Skip to main content

Thoughts on Canto V~ Logan Turner

 Once again, this post is not going to be particularly profound, but rather an observation that I made while reading Inferno.

One thing that I found to be particularly interesting was the plight of Francesca. She was forced to be in the second circle of Hell after she kissed her husband's younger brother while reading the tale of Lancelot and Guinevere. Of all the things she had to be sent to Hell for, she got sent to Hell for kissing someone? They didn't even consummate the relationship in the 'traditional' way, but yet she still got sent to Hell? I just think that is quite extreme given how minor the act was compared to others she could have committed.

I also find it to be sort of ironic because we often idealize the sort of love stories like the one she was reading, but she got swept up into it and got sent to Hell as a result. In all honesty, the whole time I was reading this I had the image of a high school student comparing their relationship to Romeo and Juliet's. Like the students, she never quite understood the meaning behind the story that they were reading. I guess that is a loose connection, though.

Anyway, those are some barely coherent thoughts I had while reading Inferno.

Edit: Commented on Haylee Lynd's and Caroline Tucker's posts

Comments

  1. Ian BlairMarch 16, 2021 at 7:12 AM

    I think the problem with relationships like Francesca had romanticized is that they just simply never work out. At least, not in the way that one typically hopes a relationship will work out. Having the emotional maturity to understand when a relationship is not working right was not usually found in people at the age that some would marry, which would cause tension between houses of families simply because the parents of the couple tried to rush something that wasn't ready to happen yet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jackson RiddleMarch 16, 2021 at 9:27 AM

    I think part of the reasoning behind Francesca being sent to Hell was that not only did she let her lust consume her, she betrayed her husband and broke the loyalty she had with him through marriage. Also, I agree, it's almost comical to see teenagers compare their love for each other to such extreme examples such as Romeo and Juliet, when in reality what they think is love comes nowhere close to the extremities of Romeo and Juliet's situation.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more