The Rhetoric of Compassion: from Francesca to Ugolino

The article analyses the several concurrences and textual connections between the episode of Francesca (Inferno v) and the episode of Ugolino (Inferno xxxiii). It can be argued that exists a sort of rhetoric pattern based on common tropes, topoi and auctoritates (in particular Vergil), that the two damned souls use in order to create empathy and gain the audience’s compassion. This aspect is a further evidence invalidating any sympathetic or romantic reading of the two episodes. On the other side, there is a significant evolution in Dante as a character, who is deeply involved after Francesca’s speech but finally achieves an attitude of distance and absence of mercy.