Iremsu Sanliturk

EL201

The Sin of Indecision

Dante, in Canto III of Inferno, does not accept the idea of being in between: he

needs defined polars and screams loud enough. He also does not let go of a human being

easily who simply lives a life for living a life, without having chosen to stand here or

there or acknowledging bravely what they are, what they have chosen. Such passivity is

given a sickly punishment, it is condemned both by Virgil's words and the descriptions of

the tortures deserved; yet deep into his lines there are some signs that it is only natural

that humans hesitate and oscillate.

In itself, the state of not choosing does not include any fully developed hatred or

attraction against anything; yet in Dante's imagination, it is such a deplorable state that

even Hell does not want to be associated with such persons, who lack not only "beauty",

but also "glory" according to Virgil's words (3.40-42). These souls, the Pilgrim

understands later, are the ones "hateful to God and to his enemies", which means that

they are standing at exactly equal distances to both sides. This, apart from being a state

that is undecided and confusing, requires feeling not only for one's own self but for others

too; in such a position, indecision comes naturally, and then of course Dante's torturous

punishments, unnaturally.

Yet despite all the heartlessness towards that unbalanced folk, the Pilgrim's
"cowardly" reaction to the inscription above the gate is welcomed with lines "Now here

you must leave all distrust behind / let all your cowardice die on this spot", which openly

shows the presence of fear in the Pilgrim's human nature even though in a way that it is

condemned (3.14-15). The acknowledgment of such a fear reveals the vulnerability of the

Pilgrim's humanity, by which the reader can understand the naturality of the undecided

sinners' fear and even start to disagree with the ways of Hell that are shown. Right at that

place, however, Virgil provides "reassurance" for the Pilgrim, so that he does not fear the

mysteries any more (3.20). Then it is either that without Virgil, Dante the Pilgrim is also

to be doomed to being in torturous betweens forever, or it is nothing but cruelty for

cruelty's sake for those undecided sinners as they had to walk the world alone and

unguided.

Yet even Hell "fear the damned might glory over them", it is suggested that even

Hell itself is capable of fear (3-42). Then it is only natural that the sinners did not choose

to be this or that, oppressed by a feeling that the chosen might not be the most right. Hell

"fears" that one group might glory over another in itself and cause trouble; the sinners

fear that one thing that they incline to might glory over another in an unfair way and

cause trouble. Still, while the Pilgrim's fragile human nature and Hell's cute fears are

accepted as perfectly normal, the politically or religiously unsettled is still not even

worthy of "truly dying" (3.46).

In a more inspirational note, however, maybe what Dante the poet had in mind was

that just as Virgil guides the Pilgrim, reassures his heart and accepts his humane fears'

existence, the reader should also assume that role for himself so that he is not left in a

state as wretched as those sinners not even able to reach a true ending. The reader
himself, as a reader of Dante, should become his own reassurance so that there is no

oscillation or fears any more. Moreover, as it is accepted in the mentioned lines above,

the unsettled state is a natural state of resistance and a battle for fairness, and even though

it leads to disharmony on the way, it consequently saves humanity from settling to what

few, unsatisfying choices there are, which do not happen to be perfectly salvational most

of the time. Then, if Dante aims at final harmony, the temporary disharmony that the

undecided has given to the world is to be allowed, and then, with the right guide, the

battle is to come to a just and fair end.