Heroism in Shakespeare and Dante

Dante’s Inferno and Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice advance distinct conceptions of heroism. While both conceptions deal with moral behavior, Dante focuses on negative imperatives—eg. don’t do this or that—while Shakespeare focuses on affirmative imperatives—eg. do this or that. Thus, Dante’s view chiefly concerns avoiding sin while Shakespeare’s chiefly concerns acting selflessly.

Dante aims to make his readers (1) fear hell and (2) avoid ending up there themselves. As his voyage takes him deeper and deeper into the bowels of The Inferno, Dante carefully details the horrid punishments of the sinners there: from being stuck in limbo to being eaten alive by the devil himself. Whether the sinners are simonists, sowers of scandal, or merely sullen, they have a place reserved for their wicked deeds. Suffice it to say, then, that Dante’s Inferno has all the patient gentleness of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God or the Westboro Baptists; his work effectively forges the “Scared Straight” program of the 14th century Church. Accordingly, Dante’s hero is the one who can avoid the sins enumerated in his work. And without canto 2’s mention of “the three ladies of heaven”—St. Lucia, the Virgin Mary, and Beatrice—no such hero exists in The Inferno. Even Dante fights lust, avarice, and pride and so cannot ascend the hill he sees in canto 1. Thus, it seems clear that Dante’s hero, though he makes no appearance in The Inferno, is one who eschews sin.

Next, before considering Shakespeare’s conception of heroism, I will address a possible objection to my theory on Dante. The ambivalent reference in canto 1 to “The Greyhound” could possibly be a nod to a future hero as this character, says Virgil, will “restore low-lying Italy.” Certainly The Greyhound is a hero, but his connection to the plot of The Inferno is tenuous. Moreover, the translator of our class text seems convinced that “low-lying” has a double meaning of geographically low and morally debased. If this interpretation is accurate, then the hero is only a hero insofar as he stops Italy from committing their present sins, further supporting, rather than refuting, my theory.

That there is a hero in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is far less ambiguous. Shakespeare clearly shows Antonio to partake of dangerous and good behavior for the sake of another. When Bassanio asks to borrow money and Antonio cannot oblige, Antonio gladly puts his life on the line for his friend. Even when Antonio’s ships have apparently crashed and Shylock prepares to exact his due, Antonio does not regret his decision to risk his life for Bassanio. In fact, his only request is that—if it is not too much trouble—Bassanio come to see him one last time before he dies. Moreover, even when the Duke declares that he will not stand for Antonio’s death, the selfless Antonio says that foregoing a contract would hurt the economy of Venice, a trade city known for justice (3.3). Antonio, then, is Shakespeare’s hero. Yet his private affairs are far from spotless. He apparently damages Shylock’s business opportunities regularly and with relish (1.3), and he ultimately forces Shylock to convert to his own religion. Shakespeare, it seems, lauds Antonio’s character in spite of these apparent injustices in light of the greater tambour of his actions. Dante, on the other hand, would likely laud Antonio’s rejecting a Jew and harming his business as heroic action. A Jew, for Dante, is a heretic, after all. Thus, Dante’s view of heroism supports Antonio insofar as he espouses Dante’s view of morality, but it does not comment on his selflessness. Indeed, the opposite of this virtue—namely, selfishness—does not find its way into Dante’s hierarchy of sins in its own category, though its various manifestations can be argued to be throughout the circles.

Shakespeare’s view of heroism distinguishes itself from Dante by focusing on affirmative, rather than negative, moral imperatives. While Dante concerns himself chiefly with conveying what his readers ought not to do, Shakespeare concerns himself with conveying what his readers should do. Accordingly, Dante’s texts focuses very little on what actions are heroic and very much on what inactions are heroic, leaving The Inferno in silence on Antonio’s selflessness but laudatory of his rudeness. The Merchant of Venice, on the other hand, lauds his selflessness as part and parcel of his heroism.