Dante\'s Inferno: Canto the Canto Is Moving
The canto is moving in that it depicts the passionate love of one for another and how, even once killed, both will stay together for eternity. No wonder that this canto and the love of Francesca for Paolo have remained a favorite of classical artists. And yet I am left with confused conclusions regarding what Dante wants to convey. On the one hand, he puts the lovers in Hell, but on the other hand he faints for them and seems to feel more suffering and empathy with these citizens of Hell (that even seem, through their love, to triumph over their surroundings) that it seems as thoguh Dante criticizes the ruthlessness of their suffering and may even condemn it as senseless. Torn between the fervently religious mores of his time that perceived even meek extra-marital love as adulterous and between his own romantic experiences, it seems to me that Dante sides with the lovers and attempts to arouse our sympathy for them and denunciation of their suffering.