Subject Areas |
Literature and Language Arts
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Poetry |
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World |
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Time Required |
| One to two class periods |
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Skills |
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reading literary texts
critical analysis
literary interpretation
historical interpretation
drawing inferences and comparisons
critical thinking
Internet skills
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Additional Data |
| Date Created: 05/21/02 |
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Date Posted |
| 4/11/2002 |
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A Storybook Romance: Dante's Paolo and Francesca
Introduction
This lesson plan highlights one episode
in the Divine Comedy to provide students with an introduction
to Dante's great poem. After a brief introduction to the opening
of the Divine Comedy, which portrays Dante as a pilgrim
guided by the poet Virgil on a journey through the Christian
afterlife toward God, students read Canto 5 of the Inferno,
which comes near the beginning of Dante's descent into Hell.
Students refer to a diagram of Dante's underworld to understand
the role of Minos at the start of this canto, then analyze Dante's
description of the storm-tossed souls he encounters in order
to gain further insight into his allegorical method. Next, students
identify the famous lovers who set the stage for Paolo and Francesca,
and consider how they lend a literary dimension to our perception
of this pair. Finally, students examine Francesca's "confession,"
comparing the philosophical style in which she first describes
her love affair with the story-telling style she uses to describe
what actually occurred. At the center of her story is the already-famous
love story of Lancelot and Guinevere, and students consider
how this story-within-a-story structure reflects on Francesca's
own efforts to portray herself as a victim of courtly love.
To conclude the lesson, students compare the effect that Lancelot's
story had on Paolo and Francesca with the effect their story
has on Dante in the poem, and the effect this layered episode
has on Dante's readers today.
Learning Objectives
(1) To learn about the structure and
artistry of Dante's Divine Comedy; (2) To examine the
episode of Paolo and Francesca as a poetic interpretation
of romantic love; (3) To gain experience in close reading
and interpretation of literary allusions.
Suggested Activities
Reading
a single canto of the Divine Comedy might seem like
plucking one tile from a vast mosaic, but any encounter with
Dante, no matter how brief, can be stunning, so powerful was
his imagination, so profound his mastery of his art. This
lesson guides students in a close reading through one of the
more accessible parts of Dante's great poem (perhaps especially
accessible for teenagers), providing them with the interpretative
skills to complete the journey on their own.
1
Begin by providing students with background on Dante and the
Divine Comedy, referring to the "About Dante" section of the
Digital Dante website on EDSITEment. (At the website's homepage,
click on "About
Dante" for a short biography; click on the dates "(1265-1321)"
above the biography for a "Chronology"
of Dante's life.)
- Explain to students that Dante Alighieri
was born in 1265 in Florence, then a virtual city-state
and perhaps the wealthiest mercantile center in the world.
Dante began his career as a love poet, one of a group who
developed a "new sweet style" (dolce stil nuovo)
for the Tuscan language by following the example of the
Provencal troubadours in poems on the mysteries and ecstasies
of courtly love. By 1295, however, Dante had entered into
a political career, rising to become one of the city's leaders,
only to find himself banished from Florence under sentence
of death in 1302 when a rival faction rose to power. The
remainder of Dante's life was spent in exile, as an honored
guest in various Italian courts and palaces. In this period
he wrote important prose works on politics and the Italian
language, and composed the Divine Comedy, publishing
the first part, Inferno, in 1314. The remaining two
parts of this work, Purgatorio and Paradiso,
were published after Dante's death in 1321.
- Emphasize for students that Dante
played an important part in the acceptance of vernacular
languages as a medium of serious thought and expression.
His De Vulgari Eloquentia (1304) was among the earliest
studies of vernacular literature and rhetoric, and in the
Divine Comedy he became one of the first writers
to show that a vernacular language can rise to the lofty
heights of epic, philosophy, and theology. In addition,
with the Divine Comedy he made his own Tuscan dialect
the basis for what would become modern Italian.
2 Introduce students to the Divine
Comedy by having them read Canto 1 of Inferno,
which stands as a prelude to the entire poem. (The Divine
Comedy is made up of 100 cantos, 33 per section plus the
introductory Canto 1.) The Italian text and two English translations
of the Divine Comedy are available through EDSITEment
at the Digital
Dante website. One translation is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow;
the other and more recent is by Allen Mandelbaum. Have students
read 20 lines in each version; they will likely find Mandelbaum
more appealing. Both translations are available in a format
that sets the Italian and English verses side by side, so
that students who read Italian (or any other Romance language)
can check verbal details in the original. (At the Digital
Dante homepage, click "Comedy," then select "Dante's Comedy
with the Allen Mandelbaum translation." Use the scroll boxes
in the lefthand frame to select "Canto
01" (actually listed as "Inferno 01") of Inferno, which will then appear in the righthand frame.
