The great refusal (Italian: il gran rifiuto) is the error attributed in Dante's Inferno to one of the souls found trapped aimlessly at the Vestibule of Hell.[1][2] The phrase is usually believed to refer to Pope Celestine V and his laying down of the papacy on the grounds of age, though it is occasionally taken as referring to Esau, Diocletian, or Pontius Pilate, with some arguing that Dante would not have condemned a canonized saint.[a][3] Dante may have deliberately conflated some or all of these figures in the unnamed shade.[citation needed]
Poscia ch’io v’ebbi alcun riconosciuto, |
After I had identified a few, |
| —Dante Alighieri | —Allen Mandelbaum |
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We Refuse To Answer! | Family Feud
Transcription
Familiar with the word ''arteriosclerosis''? ''Cholesterol''? lf you want, l'll outline a complete balanced diet for you. Mail it to me from C-Block. Why would you eat that? Why? 'Cause it tastes good. -But it's not good for you. -l'm aware of that. Why would you do something, if you know it's not good for you? Because l don't think about it. That's living in denial. -Living in denial? -Yeah. l'm aware of that. You're aware of your behavior yet you continue to do things... ...that aren't good for you. That sounds sort of foolish. Don't you think so? No. Stealing $15 million from Jimmy Serrano sounds foolish. l didn't think l'd get caught. Now, that's livin' in denial. l'm aware of that. You're aware of your behavior... ...and yet you continue to do things that aren't good for you. Sounds foolish to me. Don't you think? lt was foolish. But taking $15 million in mob money and giving it to charity... ...was good for a lot of people. You pissed off a Mafioso killer to be loved by a bunch of fuckin' strangers. That makes a lot of sense. Don't you want to be loved? Lots of people love me. Really? Who? l got an ex-wife, and l got a daughter in Chicago. How do they put up with all your sarcasm? Beautifully. l haven't seen either of them in nine years. Think maybe we should go see them? No, l don't think maybe we should go see them. Thanks for the interest, though. The job must have been tough on them. -l didn't do this then. -What did you do? -l was a cop. -You were a cop in Chicago? Then you must know all about Jimmy Serrano. Do you have the right to ask these questions? -l think l do. -No, you don't. -l think l do. -No, you don't. Why not? Dinner 's over. Let's go. l can see this is gonna be some fuckin' trip. l wouldn't worry about it. l won't be with you much longer. What do you mean? With what l know about Serrano, if l go to jail l'll be dead within 24 hours. So sooner or later, l'm gonna have to give you the slip. Glad you find it humorous. -Let's go. -$2? That's all you're gonna leave? -That's 15 percent. -That's 13 percent. These people depend on tips for a living.
Theology
Though Dante's view that one could be insufficiently evil for Hell has been described by some scholars as "theologically dubious",[4] behind Dante's adverse judgement of Celestine was the Thomist concept of recusatio tensionis, the unworthy refusal of a task that is within one's natural powers.[5]: 42
Petrarch disagreed with Dante's appraisal. He believed that Celestine's adoption of the contemplative life was a virtuous act.[5]: 44 It was an early modern instance of the tension between lives of action and contemplation: the vita activa and the vita contemplativa.[6]
Later elaborations
- Critic Northrop Frye considered that "the 'gran refiuto', the voluntary surrender of one's appointed function, is a frequent source of tragedy in Shakespeare."[7] He suggests that Lear's Division of the Kingdoms is an example of this.
- Alfred North Whitehead used the phrase great refusal for the determination not to succumb to the facticity of things as they are—to favour instead the imagination of the ideal.[8]
- Herbert Marcuse took up Whitehead's concept to call for a refusal of the consumer society in the name of the liberating powers of art.[9]
- Jacques Le Goff considered that "the 'hippie' movement is indicative of the permanent character—re-emerging at precise historical conjunctures—of the adepts of the gran rifiuto".[10]
- C. P. Cavafy wrote a poem titled "Che fece .... il gran rifiuto" where he supports those who make the great refusal at personal cost because they are doing the right thing.[11]
Notes
- ^ Pope Celestine V was canonized in 1313. Dante finished the Divine Comedy in 1320.
References
- ^ Dante, Hell (Penguin 1975) pp. 86–7
- ^ Alighieri, Dante (2007). "Canto 3". Inferno. London: Vintage Books. ll. 58–60. ISBN 978-009951197-7.
- ^ "Reader". Dante Lab. Dartmouth College. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Inferno 3 – Digital Dante". digitaldante.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ a b A. Oldcorn, 1998. Lectura Dante
- ^ Hexter, J. H. 1979. On Historians. London. p. 260.
- ^ Frye, N. 1967. Fools of Time. London, p. 109.
- ^ F Webster 2002, Theories of the Information Society, p. 201
- ^ D Kellner 1984, Herbert Marcuse and the Crisis of Marxism, pp. 276–8
- ^ J Le Goff 1980, Time, Work, & Culture in the Middle Ages, London, p. 232
- ^ 11. C.P. CAVAFY: Collected Poems Revised Edition,1992, p12, Princeton University Press.
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This page was last edited on 22 May 2024, at 02:34