Divine Justice - Dante's Inferno and the Song of Roland

Dante's Inferno and The Song of Roland

Introduction

Do certain sins carry greater punishment? Is the Muslim faith less morally sound than the Christian faith? Injustice is embedded in human nature yielding to the view that God is perfectly just. Redemption, atonement, and punishment, faithfulness and loyalty are metaphorically defined as divine justice, the significant theme in the Inferno and the Song of Roland. In the Inferno each circle of sin is symbolic of justice. The divine justice being indicative of the sin committed. Inferno is about Dante being led through the circles of hell by the Virgil. Within each circle, he is taken through the stages, which begin from that of punishment of the inhabitants. They are punished of the sins they are most guilty of, contributing to the theme of justice. Dante's Satan is portrayed to be ugly and impotent. In Tobias's "O vendetta di dio" Tobias argues that in Dante's Inferno, the descent of Christ into hell sometime between Crucifixion and Resurrection was a major theme in the Divine Comedy (Tobias, 2005). He is trapped in the ice that is created by the constant flapping of his own wings. The Satan has nothing useful that could appeal even to the rebellious young adults. While in The Song of Roland, In the Song of Roland good versus evil symbolize justice. Vassalage, God's will, man's place on earth and duty are notable in the key theme of the poem, divine justice . In the two stories, people are forced to go on a journey within themselves in order to overcome fears and the dark shadows affecting their lives according to the wills of God (The Song of Rolland) and Satan (Inferno), exemplifying justice. As justice is carried out by God and the feudal system, even in Hell, one's fate of eternity is being determined based on the choices we make according to our faith.

The Benevolent God in Inferno is portrayed to be the all-powerful and all-good; the same is assumed by the medieval characters in The Song of Roland. All the characters in Inferno assume that God intervenes in all events. This proves reasonable to believe, for example, when it was decided at Ganelon's trial that it should be done by combat. It is for duty that Charlemagne went to fight against the forces of Islam. A Christian by calling, Ganelon commits treason against his 'brothers," the Frank army. A matter of choice, Ganelon opts for sin, knowing his ability and potential for doing good, as did Cain and Judas. In the article, Fitz calls Roland an imitatio christi (imitation of Christ) and that Ganelon's rejection of Roland is also his rejection of Christianity (Fitz 817). The sense of duty made Roland fight to death at the battle in Rencesvals All these characters are forced by the inner desire to take a journey within themselves.

The Song of Roland, on the other hand, is valuable epic that takes place during the time of the Crusaders. The poem talks of the years in which the valiant Christian King was fighting against Saracens in Spain, but only one stronghold Muslem remained. The city was under the rule of King Marsile of Saragossa. Certain that the defeat was inevitable, the king hatched a plot to raid Spain in order to be a Christian covert in exchange for the Charlemagne's departure.

From the theme of good and evil, we are able to realize how humans are taking journeys within themselves so as to be good or evil. As it is shown in The Song of Roland, evil is brought out to be pure and simple in terms of wars and styles (Cook, 1987). We are not able to see the horror of war in its intensity due to the ambiguous moral justification. Here, heroes are not deterred by compassion for the enemy, but by the glamour of war. The cost of war is heavy, but it is only experienced by the heroes. The villains, on the other hand, neither deserve compassion nor grief. The Franks, according to The Song of Roland, represent pure good in the heart of man and are moved by the will of God (Haidu, 1993). The Saracens here are depicted to be evil, and when they die, it is portrayed that their souls are dragged down to hell by the devil.

On the contrary, in Inferno, unhappiness is brought about by human desire and arises from God's separation. Free human beings live in misery, but God takes them to state of happiness. This proves how God creates happiness in the man's life. The story contributes much to this purpose through the embodiment of the theme that separates love from divinity. It is said that love moves the sun and the stars and leads inevitably to unhappiness. Thus, the more one chooses to harm others in an attempt to get happiness in Inferno, the further one draws away from the real love and all that brings happiness. In essence, these people act focusing on ego instead of divine love. Ego-centeredness, according to Inferno, rots and corrupts individuals and society as a whole.

The war in The Song of Roland is in the end not a holy mission but the issue of loyalty and vassalage. It touches on heroism and is based on feudal ideas, and as such, even pagans are considered heroes in the poem since they are evaluated in terms of vassalage and loyalty as a measure of justice. This system of ideology links lords and vassals with a chain of obligations and devotion. In the poem, it is evident that a vassal gave its loyalty in exchange for vengeance and protection should it be killed in service for its lord. The vassal is depicted to be parallel to Christianity, and, thus, Roland's ultimate liege is God. The vassal is serving Charlemagne and fulfills Roland's duties as a Christian. This is also an illustration of man's will in this journey. On the other hand, hell is embodied in the theme of unhappiness in Inferno. Franke argues that Dante's Inferno demands to be