The Image of Hell in Canto V, Dante and Virgil
In Canto V of the Inferno, amongst many other souls that have been sentenced to this lustful circle of Hell, we find that Tristan has been condemned to never-ending torment in Hell. In Canto V, Dante and Virgil enter the second circle of Hell; this circle appears to be smaller than all the other circles. Circle II accounts for the beginning of Hell, where the true punishments begin, and Minos, the mythological king of Crete, examines each damned soul that sits in this circle and makes judgment. In addition, this canto begins to explain the circles that are devoted to the sins of incontinence: the sins of uncontrolled appetites, the sins of self-indulgence, and the sins of carnal passion. Minos does not want to admit to Dante that he is still capable of redemption until Virgil forces him to do so. In Hell, a person is judged by the standards of the society in which they had lived in. During the classical times, suicide was considered to be a sin; however, adultery was considered just as great a sin as it broke one of the ten commandments; thus, it was believed that the gods would punish someone who committed adultery for having sex with someone who was forbidden.It was also believed that the spirit of the person who sinned was judged; therefore, that person was also prone to be punished by the Gods. In Hell, sinners relive all the sins for which they were originally damned, and they remain the same throughout eternity; that is that the soul is depicted in Hell with the same sins and traits as it originally was condemned with.Various times Dante responds with sympathy or pity as he hears the cries of these lost and damned souls. In this lustful circle of Hell, Dante encounters Tristan’s damned soul. Tristan is the nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, and becomes adulterous lovers with Isolde, his Lord's fiancée, after they both drink a magic love potion. After drinking the love potion, both Tristan and Isolde have sex numerous times, but they do not want to get caught. As a result of Tristan drinking the love potion, Dante, the poet, places his soul in this lustful circle of Hell as it makes it not only treason, but also incest to sleep with the Lord’s wife. Lastly, Dante, the poet, places his soul in this lustful circle of Hell and sentences him to everlasting torment for having committed this act of adultery. Yet, during the time that Tristan took the love potion, it is believed that he was conscious of his own immoral actions. Thus, Tristan was conscious of the sinful nature of his love affair with Isolde, which accounts for Dante’s decision to sentence him to everlasting torment in hell.
In Tristan by Gottfried Von Strassburg, the ancient romance of Tristan and Isolde causes them to act in a way in which they would have been shunned for their actions. In this romance, love changes the dynamics of intoxication and its power, whether shared as a couple or entirely alone, the lust is accounted for during the act of consumption. The love potion is an essential element in the romance story of Tristan and Isolde as it symbolizes and conveys the message that their love for one another is strong and powerful. The love potion encourages both Tristan and Isolde to sacrifice anything to be together, including any judgments they were prone to receive, “Meanwhile Isolde and her lover passed the time in varied pleasures. They had their joy morning and night, for nobody had any suspicion. No man or woman thought there was anything amiss here, for Isolde was wholly in Tristan’s keeping and she did as she thought fit”. Additionally, their love for each other was so strong that nothing else mattered more than to be in each other’s arms. Isolde was to be married to the king, who was of a higher class than Tristan will ever be. No one knew of their secret affair, as a matter of fact they kept engaging in sexual acts but did not want to get caught. As a result, Isolde ordered Bragane, her servant as well as her cousin, to be killed because she was the only one who knew of Tristian and Isolde’s love affair secret, “Since none but Brangane knew the secret of her subterfuge, she need have little fear for her honour in future, once Brangane were gone. But now she lived in great fear and she dreaded keenly lest Brangane, perhaps loving Mark, might divulge her shameful deed to him”. Tristian and Isolde had their love affair all planned out; Tristan went sneaking around behind everyone’s back, therefore, Tristian was conscious and deserving of the punishment. If Tristan had not taken the love potion, his love for Isolde would not have resulted in the horrific level it did which resulted in Tristian’s actions making him lose his self dignity and respect for his uncle. But at last, Tristan was free to express his love for his beloved after all the suppression, which symbolizes the power that love and death have,”My adorable Isolde were to go on being the death of me in this fashion I would woo death everlasting. When all is said, if we pursue pleasure it cannot remain so without our having to suffer pain as well “. The love potion frees Tristan from his duties as it gave him an escape to express his true feelings for Isolde. At last, Tristan and Isolde’s free will to take the love potion allows them to finally be able to show their feelings for one another before their intended death.
Tristan being a trickster figure and always lying to the reader about situations, and the fact that he has the love potion makes matters worst because he engages in sexual acts with his Lord’s wife, which makes it not only treason but also incest to sleep with the Lord’s wife. Isolde and Tristan drink the love potion, but they keep having sex secretly. Tristan eventually marries Isolde and constructs a cave of love. Tristan refuses to have sex with Isolde and makes a statue of the original Isolde due to remorse for her lost. Thus, leaving Tristan to be punished for engaging in sexual acts with someone he was not supposed to. Therefore, he is punished for not having physical relationships with his wife since their wedding night. In folklore origins, we can account that this is a manifestation of the separation that he has from the woman that he loves, which is Isolde. Moreover, Tristan has a specific kind of sickness within a particular place, and Isolde is the only one who can cure him. As a result, this might be some metaphorical abstraction for impotence, but at this point she is the only one that can save him. Tristan's wife finds out that there is someone else who also happens to be named Isolde that Tristan has been engaging in sexual acts with. Isolde becomes angry at Tristan after she finds out that he is engaging in sexual acts with another woman that is not her. Isolde overhears the message of anguish that Tristan is sick, and she goes to help him. Finally, Tristan dies because he knows that Isolde is not going to show up, so he ends up dying in his bed.
