A number of underlying themes persisted throughout the three canticles of Dante's Commedia. The politically charged and spiritually passionate Florentine elegantly integrated general topics - affairs of state, religion and human nature - into his masterpiece and expressed them thematically from the deepest trenches of Hell to to the highest celestial bodies of Paradise. One such theme that resonated throughout Dante's work is the idea of ​​dualism. Dante focuses on the dual nature of man throughout the Commedia, emphasizing the idea he put forward in the Monarchy that "man alone among created beings is the link between the corruptible thing and the 'incorruptible; and thus it is rightly compared by philosophers to the horizon, which is the link between the two hemispheres” (91). Dante, as an active member of the Florentine assembly before his exile and as a pious man devoted to God, also emphasized the synthesis and struggle between Church and Empire. Dante recognized the Church and the Empire as two equal and distinct faculties of God, manifested in two different forms on earth. This duality of roles is deeply explored and intensely criticized by Dante throughout the Commedia. The means used by Dante to express the duality of man, Church and State are not always clear; however, his argument is very clear: all humanity is divided between the divine and the earthly; thus, all human creation, that is, the hierarchy of worship and the functions of government, must also represent this duality. Everything controlled by man must reflect his internal struggle between the corporeal and the divine. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the Original EssayThe duality of Church leaders is apparent in Canto XIX of Inferno. Dante visits the bolgia of the Simonists, people who have paid for graces and positions in the Church. Here, Dante finds the sinners hanging by their feet in holes dug in the ground with flames coming out of their soles. Dante approaches the soul "which writhes in its torment more than any of its fellows and is licked by a redder flame" (239), which he discovers is the soul of Pope Nicholas III. Nicolas, when Dante approaches him, cries: "'Are you already there, are you already there, Boniface?' (239). The voice that comes out of this fiery hole in the trenches of hell is only surprised by the fact that Boniface arrived three years before he was expected (Boniface died in 1303). Dante clearly states that “the fate of the great pope [is] something less affirmed than determined and beyond all doubt” (Sinclair, 244). Nicholas was Boniface's predecessor in the Church and began the "crescendo of iniquity" (Sinclair, 244) that characterized the tenures of Nicholas, Boniface, and Pope Clement V. Nicholas began the practice's downward spiral morality of the Church; however, Boniface took the unfair practices further. Boniface was “a worldly, unscrupulous and powerful ecclesiastic, and incidentally the corrupter of the public life of Florence and the cause of Dante's exile” (Sinclair, 244). Thus, when Nicholas thought that Dante was Boniface, Dante “became like those who stand as if mocked, not understanding the answer given to them and not knowing what to respond” (239). It is an interesting contradiction for someone as pious as Dante to be offended when he is taken to be a pope; however, this is exactly the type of satirical duality that Dante intends to present. Dante is so much more pious than Pope Boniface, despite the latter's prominent position inthe Church, that comparing the two is an insult to Dante. Dante clearly expresses his feelings about the duality of human nature in Purgatorio, when he outlines his concept of the "Simple Little Soul" and how it is compromised in humans. Dante states: "The heavens trigger your impulses... You, free, are subject to a greater power and a better nature, and this creates the spirit within you. over which the heavens are not in charge" (213 ).Here, Dante is quite explicit about man's duality in soul and spirit. He attests that God gives man the materials - the impulses - of human consciousness, that is. that is, the soul, but it is up to man's free will to allow this soul to guide him in earthly affairs. In the following passage, Dante goes further by saying: “With his hand that looks upon him. with tenderness before it is, comes out, like a child playing, in tears and smiling, the little simple soul, who knows nothing, but, moved by a joyful Creator, turns with greed to what delights it. " (213). Dante's metaphor is based on desire, a human emotion that is the basis of consciousness. , yet he applies the metaphor to an intangible in the heavens – the soul. This subtle duality is clearly intentional because Dante is then about to enter into a heated discussion about the natural duality of a specific human being - Pope Boniface VII. “little simple soul” can be compared to a child, the Pope and the Emperor can be reflected as shepherds who lead their “children” in the “social and spiritual order” (Sinclair, 218). With two equally powerful shepherds, one from the Church and the other from the State, the little simple soul must be led on the right path. However, “when power becomes unbalanced, you cannot see clearly that bad leadership is the cause