The Satirist's purgatory: Il purgatorio delle cortegiane and the writer's discontent

The Purgatorio delle cortigiane is an anti-courtesan satire known for having been performed during carnival festivities by its author, the painter Maestro Andrea, while he was disguised as a beggar. Renaissance courtesans were a common victim of satirical texts because their fast upward social mobility rendered them an easy target for the male court writers' envy. Like other anti-courtesan texts, the Purgatorio is imbued with the desire to take revenge on these women's threatening independence and social climbing. However, an analysis of the poem's carnival performance intimates the presence of another satirical focus. The powerful male speaking voice presented by the poem is ironically contrasted with the pitiful beggar figure from whom that voice issues forth. Through its performance, the text seems to establish a double satirical focus that takes its aim not only at the courtesans but at male writers as well.