Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) takes his readers on a pilgrimage through what he calls the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (ostensibly Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, originally titled Commedia. This paper concentrates exclusively on Dante’s contemporaries, those people who lived during his lifetime, and examines his possible motivation for targeting enemy Ghibellines, Black Guelphs, treacherous White Guelphs, corrupt popes, and others who either crossed him or caused him trouble. He vindictively used his masterpiece to lash out at his contemporary enemies, exacting retribution against many who angered him in his lifetime or otherwise offended his religious, political, civic or personal sensibilities, thus revealing a hidden sin, Wrath. Dante deviously groups contemporary characters in such a way as to arrive at a larger and more sinister point, that people from Bologna, Pistoia, Siena, Pisa, Genoa and even his beloved Florence, should be reviled or exterminated. He vindictively roots for ethnic cleansing. The lower construction of Dante’s Hell appears to have little to do with Christian theology but, rather, is a contrivance to house his detested enemies and give him personal revenge. Dante’s wrath for his contemporaries may have inspired much of the Inferno, making the poem far less Divine.
","abstract_html":"<p>Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) takes his readers on a pilgrimage through what he calls the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (ostensibly Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, originally titled Commedia. This paper concentrates exclusively on Dante’s contemporaries, those people who lived during his lifetime, and examines his possible motivation for targeting enemy Ghibellines, Black Guelphs, treacherous White Guelphs, corrupt popes, and others who either crossed him or caused him trouble. He vindictively used his masterpiece to lash out at his contemporary enemies, exacting retribution against many who angered him in his lifetime or otherwise offended his religious, political, civic or personal sensibilities, thus revealing a hidden sin, Wrath. Dante deviously groups contemporary characters in such a way as to arrive at a larger and more sinister point, that people from Bologna, Pistoia, Siena, Pisa, Genoa and even his beloved Florence, should be reviled or exterminated. He vindictively roots for ethnic cleansing. The lower construction of Dante’s Hell appears to have little to do with Christian theology but, rather, is a contrivance to house his detested enemies and give him personal revenge. Dante’s wrath for his contemporaries may have inspired much of the Inferno, making the poem far less Divine.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Rupers, Michael J."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"Graduate Humanities","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sister Aaron Winkelman, PhD","Leslie Ross, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:04:35Z","subjects":["Dante Alighieri","Divine Comedy","Inferno","Wrath","Contemporaries","Vindictive","Classical Literature and Philology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.dominican.edu/masters-theses/214","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Sister Aaron Winkelman, PhD","Leslie Ross, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Rupers, Michael J."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["1970-01-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Graduate Humanities"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Dante Alighieri","Divine Comedy","Inferno","Wrath","Contemporaries","Vindictive","Classical Literature and Philology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/masters-theses/214"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) takes his readers on a pilgrimage through what he calls the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (ostensibly Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, originally titled Commedia. This paper concentrates exclusively on Dante’s contemporaries, those people who lived during his lifetime, and examines his possible motivation for targeting enemy Ghibellines, Black Guelphs, treacherous White Guelphs, corrupt popes, and others who either crossed him or caused him trouble. He vindictively used his masterpiece to lash out at his contemporary enemies, exacting retribution against many who angered him in his lifetime or otherwise offended his religious, political, civic or personal sensibilities, thus revealing a hidden sin, Wrath. Dante deviously groups contemporary characters in such a way as to arrive at a larger and more sinister point, that people from Bologna, Pistoia, Siena, Pisa, Genoa and even his beloved Florence, should be reviled or exterminated. He vindictively roots for ethnic cleansing. The lower construction of Dante’s Hell appears to have little to do with Christian theology but, rather, is a contrivance to house his detested enemies and give him personal revenge. Dante’s wrath for his contemporaries may have inspired much of the Inferno, making the poem far less Divine.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Dante’s Hidden Sin - Wrath: How Dante Vindictively Used The Inferno Against Contemporaries"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Sister Aaron Winkelman, PhD","Leslie Ross, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Rupers, Michael J."],"dc:date.available":["1970-01-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) takes his readers on a pilgrimage through what he calls the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (ostensibly Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, originally titled Commedia. This paper concentrates exclusively on Dante’s contemporaries, those people who lived during his lifetime, and examines his possible motivation for targeting enemy Ghibellines, Black Guelphs, treacherous White Guelphs, corrupt popes, and others who either crossed him or caused him trouble. He vindictively used his masterpiece to lash out at his contemporary enemies, exacting retribution against many who angered him in his lifetime or otherwise offended his religious, political, civic or personal sensibilities, thus revealing a hidden sin, Wrath. Dante deviously groups contemporary characters in such a way as to arrive at a larger and more sinister point, that people from Bologna, Pistoia, Siena, Pisa, Genoa and even his beloved Florence, should be reviled or exterminated. He vindictively roots for ethnic cleansing. The lower construction of Dante’s Hell appears to have little to do with Christian theology but, rather, is a contrivance to house his detested enemies and give him personal revenge. Dante’s wrath for his contemporaries may have inspired much of the Inferno, making the poem far less Divine.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/masters-theses/214"],"dc:subject":["Dante Alighieri","Divine Comedy","Inferno","Wrath","Contemporaries","Vindictive","Classical Literature and Philology"],"dc:title":["Dante’s Hidden Sin - Wrath: How Dante Vindictively Used The Inferno Against Contemporaries"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Graduate Humanities"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:04:35Z"}