Il “tragico” disdegno di Farinata degli Uberti nel canto X dell’Inferno di Dante

Abstract

: Dante’s Inferno presents an essentially non-tragic view of reality based on the Christian concept of Man in his historical and eschatological aspect. Nonetheless, some of Dante’s episodes, like the one of Farinata degli Uberti, appear to contain a certain element of tragedy because of the virtues marking the characters involved, which endow them with a certain nobility, giving rise to an air of tragedy. To examine the nature of this “tragic” quality, I shall invoke Erich Auerbach’s concept of figural realism as applied to Dante’s masterpiece. A character’s life on earth is a prefiguration of his life after death, the fulfilment of his earthly existence concluding his earthly deeds. The soul’s fate post mortem bespeaks the quintessence of its life, the tangible sign of which is its contrappasso. The chief conflict takes place between the character and his fulfilment, but it also generates further conflicts: between the soul’s past on earth and its current condition in Hell; between the qualities that marked it in the past that could objectively be considered virtuous, and its current status amongst the damned, and others. Only in the eyes of sinners are these conflicts seen as tragic, but not from the point of view of Dante the Author, who discredits these conflicts with a variety of rhetorical and stylistic devices. I endeavour to explain the seemingly tragic quality in Farinata degli Uberti, one of the “magnanimous” spirits confined in Hell. At first glance he may seem reminiscent of the heroes of Greek tragedy, but on closer scrutiny his “magnanimity” takes on a sinister quality, and this is how Dante wants his readers to see the connection between Farinata’s perverse political commitment verging on fanaticism, and his sin of heresy, to which Farinata seems to turn a blind eye.