Analysis Of The Book Count Ugolino - 1995 Words

Count Ugolino In the first round of the ninth circle of the Inferno, Virgil and Dante see two spirits pent in the ice; one spirit chews on the head of the other sinner. Dante questions the chewing sinner, and with this the soul lifts his from the other soul’s devoured head, and begins to tell his story (Inf). He introduces himself as Count Ugolino, a nobleman of Pisa, and tells Dante that the other sinner, whom he was gnawing on, is Archbishop Ruggieri. Through a deceitful deception, the Archbishop put Ugolino and his suns in a tower, where they received only a small amount of light each day from a small lancid window in the wall. One day, when Ugolino and his sons were usually brought their food, they heard the door of the tower being†¦show more content†¦Ugolino uses his story’s version as an act of revenge upon the bishop, whom he burns in Hell eternally with revulsion (Franke 31). Dante the Poet shares this story to allow the reader to feel immense sympathy and to stimul ate the reader’s hatred of Ugolino’s tyrant; the suffering father in the story forgets his fate within his agony that he can do nothing for his children or himself. In addition, this suffering was an injustice, which gives the poet the right to be against Pisa (Yate 93). Ugolino’s story has been constantly paired with Paolo and Francesca’s story; both stories arouse deep emotion in anguish, but contrast in Dante the Pilgrim’s reactions and responses to both sinners. Through these stories, Dante indicates human love and human sorrow break through in the Inferno (Yate 95). Ugolino is the father of sorrows that are easy to weep for. As a man of rank as a Count, he is oppressed by a priest, and with this Ugolino becomes an emotional and liberty-loving English lord (Yate 99). However, Ugolino is filled with rage, which persuades him to gnaw at his oppressor’s skull. Dante seems to use this episode as a narrative of revenge, exposing Dante the Poe t’s weakness in his god-like personality. He thereby produces a narrative of the damning of sin in expressing his own anger (Franke 27). Between the two haters, they share absolutely no pity, as there was towards Francesca and her lover. Ugolino and Ruggieri rage with