Examples Of Corruption In Dante Alighieri's Inferno

n Alighieri’s Inferno he highlights the fact that corruption frequently occurs amongst human beings due to incorrect reefing practices. Many of the sinners throughout Inferno were unable to read texts allegorically henceforth leading to corruption. The first example of poor reading practices would be in the case of Francesco and Pablo. Francesca’s cheated on her husband with his brother Pablo. She blames her infidelity, however, on the work of literature she was reading, Lancelot. She states ‘ The book and writer both Were love's purveyors” “Oft - times by that reading our eyes were drawn together, and the hue fled from our altered cheek….”. She explains that the romanticism in the text drew her and Pablo together causing them to commit
adultery. Alighieri highlights this as an example of incorrect reading practice. Francesca and Pablo were reading Lancelot for pleasure and were looking merely at the visceral nature of the text rather than looking at the overall message of the text this then resulted in their damnation to hell. Alighieri explains that Francesca should have read beyond the surface of the text and rather allegorically. This then serves as a guide on how to read
Inferno. In order to read Inferno correctly, without corrupting the text, the reader must have in mind the sub level of meaning throughout the text. In conclusion, Alighieri wants the reader to get a specific spiritual moral out of reading Inferno. In order to achieve this the reader must read beyond the surface of the text and search for the underlying message throughout the text. Therefore the reader must read allegorically, which is the correct reading practice when analyzing inferno.