Dante and Florence: the Rupture of an Umbilical Cord
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2238-8281.i43p51-64Keywords:
Florence, Maternal role, Exile, Rope, Umbilical cordAbstract
This article proposes an interpretation for an episode of the Divine comedy that took place in Canto XVI of Inferno and that is considered as a "hermeneutic knot" by one of Dante Alighieri's commentators (MATTALIA, 1980 [1960]). It is the moment when Virgilio asks Dante to release the rope he has tied to his waist so, with it, they can attract the monster Gerione and get his help to take them to another compartment of the seventh circle. This episode coincides more or less with different turning points in Dante's journey: from fearful to brave, from dependent to autonomous, from infant to mature, from complacent to inflexible. Virgilio, who asks Dante to release the rope, is often associated with the maternal role. We suggest, therefore, that the rope may represent the umbilical cord between Dante and Virgílio that is cut for the growth of the first. And, going forward in the allegorical interpretation, that such a rupture represents, ultimately, the one of Dante with his mother Florence, which occurred due to exile. Because of this rupture, Dante will effectively reach the emotional and intellectual maturity that will place him in the cultural tradition of the West.
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