Comparing The Inferno And Kiss Of The Spider Women

In 1834, when P. T. Barnum drew up his carnival, he imagined a place filled with freaks, exotic animals, and jaw-dropping performances (“P. T. Barnum, American Shoman”, 2018). Spectators paid a small fee to enter the festivities, often screaming with delight while watching ridiculous stunts and acts. On the other hand, Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin pictured a different version of the carnival, more like that of the Renaissance times (Chan, 1). He envisioned a place where literary characters would change roles, overtaking their oppressors and escaping a life of repression. Bakhtin claimed carnivalization was the key for any person, fictitious or historical, to become equal to or more powerful than those who repressed them.

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These protagonists could not enter the carnival without first going through the pain of repression which they experienced throughout their entire lives. Thus, a character cannot undergo the process of carnivalization without first experiencing repression.

According to Mikhail Bakhtin, in order for the carnival to take place, the hegemony, or those in power, must first label a group as grotesque. Those labeled as grotesque become the marginalized members of society (Chan, 9). The Inferno and Kiss of the Spider Woman, both considered carnivalesque texts, show how Dante and Molina were labeled grotesque by the hegemony of their own societies, which then allows for the process of carnivalization to occur.

As Bakhtin stated, the carnival cannot exist without repression first taking place. Dante and Molina, two examples of marginalized persons, reveal how the carnival comes to exist. Dante, repressed by Pope Boniface VIII and the Black Guelphs, experienced repression by a figure in power and society. Molina, repressed by Argentine government and society, experienced repression from similar