I thought the way Dante and Geoffrey Chaucer ridiculed religious hypocrites was very funny. Dante shoved some of the popes into rocks in Hell (Dante XIX. 67-75). Chaucer highly exaggerated the qualities of some "Christian" figures, making them look ridiculous. Chaucer used descriptions of these characters and their stories to create his estates satire, while Dante's work subtly exhibits a slightly grotesque sense of humor.
I enjoyed reading both works, but I now wonder if we really should be laughing at these men. While it seems rather obvious that Geoffrey Chaucer thinks we can, I'm not sure that Dante would agree. When he met a pope in Canto XIX of The Inferno, he didn't laugh - he lectured the pope on his sin (Dante XIX. 87-117). Whether Dante thought these men could be the subject of jokes or not, it seems that Dante and Chaucer both wanted to show how wrong - and even, ridiculous - these leaders were.
P.S. I commented on Emily LaForce's post.
No comments:
Post a Comment