -- the Italians, as well as their legendary enemies -- the Greeks who conquered Troy, and tried to destroy their ancestors. However Ulysses is not placed with Brutus into the m outh of ... ...by his utter shame in his position, for in the next Canto, another â€Å"flame†, Guido da Montefeltro, is very anxious to speak to the poet. I think that Ulysses does not talk freely because he does not completely deserve to be punished for his sin, since he did not fully intend to fool his crew into killing them, but rather he was driven by the desire for good, for searching out a new way, which Dante holds in high esteem, but he accomplishes this through sin, and must therefore be punished. He is therefore reluctant to speak of his sin, for he believes there was none. I believe that in part of Ulysses, Dante is trying to see himself, with the difference that Ulysses strives for the exploration of the forbidden, while Dante strives for the exploration of the divine and righteous, but otherwise the same, with the same desire to explore previously untouched territory.