Song Of Roland And Dante's Inferno

To understand the literature of the medieval period, you must first understand the medieval world. Song of Roland and Dante’s Inferno clearly state two major medieval values as to how humans should act. Starting around the 14th century, European thinkers, writers and artists began to look back and celebrate the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. Then, they dismissed the period after the fall of Rome as a “Middle” or even “Dark” age in which no exact accomplishments had been made, no great art produced, no great leaders born.
After the fall of Rome, no single state or government united the people who lived on the European continent. Instead, the Catholic Church became the most powerful influence of the medieval period. Kings, queens …show more content…
Some crusaders would wear a red crosses on their coats to show their status, believed that their service would guarantee the remission of their sins and ensure that they could spend all eternity in Heaven.
In medieval Europe, country life was governed by a system call “feudalism.” In a feudal society, the king gave large pieces of land called fiefs to noblemen and bishops. Peasants without land were known as serfs, they did most of the work on the fiefs: They planted and harvested crops and gave most of the produce to the landowner. In exchange for their labor, they were allowed to live on the land.
Most of the literature produced during the medieval period was written by religious members and monks. During this time only a few people knew how to read and write. If anyone was writing, it was mostly hymns, or songs, about God. Some also wrote philosophical documents about religion. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is often considered one of the greatest works in world literature; this story describes Dante's view of the afterlife. Song of Roland was as well a great piece to literature during this time. It was a story of knightly bravery and …show more content…
evil. The theme of God is seen the same in both stories, but good and evil are told different between the two stories. In the two stories the main characters Dante and Roland are forced to go on a journey within themselves, in order to overcome fears affecting their lives to the wills of Gods and Satan, representing justice. In Dante's walk through Hell, God's justice is strongly specific, balanced, and precise. As the story goes on, in many scenes Dante becomes less and less wise toward pity for the sinners, drawing to the conclusion that to pity their suffering is to disobey a lack of understanding of God's. God in the Inferno is seen to be the all-powerful and all-good; the same is assumed by the Roland in The Song of Roland. This is proven for example in the scene where it was decided at Ganelons trial by the verdict of his fate. “whatever Roland may have done to Ganelon, The act of serving you should have protected him. Ganelon is a traitor in that he betrayed him. (Thierry)” The behavior and acts of God is unconsciously put in the medieval mindset. Characters in The Song of Roland assume that God will step in events. They believe God will supposedly guide man in the right. And even though evil things happen, the epic manages to turn these events into part of God's