To print out this text, click in the righthand frame to select
it before using the print function on your browser.)
- Have students summarize what happens
in Canto 1. Dante says that, when he was midway through
life's journey, he found himself lost in a dark forest where
he wandered through the night, until daybreak brought him
to the foot of a hill (lines 1-30). When he tried to climb,
however, three beasts appeared -- a leopard, a lion, and
a she-wolf -- to chase him back (lines 31-60). Then he met
the spirit of Virgil, the epic poet of imperial Rome, whom
Dante regards as the model for his own poetry (lines 61-90).
Virgil tells him that it is impossible to get past the she-wolf
for now, although one day a hound will come to save Italy
and drive her back to Hell (lines 91-111). Instead, Dante
must take another path out of the dark forest, following
Virgil through Hell and Purgatory, where he will meet another
guide who can lead him on to Heaven (lines 112-129). And
with this hope, Dante sets out on his way.
- Discuss with students the allegorical
significance of this episode. What is symbolized by the
dark forest in which Dante loses his way? What is symbolized
by the sun-topped hill he attempts to climb? What do the
three beasts represent? Guide students toward a broad interpretation
of these allegorical elements, recognizing the beasts, for
example, as manifestations of "animal passion," the sinful
impulses that prevent one from ascending out of the wilderness
of human life toward the realms of light. Students may be
interested to learn that over the centuries scholars have
assigned various specific meanings to the allegorical figures
in Dante's poem, identifying the leopard as lust, the lion
as pride, the she-wolf as avarice, Virgil as the spirit
of classical learning or reason, and Beatrice as theology
or revelation. (Beatrice is the Florentine woman whom Dante
idolized in his love poetry and the guide to heaven whom
Virgil alludes to at line 122.) But students should recognize
that Dante's poem speaks in broad terms accessible to a
general reader and does not require (although it does invite)
detailed annotation.
- To reinforce this point, ask students
to explain why Dante calls his poem a "comedy." Based on
the outline of its plot that he gives in Canto 1, they will
probably draw the conclusion that it is a comedy because
it will end happily. And this is, in fact, the explanation
that Dante gave for his title in a letter written in 1314
to the Veronese nobleman, Cangrande della Scala. (The full
text of this letter is available through EDSITEment at the
Digital
Dante website; click on "Dante's Works" under the heading
"In the Library" on the website's homepage, then click "Letter
to Can Grande.") He writes:
The title of the work is, "Here beginneth
the Comedy of Dante Alighieri, a Florentine by birth,
not by character." To understand which, be it know that
comedy . . . is a certain kind of poetic narration differing
. . . from tragedy in its content, in that tragedy begins
admirably and tranquilly, whereas its end or exit is foul
and terrible; . . . whereas comedy introduces some harsh
complication, but brings its matter to a prosperous end
. . . They likewise differ in their mode of speech, tragedy
being exalted and sublime, comedy lax and humble . . .
And hence it is evident that the title of the present
work is "the Comedy." For if we have respect to its contents,
at the beginning it is horrible and fetid, for it is hell;
and in the end it is prosperous, desirable, and gracious,
for it is Paradise. If we have respect to the method of
speech, the method is lax and humble, for it is the vernacular
speech in which very women communicate.
- Conclude this review of Canto 1
by focusing on the metaphor of journey that Dante establishes
for his poem in this episode. Help students recognize that
to some extent Dante presents himself here as an Everyman
figure pacing through the journey of "our life" (line 1),
charting the spiritual path from earthly life to salvation.
At the same time, however, Dante claims this journey as
a personal experience (see Canto 2, lines 7-9, where he
invokes memory as his muse), and presents himself as a character
who lived through an amazing adventure. It is in this double
sense that critics often describe Dante as a pilgrim within
the poem, a traveler in quest of spiritual peace and fulfillment.
As poet, the maker of this vast artwork, Dante presents
an allegory of medieval philosophy, theology, and science
in the way he structures each realm of the afterlife, and
a vivid chronicle of medieval society and politics in his
portraits of the souls he meets there. Yet it is the story
of the pilgrim that gives the Divine Comedy its vitality,
and students should focus on his adventures as they make
their way into the poem.
3 Have
students next read Canto
5 of Inferno, which recounts Dante's adventures
among those whose passion condemned them to hell. Focus discussion
first on Dante's encounter with Minos (lines 1-24), providing
students with a diagram of Hell so that they can see where
this encounter takes place. (Click "Maps" on the Digital
Dante homepage, then select "Inferno:
Conceptual, by Barry Moser" for a detailed diagram.)
- Point out to students that Hell
is organized as a series of concentric circles imagined
as terraces along the walls of a vast abyss. Dante and Virgil
journey through Hell by descending from one circle to the
next, advancing deeper into sin at every level.
