Alighieri shows hostility towards Filippo Argenti, who was a Black Guelph and Alighieri’s political enemy, through Dante’s diction and reaction. Upon encountering Argenti while crossing the Styx, Dante asks who the sinner is, “But you, who are you, so fallen and so foul?’” (VIII, 35). Alighieri purposely chooses words with demoralizing connotations like fallen, which means degrading and immoral, and foul, which implies grossly offensive in a moral sense, to address his enemy, showing how much he looks down to Argenti. Dante’s reaction to Filippo Argenti marks a sudden departure from his previous sympathy for the damned, poking fun at the sinner, calling not only him a “hell-dog,” but the rest of the Wrathfuls so, “Down! Down! with the other dogs!” (VIII, 40-41), which
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And certainly, by labelling the sinners as dogs, Dante is reminding that if one ignores his logic and succumb to his animalistic desire, he is failing God and wasting the gifts that he granted. Soon after identifying the sinner as Filippo Argento, in rage, Dante asks Virgil to grant his whim, “to see the wretched scrubbed down into the swill before we leave this stinking sink and him’” (VIII, 50-51), which Virgil happily gratifies it. So when Argenti is immediately attacked by the other Wrathfuls, the fact that Dante “praise[s] and thank[s] God for it” (VIII, 57), proves that This again reinforces the concept of divine justice by showing that the cruel and unusual punishments that Dante designed are not merely to shock onlookers. Using contrapasso, which means justice in which one’s crime is used to punish him, Dante makes the Wrathfuls attack each other; and consequently, only Filippo Argenti is being targeted, just as Alighieri was targeted and exiled by the other
And certainly, by labelling the sinners as dogs, Dante is reminding that if one ignores his logic and succumb to his animalistic desire, he is failing God and wasting the gifts that he granted. Soon after identifying the sinner as Filippo Argento, in rage, Dante asks Virgil to grant his whim, “to see the wretched scrubbed down into the swill before we leave this stinking sink and him’” (VIII, 50-51), which Virgil happily gratifies it. So when Argenti is immediately attacked by the other Wrathfuls, the fact that Dante “praise[s] and thank[s] God for it” (VIII, 57), proves that This again reinforces the concept of divine justice by showing that the cruel and unusual punishments that Dante designed are not merely to shock onlookers. Using contrapasso, which means justice in which one’s crime is used to punish him, Dante makes the Wrathfuls attack each other; and consequently, only Filippo Argenti is being targeted, just as Alighieri was targeted and exiled by the other