An allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughout history in all forms of art to illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.
Inferno (Italian for “Hell”) is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno describes Dante’s journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the “realm … of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen”. As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.
In Inferno, Dante uses the allegory of his own journey through Hell to reflect the spiritual journey that leads to better understanding and acceptance of one‘s own situation in life. Dante chooses a revered poet to represent Human Reason and bring him away from Error caused by Worldliness, through Hell (the representation of the Recognition of Sin), and as far into Purgatory (the representation of Christian Life), as he can go. Virgil leads Dante to Beatrice, who represents Divine Love, which is the only virtue that can finally unite the eternal soul with God.
Dante’s portrayal of Hell in the Inferno is an undisputed masterpiece of visual and allegorical imagery, enriched not only by extensive use of figurative language, but by concrete physical descriptions as well. Perhaps the most interesting display of Dante’s skill in combining these sensory and metaphorical elements occurs in Canto XIV: here, as the two figures cross over a river encased in stone, Virgil recounts to the Pilgrim, in stunning detail, the story of the statue, buried in Mount Ida on the island of Crete, whose falling tears form the waters for the three rivers of the Underworld. In the course of the guide’s narration, the reader, who is first confronted and captivated by powerful geographical images, gradually becomes aware of the underlying allegorical interpretation, and realizes that the scenes portrayed here tell the story of the Fall of Man and his subsequent misery on earth. The speaker, though, is neither Dante nor the Pilgrim, but Virgil, and the effect on the reader of this shift in perspective is indeed the most fascinating aspect of the passage: not only is Dante using Virgil, in Bloomian terms, to authenticate his own creation, but the emotions which Virgil himself conveys to the reader heighten the feeling of suspense, amazement, and appreciation of the work as a whole.
There are two distinct portions of the story Virgil recounts to the Pilgrim in this passage; yet a third image comes from the landscape surrounding the two as they talk. In all three sections, the pictures painted by the poets are geographically and topologically defined, with concrete depictions of the surroundings and a wellfocused centre. The river, for instance, which the figures use as a pathway through the deserted landscape, is at first seen through its environment, and its origins are specified. Dante then draws a comparison to a similar river in Italy; this concrete image, though not helpful for the modern reader, would have been significant to Dante’s contemporaries. Finally, then, Dante describes the river itself, with its encasement of stone, and reveals its function for the travellers as a bridge or a path which they will follow.
A striking remark, though, is revealed at the end of Virgil’s narration: this river is composed, in fact, not of water, but of the tears which fall from the statue in Mt. Ida on Crete. With this revelation, Virgil’s portrayal of the scene makes an emotional appeal to the reader by allegorical means. The colour of these tears is red, recalling an image of blood: possibly this is the very blood that pours out of the statue’s heart, either in pity or in pain for the sins that have destroyed the race of man; alternatively, the red river is an allegory for the
suffering of Christ for mankind’s sins. Also, as Virgil explains, the single stream seen here is destined to separate and become the three famous rivers of Hell — one of many tripartite appearances, perversions of the Holy Trinity that are mentioned throughout the Divine Comedy. As such, Dante’s characterization of the stream as “gushing” out of the forest gains credibility, for the force required to power three distinct rivers must necessarily be tremendous, even to the limits of human comprehension.
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