The Divine Comedy: the “Canto towards the third ring of the seventh circle of hell: the burning sands. It is here that blasphemers, sodomites and usurers are locked up for their eternal punishment. Dante and Virgil walk along a narrow stone path and when they reach the point where the forest can no longer be seen, they spot a group of damned souls running towards them. Among these souls is Brunetto Latini, Dante's old teacher, and Dante is both happy and disheartened to see him in this state. Brunetto asks to speak to him but admits that part of his eternal punishment is that he cannot stop moving lest he wish to spend a hundred years lying in the sand and unable to wipe the brutal rain of fire from his skin. Dante moves along the path with Brunetto pulling at the hem, the two discuss Dante's journey through the nine circles of hell which Brunetto encourages him to continue to reach heaven. He laments his early death, falsely believing that if he had lived longer he might not only have supported Dante in his work as a poet but also seen his literary achievements achieve greater fame, thus making him a great man and immortalizing him. After naming a few other sinners within this circle, all respected men, Brunetto identifies another group of sodomites with whom he is not permitted to have contact. He rushes to catch up with his group and is so far behind that it seems to Dante that he is the first. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Interestingly, the term sodomy is never mentioned in this canto but is instead clarified in "Canto XI" by Virgil when he mentions the cities of Sodom and Cahors in the context of his explanations of the sin of violence against Nature and God. The city of Sodom is where the term sodomy comes from, referring to the biblical account of Genesis 19, and is used in modern English to refer almost exclusively to the relationships of homosexual men. In 1300, however, this term had not yet been coined nor was Genesis 19 interpreted solely as a condemnation of homosexual relationships. With this in mind, in this essay I will explore Dante's interpretation of the biblical tale in comparison to other interpretations of the same, as well as how “Canto XV” of the Inferno translates into artistic work, ultimately concluding that what gives meaning to the singing is not the original intention. but rather what readers absorb from it. Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–29) tells the story of two angels who during their visit to the city of Sodom are severely mistreated by all the citizens except Lot and his family. While hosted by Lot, the citizens come to him and ask Lot to “bring [the angels] out [to them], [so] that [they] may know them.” In the Bible, the action of “knowing” refers to carnal knowledge and sometimes denotes sexual behavior, but the story of Sodom and Gomorrah makes no effort to explicitly state that the sin in question was homosexuality. Because of this lack of clarification, numerous alternative interpretations have emerged, including that the men were betraying or trying to humiliate their hosts, engaging in bestiality, or hoping to acquire the sacred abilities of angels through sexual contact. concept of lack of hospitality, the ancient Jewish culture described in Genesis placed great emphasis on the importance of neighborhood, so the practice of having sexual relations with anon-consenting visitor would have been considered an act of extreme violence and therefore an act against God. It is unlikely, however, that Dante would have used this interpretation as the Sodomites would therefore have needed to be placed in the ninth circle of hell along with those who they committed a treacherous fraud against the guests. Possibilities of other forms of sin arise with the interpretation of Sodom in Ezekiel 16 stating that "[Sodom] and his daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and ease, but he did not help the poor and needy", implying greed and gluttony. Once again Dante did not place the sodomites among the incontinent gluttons or the misers of circles three and four, but rather in the seventh circle indicated as 'violence' with murderers, suicides, blasphemers and usurers. Separate from “violence against others” and “violence against self,” the sins of sodomites are classified as “violence against God.” They are equally condemned as those who spoke of God sacrilegiously and those who lent money and charged unreasonably high interest rates, thus wasting productive capacity meant to be used to emulate God's goodness. This concept of unproductive behavior is critical when exploring sodomy as a sexual sin. Aside from the possibility that Dante interpreted sodomy as a sin of betrayal or incontinence, the idea of ​​sodomy as a sexual sin is worth exploring. The idea of ​​the act as bestiality is taken into consideration when recognizing the fact that angels would technically be a different species from man, as stated in Jude 1:7 of the New Standard American Bible translation "Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around to them, for they, even as