The Gates of Hell
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| Auguste Rodin, The Gates of Hell, 1880-1917 |
"Whereto
the Jew promptly answered, 'Meseemeth, God give them ill one and all! And I say
this for that, if I was able to observe aright, no piety, no devoutness, no
good work or example of life or otherwhat did I see there in any who was a
churchman; nay, but lust, covetise, gluttony and the like and worse (if worse
can be) meseemed to be there in such favour with all that I hold it for a
forgingplace of things diabolical rather than divine…”
They say heaven is a place on
earth, and apparently, hell is too. And that place is Rome, according to
Abraham the Jew of The Decameron’s 2nd story. He details the evils
in Rome he saw on an excursion to the “holy city,” including (but not limited
to) gluttony, thievery, and lechery. His
Christian friend was sure that if the Jew went to Rome, he would surely be
turned off by the rampant degradation. The Jew observed the sins of the
Christians and cardinals of Rome and was completely and utterly disgusted… and
intrigued. The punch line of the story is that the Jew decides to convert to
Christianity even, or rather, especially after viewing the atrocities of the
Christian people. Yes, you can laugh. Corruption is comedy, after all.
The story tries to teach us a
larger lesson about humanity, how no one is spared from sin no matter how
highly you laud yourself. The deterioration of integrity is apparent on both
sides and the pursuit of pleasure trumps all morals. The culmination of this
depravity is in Rome. When the Jew enters the city, miscreants and criminals
welcome him, much like entering through Rodin’s Gates of Hell. Vagrants,
thieves, and degenerates lurk in every crevice and around every corner. Figures
from the Old Testament adorn the Gates, which were modeled after Dante’s Inferno, and other characteristics of
the sculpture were taken from medieval cathedrals. Christianity is everywhere,
however not all of it is holy.
I'm not entirely sure which religion Giovanni Boccaccio is satirzing more, Judaism or Christianity. The Jew's loose morals allow him to be swayed by the enticements of Christianity. And the Christian church he depicts is just a mess of corruption and decadence and all things sinful. The message here isn't about a particular religion, but all religion. No matter what you get out of the story -- maybe a hearty laugh or a moral lesson -- the truths of this medieval adventure still ring true today.
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