- As Canto 5 begins, Dante has already
ventured through the gates of Hell (where he read the famous
inscription, "Abandon every hope who enter here" [Canto
3, line 9]) and has passed through the first circle, called
Limbo, which is the final resting place of noble pagans
and Old Testament heroes who are damned because they were
not baptized. He now descends into the second circle, where
he will first encounter souls who brought damnation on themselves
by their sins. In some respects, then, Canto 5 marks a new
beginning in his journey, the start of his tour through
all the varieties of sin.
- Have students explain the role
Minos plays here. The diagram should help them recognize
that he assigns each sinner to his or her proper place in
Hell, signaling the circle each is destined for by the number
of times he wraps his tail around himself. Why does Minos
challenge Dante as soon as he sees him? What does he warn
him against? Is it likely that Dante will "trust" anyone
in Hell (line 19; note that the word in Italian is fide,
which connotes faith)? Looking ahead, could one say that
he puts his trust in Francesca by the end of this canto?
4
Turn next to Dante's description of
this circle of Hell (lines 25-45), focusing on the landscape
he sets before our eyes and the physical impression he creates
through his use of simile and comparison.
- What changes does the pilgrim notice
as soon as he passes through the entrance guarded by Minos?
Is it significant that sight and hearing seem impossible
in this place? In what respect is it fitting that these
senses are denied to those who sinned against reason (lines
38-39)?
- What is the poetic significance
of the hurricane that howls through this circle, driving
the sinners along like wind-swept starlings (lines 40-45)?
Throughout the Inferno, Dante portrays the damned suffering
a punishment that befits, and to some degree illustrates,
their sin. In other words, they are condemned to live out
their sin for eternity. How does the driving wind here befit
those guilty of giving in to passion? What powers this wind
-- the wrath of God or the force of their own desires?
5
Call attention next to the parade of
famous lovers (lines 52-67) and the pilgrim's reaction to
them (lines 70-72). Why does he call them "knights" and "ladies,"
terms that identify them as characters of medieval romance?
Inform students that, during the middle ages, storytellers
often did transform the legends of ancient Greece and Rome
into familiar tales of noble knights and gentle ladies. But
in Dante's poem, Virgil does not describe these famous lovers
in those terms. It is the pilgrim who sees them not as historical
figures -- and they must be historical if they are in Hell
-- but as storybook characters, the heroes and heroines of
romance. Looking ahead to the effect that romance has on Paolo
and Francesca, have students explain how the pilgrim's misperception
of these sinners might be linked to the uncontrollable pity
he suddenly feels. Why does he say that this feeling of pity
made him "like a man astray"? Is his sympathetic reaction
misguided? a letting down of his guard such as Minos warned
against? What does this feeling lead to?
6 The remaining lines of Canto 5 tell
the story of Paolo and Francesca, one of the most admired
episodes in the poem. Ask students their opinion of Francesca.
Is she a victim of circumstances as she seems to suggest?
a victim of love's irresistible power? a tragic victim, damned
by her own loving nature? Have students look closely at the
way Dante characterizes Francesca through her double telling
of her story.
- Look first at Francesca's greeting
to the pilgrim (lines 88-96). Ask students to visualize
the situation as Francesca speaks these lines. She has made
her way through a whirlwind to speak with Dante in a place
where speech is ordinarily overwhelmed by noise. Yet her
first words seem to characterize this encounter as a social
occasion. The pilgrim, she supposes, has "come to visit"
them. And like a courteous hostess, Francesca begins the
visit by complimenting her guest (line 88), speaking candidly
of herself (lines 90-93), and declaring herself ready to
talk about anything the pilgrim would like (lines 94-96).
How do these details of Francesca's way of speaking affect
one's response to her character? Does she win our affection
with these social graces? Does she reveal herself as skilled
in the arts of winning affection?
- Francesca first tells her story
in the philosophical language of courtly love. Inform students
that her opening line here, "Love, that can quickly seize
the gentle heart" (line 100), echoes the opening line of
the poem that paved the way for the "new sweet style" that
Dante adopted in his youth. For a reader of Dante's time,
this allusion would probably mark Francesca as a woman caught
up in the cult of courtly love, which developed in late
12th-century France in connection with chivalric romance
and continued to influence the literature of love through
the 19th century. In general, "courtly love" refers to a
belief that love is an ennobling passion. In medieval times,
the concept distinguished love among nobles from the baser
affections felt by common men and women, and became elaborated
into an etiquette of courtship called "courtesy." Courtly
love led the noble lover to a higher spiritual plane through
acts of devotion to his lady -- for example, wearing her
ensignia into battle, writing a poem expressing his unworthiness
of her favor, or attending on her dutifully at court. As
Francesca indicates, those with a "gentle heart" -- that
is, the gentry -- were supposed to be especially susceptible
to this passion, and thus feeling this emotion could be
considered a "proof" of one's spiritual worth. In addition,
courtly love tested one's worth by placing obstacles in
the way of love's fulfillment. According to its code, a
true lover would remain devoted despite such frustrations,
and refine his or her nobility by demonstrating that devotion
in word and deed. (For additional background on courtly
love, see the essay by Larry D. Benson, "Courtly
Love and Chivalry in the Later Middle Ages," available
through EDSITEment at the Geoffrey
Chaucer Website. Click on "Site Index" in the
navigation bar at the left of this website's homepage, then
scroll down to and click on "Courtly Love" in the list of
"Texts and General Subjects." Among the many resources on
this topic, select the link to "Courtly
Love and Chivalry in the Later Middle Ages" for the
text of Benson's essay.)