they indulged in gross immorality and followed strange flesh, are set forth as an example in suffering the punishment of eternal fire.” Here the term 'strange flesh' refers to the bodies of angels, but it is unclear whether this is strange because of their sacred nature or because they are presented as men. Regardless of whether or not this is a reference to bestiality or homosexuality, the problem in Genesis times would have been the same: no reproduction. Having children was of extreme importance in Dante's time, and male sexual relations would have been seen as behavior that failed to lead to family expansion and therefore an act of sterility. This is where we see the connection between murderers, suicides, blasphemers and loan sharks as all their actions fail to result in productive progress. Despite the lack of a direct reference to homosexuality, there is a connection between Dante and Brunetto Latini that falls into this realm of sterility. At the time Dante lived it was not unheard of for relationships to exist between an older man and a younger man, especially in terms of learned associations. While Dante may not be referring to a male-male relationship between himself and Brunetto Latini, it is not entirely unlikely that what he is emphasizing is their collective obsession with their poetic work rather than devotion to God and what is considered a "natural" behavior. . Similarly to what the Bible interpreted as the sterility of homosexual relationships, the literary achievements of Brunetto Latini and Dante could not be what they were allowed to immortalize. The concept of creative fulfillment, being what defines a person, resonates strongly within the artistic movements of the time. 20th century. Robert Rauschenberg is a great example of this as a neo-Dada painter who pioneers developments within the art scene. As a gay artist, Rauschenberg had a unique perspective on Dante's Inferno, particularly in terms of comparisons between him and BrunettoLatinos as he also maintained a half-professional, half-personal relationship with the young gay artist Jasper Johns. In Rauschenberg's work Canto Since sodomites are the sinners forced to walk on burning sand while the other two sit or lie down, Rauschenberg equates himself with whatever sin they represent. Despite the fact that the relationship between him and John and their artistic endeavors matches well with that of Brunetto and Dante, it is very likely that, due to the popularity of "don't ask-don't-tell" art, this is a reference to his hidden sexuality. The solvent transfers of athletic-looking men and the repetition of a man wearing only a towel reference Dante's comparison of Sodomites to professional wrestlers in "Canto XVI", in an attempt to capture the idea that there is a clear difference between male-male contact of a sexual nature and one of sportsmanship. Rauschenberg's portrayal, however, leans more toward an obsession with one's sexuality and a combination of sport and sexual attraction than toward an effort to separate the two. The selected transfers are significant in that their inclusion activates an association of the male physique with gay erotic culture, particularly in the form of sports pornography. In this case, the images were used as a method of making a thoughtful statement that validates the reality of what might otherwise be swept under the rug: the fact that gay men exist, and that they exist in every social group, including athletics . This element of the piece works in an interesting contrast to the professional wrestler comparison in “Canto XVI” as it essentially confirms what Dante is trying to ignore. Although there are several ways to interpret this section of the Divine Comedy, whether directly from references to the Bible or from Dante's depiction of the sin of the Sodomites, Rauschenberg took the singing scenes as an opportunity to express himself in a manner of self-expression. criticizes through his bold personal insertion. Another image that takes a unique stance on the events of "Canto XV" is Tom Phillips Canto , his body covered in red marks presumably from the constant rain of fire down across the burning sands. The year the piece was created, however, was the first time the United States began to see the development of rare diseases in young gay men due to immunosuppression caused by the HIV virus. Along with this risk of a wide range of infections were various types of sores and skin lesions, many of which appeared in shapes similar to those shown on Brunetto's body. Although this work differs from Rauschenberg's in that Tom Phillips has never publicly stated that he is gay, he is still actively engaged with the events of the world around him in correlation with interpretations of the Divine Comedy. From these two pieces in conversation, it becomes clear that regardless of whether Dante's intention was to portray sodomites as homosexuals, the artists took the liberty of making the connection themselves. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay Based on that research, the production of artistic works depicting Sodomites as.