Women, War and Wisdom

Many aspects of the eighteenth cantos ofInferno, PurgatorioandParadisoresist meaningful comparison. The cantos differ significantly in terms of their dominant imagery, motifs, structure, topography and astronomy, and characters. Nonetheless, despite these major differences, there are some suggestive parallels between the cantos that relate to their portrayal of women. Across the Eighteens, Dante alludes to female figures in classical, biblical and historical sources, which are often — but not always — negative and narrowly prescribed. Positive and negative images of women in the cantos share a number of characteristics and behaviours, and women are often defined in terms