User:Kashmir2001/Pia de’ Tolomei

All the souls encountered in Canto V are late-repentant souls who died violently and are now in the second division of Ante-Purgatory, which is at the base of the mountain of Purgatory. The three narratives in this canto are similarly structured: They start with captatio benevolentiae, followed by a remembrance of Earth and a request for prayers, then they explain the circumstances of their death and finally they tell Dante about their violent death. The souls' deaths in this canto are furthermore all conveyed by a visual disunion of the soul and the body; in Pia's case this is shown by her “unmade” body.

Their accounts furthermore highlight the fluid transition between bodily death and spiritual life. All the souls encountered in Canto V explore the issue of temporal identity in the corporeal body at the time of death. Although all of the accounts advance each soul's historical identity any consensus on an identity is unsuccessful, and ultimately chart the story of existence as each person humbly returns to the material from which it originated. Moreover, all three souls in this canto die at borders of the earth and water; Pia dies in swampland, thus returning to Mother Earth. Pia relocates us from Siena to Maremma, smoothly contrasting the respective city and swamp. The ending image of the swamp acts as the maternal sea that ultimately absorbs all egos. Maremma the word evokes sea (mare), the seas (maria), as well as the Virgin mother (Maria, madre, mamma), thus cementing the its maternal nature. The volatility of water can furthermore be construed as the volatility inherent to humans. The transitory theme of the canto is also seen to represent the delicate nature of the body and the body-ego. A transition can further be construed from a gendered perspective as the narrative progresses from male egoism to feminine humility. Unlike her predecessors, she forsakes the first-person pronoun for a third-person one and additionally inserts the feminine definite article before her name. Pia detaches from her earthly being since she understands her corporeal body as a temporal object. Every character in this canto is the subject of the gerund except Pia who operates as its object in the last verse, where instead her husband is the subject, demonstrating Pia as the object of male constructs. Pia seems to have the greatest grasp of the three souls in this canto on the the ultimate return of all physical, linguistic, and rational beings through water to Mother Earth.

Pia's calm symmetry in her introduction in verse 134 places her on a higher plane of understanding than her two predecessors. Line 134 echoes Virgil's epitaph (Mantua gave me birth, Calabria took me off). Line 134 leaves the impression of the cyclic nature of Pia’s life and emphasizes the brevity of her life on Earth.

Pia profoundly recalls her convenient marriage in her last line.

Jacopo’s intense tone is followed by Buonconte’s turbulent tone ending in Pia's tone of lament, forming a sonata of sorts. Her narrative is also uniquely unspecific compared to her predecessors, but still manages to convey an impartial accusation. Her modest request for prayer is also unique as she first wishes Dante to rest after he returns to Earth before despondently asking for his prayer, implying no one else on Earth gives theirs. Moreover, her speech begins with empathetic foresight of Dante's fatigue upon returning to earth and she doesn't ask Dante to tell her story on Earth unlike most souls. Jacopo and Buonconte confess their sins in their narratives, but Pia notably does not, leaving the cause for her state in Purgatory unknown. Pia still dwells upon her husband's betrayal, as shown by her allusion to it, which has no place in Purgatory. Pia’s death is the result of a personal relationship unlike her predecessors whose narratives revolve around political circumstances. Pia's pious speech humbly concludes a canto bursting with drama and violence.

Pia's remarkable capacity for forgiveness is also shown when she replaces Maremma as the grammatical subject of her murder instead of her husband. This compassion juxtaposes the brief but clear allusion to her violent death, concluding the canto with a sense of absolution. Despite her seeming fragility she ultimately is victorious over her husband via love as she magnanimously forgives him. Pia acts as a climax of the three accounts as she has the greatest understanding of love and God. Pia’s speech ends with gem, or gemma in Italian, possibly referring to Dante’s wife Gemma Donati, thus positing the hopeful notion that she may forgive Dante for leaving her due to his political exile from Florence. This sweeping absolution contributes to the overarching compassion that characterizes this canto.

Sienese Malavolti married to Tollo da Prata in Maremma whose murder was instructed by Nello after Tollo's death, although the motive is unclear.

Pia's character joins Francesca's (Inf. V) and Piccarda's (Par. III), all victims of their spouses who treat Dante softly, and together they chart a progression to salvation: From Francesca’s passionate narrative to Pia’s concentration on her ultimate redemption, ending in Piccarda’s absolute submission to God's will. Comparisons have been made of Pia with Francesca as they both courteously tell him of their violent deaths by their husbands. Francesca, however, grieves because her death terminated her affair, not because of her damned state, and talks at length of her first meeting with her lover. Pia’s account demonstrates Francesca’s error of failing to turn to God and succumbing to vice. Another comparison is made between Pia and Piccarda, who was forced from her convent and now enjoys Paradise. All three narrations demonstrate degrees of understanding of love in the course to God. Pia’s repentance freed her from her earthly marriage.

It has been theorized that Pia was killed by being thrown out of a window, so her crash into the earth would make her words Maremma "unmade her" literal.

Orthodox views find Pia to be a virtuous victim killed at the hands of her malicious husband, a flirtatious woman who pushed her husband to the edge, or murdered by her husband for a specific offense. These have contributed to sentimentalized understandings of Pia. It has been argued that Pia’s gentle narrative recovers a sense of propriety after the graphic accounts of her two predecessors. Glenn refutes this and argues that Pia’s account is powerful in the spiritual understanding she has come to, whereby she contrasts her short-lived life on Earth to the immortal link between her soul and God. Her account furthermore emphasizes the importance of prayers for souls in Purgatory to ascend. Moreover, Pia’s name is related to piety which reinforces her spiritual understanding of divine grace.

Pia’s story echoes that of the penitent thief who, in Christian belief, was crucified with Christ. He repents and makes a similarly modest request to Christ to be remembered by him in Heaven, thus acquiring eternal salvation after his violent death.

It is uncertain whether Margherita contributed to Pia’s death since there is evidence of a papal plot that forced her marriage with Nello. Theories surrounding the murder include Pia being seized from her feet and thrown from the castle and Pia as a neglected bride perishing from malaria.

Another proposal for Pia’s identity is the daughter of Buonconte Guastelloni and the wife of Baldo d’Aldobrandino Tolomei who married Nello after Baldo’s death. This has been challenged by evidence that she never remarried and Nello’s will having no mention of Pia.

Another theory is that she was the Sienese Pia Malavolti, wife of Tollo di Prata who was in Nello’s custody after her husband died, but there is not enough evidence to support this theory.

Pia uses the imperative form of remember to stress the importance of Dante's prayer which will shorten her time in Purgatory. Prayer is a joint activity in turning to God that strengthens human bonds, which is likened to a city; the city of Sienna is argued to be seen as a purgatorial city where its population is on the journey to salvation. Sienna is further seen as a place where human ties are formed, whereas Maremma is where ties are broken.

The only consensus on Pia's death is the secrecy of it, which is why she says that only her husband knows how she died.

Bandello - Pia's infidelity with Agostino de’ Ghisi and she is strangled by Nello's henchmen in Maremma.

Sestini - Pia dies of malaria.

Opera - Nello's henchmen poison Pia.