Dante Alighieri's Influence On Politics

As the test of time shows, politics are very crucial to the success of any nation, and they’ve always been held as important to a country’s survival. So, in turn, politicians are important to a functioning government, and one specific politician that was an inspiration in his time was Dante Alighieri. Alighieri, who lived in Florence from about 1265 to 1321, was a politician, and a poet. During his time as a politician in Florence, Alighieri had acquired many companions, but he also saw the dark corruption deep within the Church at that time, so he had managed to gain some distaste for the church officials. Once Alighieri was banished from Florence for being accused of taking a bribe, he began to write the Divine Comedy, an epic poem in which
During Bocca’s time on earth, his main sin was betraying his birthplace, Florence, by severing the hand of a Florentine flag bearer, which eventually caused the cavalry to be defeated, so he resides in Circle 9:Round Two, where the Treacherous to Country lie. So, as Alighieri loved Florence, he absolutely detests him. After kicking Bocca in the face while walking, He consults Virgil, asking him to stop to talk to Bocca, “The Master stopped at once, and through the volley of foul abuse the wretch poured out…” (Alighieri 251). As Dante calls Bocca a, “wretch”, he’s using a word which could have been replaced by a synonym with less harsh connotation. Through this use of language, both Dante and Alighieri try to show that only the harshest of words are worthy of being used to describe someone as foul to Alighieri as Bocca Degli Abbati. But, not only does the language play a part in showing Dante’s disgust towards Bocca, but his actions do as well. After Bocca gives no clear answers as to who he really is, Dante threatens Bocca with the pain of having his hair torn from his head, and after Bocca still doesn’t comply, Alighieri writes, “I had a good grip on his hair; already I had yanked out more than one fistful of it, while the wretch yelped, but kept his face turned from
In the Inferno, Brunetto suffers in Circle Seven: Round Three, along with all of the other sodomites, but in his lifetime, Ser Brunetto Latino was a writer that was adored by Alighieri and many others for his natural talent at composing stories. When Dante meets with Brunetto in Circle Seven, he states,“‘Ah, had I all my wish,’ I answered then, ‘you would not yet be banished from the world in which you were a radiance among men, for that sweet image, gentle and paternal, you were to me in the world when hour by hour you taught me how man makes himself eternal…’” (Alighieri 122). Dante, for the first time in the entirety of the Inferno, actually expresses the wish of having a sinner back on earth, which means that Ser Brunetto is already a very important person to Dante, but he also serenades Brunetto with praises such as Brunetto being a, “Radiance among men”, and him being a sweet, gentle, and paternal human being. When Dante mentions that radiance, it sounds almost heavenly, making Brunetto seem like he has the light of God in him, much like Dante wants for Brunetto. Essentially, Brunetto is like a parent to Dante and Alighieri, who taught them what they know about poetry, which is referenced in Dante calling him a “paternal human being”. Digressing off of that topic, Ser Brunetto is shown to be so