La doppia natura dei suicidi del canto XIII dell’Inferno: un parallelismo con la dualità onda-particella nella fisica quantistica

Abstract

The hybrid nature of the human–plant suicidal souls explored through the character of Pier delle Vigne in Inferno XIII exhibits unique characteristics in the Comedy’s first cantica. For centuries the Wood of the Suicides has demanded the attention of readers and scholars alike and yet the interplay and structure of their coexisting identities remain subject to lively debate. As an analytical tool, Dante’s encounter with Pier delle Vigne is compared to the wave–particle duality of light, a peculiar phenomenon of quantum physics. Indeed just as the suicides are at once true human and true plant, light behaves simultaneously as wave and particle depending on the experiment performed. The two complementary descriptions of light are mirrored in the duality of Pier delle Vigne, allowing a schematic restating of the canto emphasizing the multisensory interaction between Dante and the sinner. The hybrid nature of the damned soul thus becomes an expression of the contrasting judgments of Dante–theologian and Dante–poet on this character. Furthermore, the analogy shows how the anonymous suicide from Florence introduced at the end of the canto embodies the ambivalent perspective of Dante on the city of Florence itself.