that has made the world evil” (213). Dante gave himself the perfect opportunity to attack the duality of Pope Boniface VII and the direction in which he was leading the papacy in the late 13th century. Dante had a personal vendetta with Pope Boniface, a man whom Dante partly blames for his exile, and makes it clear in Inferno that he blamed the Pope for the corruption plaguing the Church. Dante, as a member of the more moderate White Guelph party in Florence, was sent on a mission to Pope Boniface in 1301 to ask him to cease interfering in the affairs of state, particularly in the latter's politics. the expansion of the pope, which Dante explicitly condemned. Back in Florence, however, the Black Guelphs, papal supremacists, defeated the White Guelphs and as a result Dante was severely persecuted and sentenced to exile for his disloyalty to the Pope. Pope Boniface's underlying personal duality is unique because it is a struggle between the divine and the temporal manifested as a struggle between duty and greed. Pope Boniface, although the Church was his kingdom, established himself as a dominant political force determined to have all of Italy under his jurisdiction. The duality of Pope Boniface showed the weakness of human nature and how any human being, even one who is supposed to be at the top of his field, cannot be a true representative of the divine faculty. Pope Boniface was typical of the tragic flaw omnipresent in every office exercised by man. Beyond the personal dualism of a pope, there was much institutional dualism in the Church itself. Strikingly, Pope Adrian V, in Canto XIX of Purgatory, says: “when I became a Roman shepherd, I discovered how deceptive life is” (XIX: 106-107, p251). The Pope, true “husband” of the Church, is the last to be able to pronounce such a sentence; however, it was the nature of the corrupt Church to require lies andusual deceptions. In a short monologue from Adrian, Dante includes Christ's words from Scripture, "'Neque unbent'", which refers to the Gospel of Matthew, when Christ said: "[In the Resurrection] they will not do not marry and are not given marriage'” (251). By using the Latin translation, Dante places particular emphasis on the phrase; by using the formal language of the Church and not translating the expression into the "vulgari" in which he writes, Dante emphasizes the unfailing sincerity of Christ's words and the hierarchy of their importance. Dante's words in the Commedia are speculative and largely fictional and, therefore, are appropriately written in the coarse language of the common man. Christ's words, on the other hand, are divine truth and must be treated with greater linguistic respect. However, they can be used in the context of Dante's vernacular because Christ was divine and human, characterizing the juxtaposition of these two natures, which is reflected in Dante's choice of quotation and language. However, their meaning is more important than the words. In the preceding passage, Dante kneels before Pope Adrian to pay homage. "'Why,' he said, 'has he bowed you down like this?' And I said to him: 'Because of your dignity, my conscience pricked me, standing up'” (251). Church, because, in the resurrection, marriage, like any other earthly bond, does not transcend the beyond. Dante proves that the status and prestige of the earthly leaders of the Church have no weight beyond. the temporal function Although the Church on earth was supposed to be an earthly representation of the heavenly, it was in the hands of very dishonest characters Pope Adrian even admits that “'greed has extinguished all our love of good so that our. works be in vain'", but, despite his rank in the Church on earth, in Purgatory "'now, as you see, I am here punished for [greed] ... so justice here holds us fast, seized and bound hand and foot, and as long as it pleases the righteous Lord, we will remain motionless and stretched” (251). and not on artificial titles. The Church was an imperfect establishment because its mission to serve God and spread the Word of the Lord on earth was tainted by power-hungry and selfish clergy. This dualism of the Church was recognized and satirized by Dante, who, through his use of Pope Adrian V, made a strong argument for divine justice. Dante continues with the theme of duality in reference to Rome, the center of the Empire. In Paradiso, Dante meets Justinian, the first Christian emperor, who identifies himself as "I was Caesar and I am Justinian" (87). This simple but striking duality is indicative of Dante's broader attitude regarding Rome as the link between heaven and the world. When Dante enters Mercury's sphere in Canto V, just before being introduced to Justinian, Beatrice tells Dante "Speak, speak with confidence, and trust them even as gods." » (81). Implicitly, Dante emphasizes "the divine authority of the Empire of which Justinian must speak, of the creation by God, through his victorious history, of an earthly order in which men can find their public justice and peace" (Sinclair , 95). Dante advances his idea that the glory of the Empire is a direct reflection of God's divine plan for humanity. In the opening of Canto VI of Purgatory, Dante refers to the Emperor Constantine and the moving of the seat of the Empire from Rome to.