Dante’s portrayal of Hell in the Inferno is unlike anything any author had ever portrayed Hell to be up until this time. Many argue that this portrayal is an undisputed masterpiece of visual and symbolic imagery, created not only by the vast use of figurative language, but by the physical descriptions Dante includes in his work as well. The most prominent demonstration of Dante’s skill with combining both sensory and figurative language in Inferno occurs in Canto XIV. In this Canto Dante and Virgil are crossing a river encircled by large stones. Virgil tells Dante with remarkable detail the story of the statue seen in the distance, buried in Mount Ida on the island of Crete.
While reading Virgil’s narration, the reader is also challenged and absorbed by the powerful images Dante includes of the landscape while gradually becoming aware of the basic metaphorical meaning and realizes that the scenes portrayed here tell the story of the fall of man and his consequential misery on Earth. Interestingly, Dante uses Virgil in this Canto to convey to the reader a heightened feeling of uncertainty, wonder, and appreciation while he describes the origins of the statue.
There are two significant images in the story Virgil is telling Dante in this passage; however, a third image that may go unnoticed by the reader comes right from the landscape surrounding the two as they walk along on their voyage. The river, which the duo use as a direct path through the barren underworld, could originally have been interpreted as just part of the environment Dante is in. Dante, however, draws a comparison to a river he is familiar with in Italy, being an Italian poet. Though this first image is of course not too helpful for the modern reader, it might have been significant to Dante’s colleagues originally reading this. Finally, Dante describes the river itself, surrounded by the stones, and reveals that he and Virgil intend to use is as a bridge to cross the landscape. Dante states:
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“In silence we reached a place
Where gushing from the woods a small stream poured
So red that it still makes me shudder. As issues that stream
from Bulicame that is shared
Among the prostitutes, so this brook flowed
Down and across the sand. It was stone-floored;
Stone lined both banks and the margins on each side;
And I could see that this would be our route.” (XIV. 61-68)
At first glance, this picture may appear as any other Dante’s work: strange and foreign; depicted in words that may make somewhat understandable to the human reader while keeping the horrible and slightly disturbing imagery. An important observation can be made at the end of Virgil’s narration, however. Virgil mentions that this river is not of made with regular water, but it’s made by the tears which fall and run off the statue in Mt. Ida, the large mountain that stands in the distance of Dante and Virgil. With this, Virgil’s portrayal of the scene is incredibly symbolic.
Dante sees that the color of these tears is red and thinks of the simple yet powerful and appropriate image of blood. This second image could possibly suggest that the tears emanate from statue’s heart, either in pity or in pain for the sins that have brought down mankind. Virgil also explains that the single stream from the statue will separate and become the three famous rivers of Hell, which could also be the finals symbol in this description: a symbol of the Holy Trinity.
Yet another brilliant use of imagery in this Canto by Dante is Virgil’s description of the ancient statue that stands deep within Mount Ida. This scene is unquestionably one of the most detailed in the Inferno, and its metaphorical explanation, though often vague and shrouded in uncertainty, is explained a bit in the ‘Notes’ provided in the Pinsky translation. Once again, the picture Dante creates in the reader’s mind is clear and moving: due primarily to Virgil’s superb use of a tangible representation mixed with the emotional imagery of the statue’s falling tears:
“Within the mountain stands an immense Old Man,
Who turns his back toward Damietta, to hold
His gaze on Rome as on his mirror: of fine
Gold is his head, pure silver his arms and breast;
Down to the fork is brass, and from there down
The choicest iron comprises all the rest
But the right foot, of clay baked hard as brick:
On it, more weight than on the left is pressed.
Every part but the gold head bears a crack,
A fissure dripping tears that collect and force
Their passage down the cavern from rock to rock
Into the valley’s depth, where as a source
They form the Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon.” (XIV. 86-98)
It appears Virgil doesn’t forget anything in this passage: the careful position of the man in the ‘core’ of the mountain, his motionless expression, and even his slight leaning to the right come together to form a memorable image in the mind of every reader. This image isn’t left to rest alone, however. Instead, Virgil touches on the pain and gloom of the statue, cracked by ‘a fissure dripping tears down to his feet,’ which conjures a touching and powerful image of the weeping sinner lamenting his fate. In addition to Virgil’s words and the statue being symbol for the fall of man, the progression from gold to silver and finally to brass could represent the deterioration of mankind’s moral standards. The fissure which breaks the statue apart could be a symbol of sin itself as well, splitting man up and causing him such pain and grief upon death and entrance into Hell.
The final imagery that appears in this passage is encompassed by Virgil speaking to Dante. Here Virgil tries to communicate a scene that Dante suggests is indescribable and practically unfathomable for mortal beings. In doing this he is forced to use images beyond the range of human feeling. The river of tears falling from the crevice in the statue continues its descent into Hell, splitting into the three distinct waters; as they make their way down, the Virgil says, ‘until, where all descending has been done, the form Cocytus” (XIV. 100-101).
Portraying this image beyond the capabilities of human imagination, as its stated that Cocytus is the very pit of Hell, the imagery of Virgil here is understandably no longer as understandable as it was in the previous scenes. Nonetheless, Virgil’s attempted grasp at the intangible succeeds, as the readers and Dante can begin to comprehend the final location of the stone-surrounded body of water whose path Dante and Virgil continue to follow.
In addition to the imagery and symbolism of the land, however, is Virgil’s identity as the spirit of a dead. As a soul no longer allowed to live a mortal life, Virgil can understand the surrounding events and scenes in a way that Dante cannot. Virgil, as a poet, has the ability to express and explain these oddities through the use of language, and since he was once human, can communicate his knowledge in a manner that other humans like Dante along with the readers will understand.
The narrative viewpoint of Virgil produces yet another reaction in the reader. In the section before his account of the island of Crete along with the ancient statue there, Virgil points out the river which Dante has already discovered and announces quite seriously:
“Since first we entered through that open gate
Whose threshold no one ever is denied,
Nothing your eyes have seen is so worth note
As this present stream which quenches in its flood
All of the flames above it.” (XIV. 70-74)
These words of astonishment and respect come from one who has ‘seen it all,’ in one way, yet still find the river one of the most moving sights in Hell. Dante’s curiosity now comes into play, as he cleverly pokes at the urge to discover the enthralling details hidden behind the scenes. More importantly, however, are the emotions that Virgil exposes. The reader’s own perception of events, inevitably follow from such rich imagery supplied by this poet, increasing the admiration, shock, and pity for the character. Virgil’s speech satisfies Dante’s thirst for knowledge, but his promise is not an empty one: his explanations satisfy the resulting desire for clarification and reflect Dante’s success in combining powerful symbolic language with gorgeous visual imagery.
Inferno by Dante is packed with vibrant language and strikingly beautiful imagery and symbolism, yet one of the most prominent can be seen in Canto XIV. In this Canto, Virgil and Dante discover the statue lodged in Mount Ida. Virgil and Dante stop as Virgil explains the meaning behind this statue; the cracked face, the material the physical statue is made from, and its origin. Though the statue is just as it appears, a statue, Dante implores his readers to look beyond the bare basics of words and into a world that words alone don’t do the imagery in his work any justice.
In this one Canto alone, Dante and Virgil explore the fall of man, the sins they endured, and other monumental symbolic images that just this statue represents. Virgil is also said to represent something other than just Dante’s caretaker and escort through Hell; he, being a poet as Dante is, is able to describe the landscape and scenery with the same passion that Dante has for the language, while also being able to use his words to allow the readers an understanding of the unimaginable, horrendous, gruesome, and just downright awful images the lost souls of sinners must endure in Hell for all eternity.