- Ask students how readers uninformed
about courtly love might still recognize Francesca as a
woman deeply influenced by romantic love. Call attention,
for example, to the repetition of the word "love" at the
start of these three stanzas (lines 100-108). Note also
the cause and effect explanation she gives for this love
affair, which suggests that human emotions operate with
a kind of instinctive inevitability -- what we sometimes
call "chemistry." Have students paraphrase Francesca's explanation.
Why did Paolo fall in love with her? Why did she fall in
love with him? Why did their love lead to death? Who is
responsible for the sin that has put them in Hell? (Students
may wonder who Francesca wishes to the lowest circle of
Hell in line 107; it is her husband, who discovered Paolo
and Francesca's love affair and murdered them both.)
- Have students compare Francesca's
style in the second part of her confession with the courtly
love language she used at first. Can they hear an echo of
the storyteller's traditional "Once upon a time . . ." in
Francesca's "One day . . ." (line 127)? Note the other elements
of story here: setting, plot, characterization, denouement.
Yet her story is not told in the high style of courtly romance,
the style, presumably, of the Lancelot story she and Paolo
read. It is, instead, a kind of home-made romance, a reflection
of the fictional ideal in the mundane terms of everyday life.
Have students note the parallels in her description of this
love affair's climactic moment: Lancelot, the true lover (line
134) turns into Paolo, the trembling lover (line 136); Guinevere's
alluring smile (line 133) turns into Francesca's plain mouth
(line 136); even the courtly go-between, Gallehaut, turns
into something more mundane, a book by an anonymous author
(lines 137-38). Does Francesca perceive these differences
between her real-life story and the fictional ideal? Or does
she see her love affair with Paolo as a tragic storybook romance?
In her view, who is responsible for their "subjecting reason
to desire" (line 39)?
7 Look finally at the pilgrim's reaction
to Francesca's confession. What is the relationship between
the pity he feels here and the pity he felt for the famous
knights and ladies of love?
- In that earlier moment, pity made
him disoriented, "like a man astray" (line 72). Here pity
overwhelms him, renders him unconscious, and his body falls
"dead" (lines 141-42). Is Francesca's story more potent
than the stories of those famous lovers? Does it stir a
deeper emotion because it is tragically real? Have students
debate whether Dante comes close to sharing in Francesca's
sin here, by subjecting his reason to desire. They should
recognize that being overcome with emotion like Dante is
different from acting on one's emotions like Paolo and Francesca.
Yet they may also conclude that the pilgrim's death-like
response to Francesca's story shows how contagious this
sin can be, how it can breed even in positive emotions like
pity and compassion.
- Dante's reaction to Francesca's story also bears some
relationship to her and Paolo's reaction to the story of
Lancelot. They were drawn by that story to act on their
love for one another. Dante is drawn by her story toward
acting on the affection he feels for these two damned souls.
Explore with students their reaction to this multi-leveled
love story. Were they drawn toward Francesca? Did she win
their pity and love? Or did they see her as a self-deluded
sinner using courtesy, courtly love, and the conventions
of romance to justify her actions?
8
Conclude this lesson in close reading
by having students explore some of the questions raised by
your study of Canto 5 in an essay analyzing Francesca's character,
both as perceived by Dante the Pilgrim and as perceived by
readers of Dante's poem.
Extending the Lesson
Useful background to Dante's portrayal
of Paolo and Francesca is available through EDSITEment at
the Labyrinth:
Resources for Medieval Studies website. Students can test
their own susceptibility to the kind of story that Francesca
found irresistible at "The
Charrette Project," a website devoted to the Lancelot
story, "Le Chevalier de la Charrette," by the 12th-century
French poet Chretien de Troyes. (At the Labyrinth
homepage, click on "French" under the "Auctores et fontes"
heading, and select "The Charrette Project.") Storytelling
closer to Francesca's own experiences with love can be sampled
at "The
Decameron Web," a site devoted to Boccaccio and the development
of the novella. (At the Labyrinth
webpage, click on "Italy" under the "National Cultures" heading,
and select "The
Decameron Web.")
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