Haha he said "ASS." (3/11)

"And the leader made a trumpet of his ass." (Canto XXI. 139)

Can you say comic relief anyone? I found this sentence very interesting, and very appealing. It completely broke the monotonous darkness of Dante's description of Hell and his journey through it. He has just described an encounter with enraged demons who want to kill him, and then he tosses us a comedic anecdote to soften the desolation. Rather than saying the leader "beat him" or "whipped him", rather than continuing the pattern of repetitive description, he instead declares that he leader "made a trumpet of his ass." For me it was a brilliant use of comic relief. For a brief moment we are allowed a smile on our metaphoric journey through Hell.

"O reader, hear now Of a new sport: led by the very one Who first opposed it, all now turned their eyes To the other shore."

The part of this passage that truly captured my attention was the first two words: "O reader." With these words Dante reminds us that even though his extravagant imagery has allowed us to live through him vicariously, and journey through Hell ourselves, this is still a story. It is still a book. This is not the first time he has reminded us, but these reminders do not come frequently. In this case, the reminder signifies a plot change, a transition from one event to another. However it further represents a break in the story, and a jolt of reality for us. Even though this great work of literature allows us to visualize the story, it is after all still literature. By saying "O reader" he is simply reminding us of that.