This punishment - of Ugolino for his cannibalism, of Ruggieri for his cruelty - makes it clear what horrors transpired in the tower. The desire for vengeance is its own hell in the image of Ugolino chewing on his persecutor's skull.
Yet Dante himself shares Ugolino's vengefulness, concluding the tale with an invocation to the river Arno to flood shameful Pisa. Distinguishing features: In 18th- and 19th-century art, Ugolino is a man oppressed by power, like the prisoners in the Bastille; he is noble, tragic, utterly empathetic in his suffering.
In Carpeaux's sculpture, he is a Romantic hero. His chin rests in his hand in melancholic thought, like the figure of Lorenzo de'Medici on his tomb by Michelangelo, but he is gnawing on his fingers, surrounded by the dying boys whose suffering drives him to distraction. Carpeaux has illustrated the moment when the boys see Ugolino chew his hands in rage and believe it is from hunger, the moment when they plead that he eat them - the moment when they put this fatal possibility in his mind.
This is also a study in the tense depiction of an intertwined group. Carpeaux began it at the traditional training ground of French artists, the Villa Medici in Rome. But Virgil tries to change the subject, perhaps because the wind is coming from Satan, and after all, it would be pretty horrifying to learn that you are about to go meet Satan. Dante, Virgil says, will soon discover the source of the wind himself …. To catch up on our Dante series, click here. Alexander Aciman is the author of Twitterature.
Follow him on Twitter at acimania. Remember Me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a few others balk at the description. In the city of Pisa, Ugolino attempted to install a Guelph government, but it failed. As a result, he and other conspirators were arrested. Some years passed before being deemed no longer a political threat, so he was released from prison. Despite Ugolino losing that battle, he and and his grandson Nino became a Podesta - a leader of the people.
While Nino and Ugolino held power at the same time, Ugolino changed his alliances back to the Ghibellines when they began to gain more power in Pisa. Archbishop Ruggieri, another Ghibelline, plotted with Ugolino and the two became allies of a sort. While he ruled, Ugolino gave away castles to threatening rivals in order to keep them away, something the people of Pisa were troubled by. Difficulties continued in Pisa for Ugolino.
Sharply rising food prices incited multiple riots in the streets. Amidst the chaos, Ugolino killed a nephew of Archbishop Ruggieri. When Ruggieri heard of this, he betrayed the Count and incited more riots against him. As Ugolino was leaving a meeting with leaders of a nearby rivaling city, he encountered a group of rioting Ghibellines. He fled back into the town hall, which was promptly set on fire by the rioters.
Ugolino surrendered, and was arrested. Count Ugolino switched political parties when it suited him and his own personal desires, not due to morality.
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