Simon Soto
Professor Lutz
Paper 2
03/25/2014
Evil Desire
The idea that temptation is the cause of evil can find its origins in the religious
tradition, and it is part of Catholic teachings. For those who were or still are Catholics, it
is one of the first things catechism teachers’ teach in Sunday school. What the book of
Genesis in the Old Testament shows us with the story of Adam and Eve and The Original
Sin, is that Temptation caused the wrongful actions of the first biblical humans. Temptation
is not an evil action, but throughout history it has been seen as an evil desire (Being tempted
to eat a slice of pizza is not evil). The word temptation has earned a presumption of evil
desire. Temptation is almost always associated with sexual desire, which is exactly what
the infidel sinners of Dante’s Second Circle of hell are condemned for.
The Divine Comedy shows how religious Dante Alighieri was. This literary work
can be seen as a theological analysis, but also as a philosophical one of the corruption of
the soul. If we take Dante’s Divine Comedy as a theory of the soul, based on the second
circle of hell, in which temptation is the primary cause of the corruption of soul to the sin
of lust, we can explain how not to end up in the second circle of hell according to Dante
Alighieri and his Divine Comedy. This theory of the soul hidden in Dante’s poem about
sexual temptation can help understand the condemnation of infidels and their perverse corruption of the soul, giving them no excuse to defend themselves.
In the second circle of hell, Dante poetically shows us that a person will not commit
lustful acts if they can restrain themselves from creating the lustful temptation in the first
place. “Lead us not to temptation”: Is a verse found in the “Our Father” prayer, a prayer
that asks God to free us from the strong tentacles of temptation.
It is natural to feel sexual desires, but it is another thing if we act upon those sexual
desires. One does no harm to anyone experiencing sexual urges, but one corrupts the soul
once one creates situations where one acts on those urges.
As Dante enters the second circle and walks through that thick black air of hell, and
confusingly gazes at the men and women sentenced to spend eternity in that forsaken place,
asking Virgil about the infamous characters who were seduced by the wants of the flesh,
he meets a couple, who even though are constantly restless blown from side to side as
punishment for their sinful act, explain in excruciating detail how they ended up in that
horrifying second circle of hell. After Dante finishes giving his respects to the couple, who
because of pleasure lost paradise, he asked Francesca, the women that when she lived was
beautiful, how her and her lover earned their stop in hell: “But tell me: in the time of those
sweet sighs, How and on what occasion did love allow You to experience these uncertain
desires,”1 asked Dante. “One day, when we were reading, for distraction, How Lancelot
was overcome by love—We were alone, without suspicion; Several times, what we were
reading forced Our eyes to meet, and then we changed colour: But one page only was more
than we could bear… He, who will never be divided from me, Kissed my mouth, he was
trembling as he did so; The book, the writer played the part of Galahalt: That day we got
no further with our reading,”2 replied Francesca.
This short narrative of Francesca and her lover, suggests that temptation is created
by our mind. In the example above, we can see that their sexual desire did not just randomly
1
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. Oxford University Press (2008). P.68. This is not Chicago
reference style. Also, the translator’s name is missing.
2
“”. “’. “”. P.68 This is not Chicago reference style.
appear; was provoked by the sexy smiles they gave to each other, by gazing at each other’s’
eyes, and by reading a romantic book: they manage to create sexual tension. They knew
that was bound to happen when they subjected themselves to that situation. Francesca and
her lover are the only ones responsible for their sinful acts.
If an infidel’s spouse finds out that their partner was sexual intimate with a prostitute after
he and his friends left the Gentlemen’s club on the day before their wedding, and excused
himself by saying he was drunk or that it was a mistake created by a sexual impulse, how
he dare excuse himself in such matter? If that was his defense in a courthouse high in the
heavens where the judge was Saint Peter, the prosecutor Dante, and his attorney libre albedrio or free will, he who was an infidel would have no chance against Dante’s allegations. How could the accused defend himself if Dante would argue that it was he who
created the temptation in the first place?
Dante: You were given free will from God, The Fair;
You brought anarchy to your soul and did not care at all,
Now you shall suffer far more than you shall know,
Your reward is to know that God pities you more than he did before.
Sinner: I am condemned for this impulsiveness
That led me to desire that women’s chest,
I’m not to blame for my loss of sense for I am not emotionless,
For honey gave me a kiss or two and I’m a man what can I do?
Dante: You should be reminded that you created temptation and all its commotion
When you entered that stripper joint in your drunken explosion,
Now you’re also charged for lack of spiritual devotion,
Leaving your wife with eternal confusion
In exchange for minutes of diabolical illusion!
Sinner: You judge me hard I can’t explain,
But you would not so if you see Elaine,
She has the body of Helen of Troy I can’t deny,
And she is now the women I love it is not a lie.
Dante: Silence! Your shamelessness has shock the Jury
Now you have provoked the Judge’s fury,
He is sentencing you to the second circle of hell in such a hurry,
And For the record I’m not a nagger say hi to Cleopatra, Arnold Schwarzenegger!
The second circle of hell shows how sexual desire was created by each individual
who sinned of lust. This evil passion led to the creation of temptation contributing to
Dante’s theory of the corruption of the soul to lust, which implies that temptation is created
by our actions and how one exposes oneself to other mates through body expressions.
This is a great essay and poem, Simon, so great that it deserves
an ‘A’ (despite the fact that the bibliography is missing and it
was submitted late).