How Does Canto 13 Affect Dante's Inferno?

The afterlife is not the type of topic to bring up when having a casual conversation. It falls under the same taboo topics as religion, and politics. So instead, Dante Aligheri decided to write a poem about his perceived vision of the afterlife: inferno, purgatorio, and paradisio. Dante wrote his Divine Comedy when the Church was both the governmental and religious leader of the people, thus a reader can expect Dante’s work to reflect the religious influences of the era. Canto 13 in Dante’s Inferno elucidates on how the religious thought process shaped the writing through its condemnation of suicide victims because they were defying teachings of the Church and committing a sinful action against God. The Church taught that suicide was a mortal sin, and the act disobeyed their teachings, which were the laws of the time. Suicide was a selfish act, for God determines when one should die, and these sinners were intervening with his divine authority.
The traditional Roman Catholic Church was the central focus during Dante’s era (1265-1321) and any rejection of their teachings was considered treason. The lives of the people were centered around the law of the Lord, as well as architecture, paintings, and writings. Dante’s work is a reflection of his faith in God, as well as an insight to the beliefs of …show more content…
The catechism reads, “We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of” (Catechism #2280). When someone took their own life, they weren’t preserving it the way the Church taught them, thus Dante condemns the souls in Canto 13 for their disobedience to common teachings. The Church also frowns upon suicide because it breaks the commandment: “You shall not kill” (Catechism 5). One who commits suicide is killing themselves, which in most cases condemns them to Hell, thus Dante puts them in the 7th Circle of