Ugolino In Canto 33 Of Dante's Inferno
Megan Wilkerson
Andrea Moudarres
Italian 110
4 November 2012
Midterm: Ugolino
In Canto 33 of Dante’s Inferno, the Pilgrim enters Antenora and sees the sinner, Ugolino, frozen in a hole and feasting on the head of his nemesis, Ruggieri. Although the reason for his damnation in the realm of Antenora is the sin of political treachery against Pisa, there seems to be something else he grieves and feels the need to explain to Dante: while Ruggieri locks Ugolino and his sons in a tower with no food, Ugolino bites his hand out of sheer rage. This gesture and the actions of the sinner divesting of his enemy’s head signifies Ugolino’s hunger for vengeance against Ruggieri; yet his children mistake this gesture for hunger:
“’Father, it will be much less pain for us if you eat of us: you clothed us with this wretched flesh, so do you divest us of it.’ I quieted myself then, so as not to make them sadder; that day and the next we were all mute: ah, hard earth, why did you not open? After we had reached the fourth day, Gaddo threw himself stretched out at my feet, saying: ‘My …show more content…
33.62-63). These lines are similar to the speech of Job: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return tither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.” The reference to the Eucharist is drawn where Ugolino’s sons offer their bodies as food, much as Christ offers his disciples bread at the last supper, saying: “This is my body.” In fact, the poet compares Ugolino’s eating of the head “as bread is eaten by the starving” (Inf. 32. 127). Ugolino even mentions that his sons were “crying in their sleep and asking for bread” (Inf.
Andrea Moudarres
Italian 110
4 November 2012
Midterm: Ugolino
In Canto 33 of Dante’s Inferno, the Pilgrim enters Antenora and sees the sinner, Ugolino, frozen in a hole and feasting on the head of his nemesis, Ruggieri. Although the reason for his damnation in the realm of Antenora is the sin of political treachery against Pisa, there seems to be something else he grieves and feels the need to explain to Dante: while Ruggieri locks Ugolino and his sons in a tower with no food, Ugolino bites his hand out of sheer rage. This gesture and the actions of the sinner divesting of his enemy’s head signifies Ugolino’s hunger for vengeance against Ruggieri; yet his children mistake this gesture for hunger:
“’Father, it will be much less pain for us if you eat of us: you clothed us with this wretched flesh, so do you divest us of it.’ I quieted myself then, so as not to make them sadder; that day and the next we were all mute: ah, hard earth, why did you not open? After we had reached the fourth day, Gaddo threw himself stretched out at my feet, saying: ‘My …show more content…
33.62-63). These lines are similar to the speech of Job: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return tither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.” The reference to the Eucharist is drawn where Ugolino’s sons offer their bodies as food, much as Christ offers his disciples bread at the last supper, saying: “This is my body.” In fact, the poet compares Ugolino’s eating of the head “as bread is eaten by the starving” (Inf. 32. 127). Ugolino even mentions that his sons were “crying in their sleep and asking for bread” (Inf.