Dante, the poet, places Tristan in the lustful circle of Hell because of him having committed adultery, which is one of the ten commandments, but it is the lowest level because it is a perversion of love, and love is a virtue which God is all about. As a result, Tristan is forced to make love with Isolde for all eternity, but like everyone else in this circle of lust, they are unhappy and have to stay with the person that put them in Hell forever. In addition, everyone who is part of this lustful circle of Hell is all being whipped around and are forced to sleep with each other for eternity. However, people become tired of one another and come into a realization of what they have done wrong in the first place that have caused them to be placed in this circle. A strong wind is making these people who are placed in this circle fly around super fast naked in the air, which is ironic as it is showing them how pointless their deeds were. Thus, the souls in this circle of Hell are punished as they are prevented from being able to find peace and rest. Tristan and Isolde commit fraud as they snuck around and tricked King Mark into thinking that they were not sticking his sword in between them when they were sleeping. Dante despises frauds and puts Tristan and Isolde in the lowest parts of Hell. Subsequently, Dante in Hell only focuses on Tristian having committed the act of adultery and not all the constant lying and deception he has done, instead of his trickery ways of getting back into the kingdom and just living in happiness with Isolde. During Dante’s journey in Hell, he accounts that sin must be punished because it goes against God and the perfection of the world. Sin prevents one from being able to repent and come to a realization and take accountability for engaging in wrong deeds.
Dante’s reasons for placing Tristan in Hell are justified because adultery or lustfulness ought to be one of the sins of incontinence. Tristan, after taking the love potion, did not hesitate in his actions. He showed consciousness in what he was doing, and his only concern was expressing his love for Isolde. Nothing else mattered, not even the reputation he had taken so long to build,”Love is so blissful, so blessed an endeavor, that apart from its teaching none attains worth or reputation.“ Tristan’s only concern was to be able to die in the arms of his beloved and express his love for her. Tristan was only concerned with being free at last to express his love for Isolde,” Isolde my mistress, Isolde my beloved, in you my life, in you my death”.Tristan, when taking the love potion, loses conscious control of his desires, falling under a wicked spell. Dante envisions hell as a place where sinners failed to repent for their sins. Tristan, after committing adultery, not once repents for his wrong deeds. Tristan’s lust for Isolde provoked him into committing the act of adultery. Tristan's deep affection for Isolde represents that he is guilty of sin, as he represents a man who is only concerned with the woman he loves. Tristan’s love for Isolde was his heaven and now has become his hell. Consequently, Tristan loved Isolde on earth, and now he is bound to love her through all eternity in Hell. Tristan represents the sin of this circle, and carnal lust for his forbidden love with his Lord’s wife is weakness of his will, and falling from conscience is what indeed led him to be in his lustful circle of Hell. Tristan’s actions resorted to his never-ending torment in hell among the many other souls who are placed in his lustful circle of hell and are ought to suffer the punishment that comes along with sinning. For this reason, Dante reacts to Tristan’s forbidden romance with Isolde, and his betrayal of his uncle King Mark, of sleeping with his wife, and punishes him without pity and places him in Hell for eternity.
In conclusion, in Dante’s Inferno, Dante places Tristan in the second lustful circle of hell amongst many other adulterers whom souls are accounted for in this circle. Tristan’s forbidden desire for Isolde resulted in the notion that love controlled his actions causing him to be deprived of his free will. Tristan’s abundant love for Isolde is what drove his desire to commit the sin of adultery, which became his ultimate passion. Tristan’s love for Isolde symbolizes a driving force that Tristan could not resist indicating that his reputation nor nothing else matters to him other than the love he had for Isolde. His self ability to resist temptation in engaging in sexual acts with Isolde did not allow him to be able to control his desires, thus not enabling him to maintain freedom within his free will. Tristan’s everlasting love for Isolde is what caused him to commit the sin of adultery. Tristan having committed adultery attests to the notion that Tristan was not able to live in accordance with God’s will as he broke one of the ten commandments, which justifies Dante’s reasoning for placing Tristan in hell as he is unable to repent and lament over his sin of committing adultery. Thus, Tristan is not able to reach the afterlife and his soul is commended forever in hell. Nevertheless, Tristan’s lustful love for Isolde takes over his sexual appetites causing him to suffer in hell for not correctly living in accordance with his will. However, if only Tristan did not engage in drinking the love potion, his love for Isolde would not have resulted in him committing adultery and being placed in Hell. All of this brings closer to the conclusion that Dante puts Tristan in the lustful circle of Hell since Tristan lost conscious control over his actions, which resulted in him falling under a trap of temptation under the spell of his drives.
Works Cited
- Alighieri, Dante, and Mark Musa. The Divine Comedy. Penguin Books, 2003.
- Strassburg, Gottfried Von. Tristan: Translated Entire for the First Time, with the Surviving Fragments of the Tristran of Thomas. Penguin, 2004.
