Dante’s Inferno Cantos XIX 

Since Cantos 19 deals with the moral failure–fraud (inversion of wisdom), see if you can solve for how the story here demonstrates this and if this helps Dante with his own moral development?

 

In Canto XIX, the moral failure of fraud is demonstrated by the description of the sinners and their punishment. The sinners are characterized as “miserable pimps and hucksters, that have sold the things of God,”(Canto XIX, 2-3).  The demeaning words used to define the sinners accompanied by the fault causing them to be described as such demonstrates fraud as a moral failure. The punishment of the “soles of them on fire… flickering from heels to toes,”  and the fact there is one further demonstrates moral failure ( Canto XIX, 25-30). The depiction of this upturned people having the bottoms of their feet burned for eternity is a hard one to imagine, however, its purpose is to show how Dante develops morally. Dante’s moral development is depicted by being comparing him to the sinner. When Dante questions Nicholas, his stance is described as he “stood there like the friar who leans to take confession” (Canto XIX, 49). Friars were people that would stand around and take money in return for listening and forgiving you for your sins. Friars were basically the pimps and hucksters that were described in the beginning. By juxtaposing Dante with a sinner, his moral development is demonstrated because although he is compared to the sinners his intentions are not the same as them.