Thomas Godfrey

Tom is a PhD candidate in Italian at Clare College. His research examines how proximity functions as a form of punishment in Dante’s Inferno, exploring how physical closeness intensifies isolation and transforms relationships into sources of suffering. By investigating these dynamics, Tom sheds light on Dante’s vision of divine justice while considering medieval notions of loneliness and their impact on the experience of infernal punishment.

Before coming to Cambridge, Tom completed an MSt at the University of Oxford, where he wrote a dissertation investigating the ambiguous relationship between Paolo and Francesca in Canto V of Dante’s Inferno. His dissertation examined how artists from the fourteenth century to the present have depicted this couple, illustrating the tension between their portrayal as eternal lovers and as pitiful sinners. By analysing Dante’s language and key artistic interpretations, Tom demonstrated that their proximity in Hell reflects a complex interplay of desire, guilt, and the nature of love, challenging traditional notions of perdition. As an undergraduate at Durham University, he wrote a dissertation entitled Accessible Art: Engagement with the Viewer in Caravaggio’s Religious Paintings. This research examined how Caravaggio’s naturalistic style aligns with the post-Tridentine Church’s goal of making religious art accessible and didactic. Tom argued that Caravaggio’s focus on earthly details invites viewers to engage deeply with biblical episodes, encouraging empathy and reflection regardless of the viewer’s educational background.

Across his academic work, Tom’s research interests clearly reveal a fascination with relationality, community, and affect, as he seeks to understand how spatial and emotional connections influence human experience in both literature and visual art.

Other activities and roles

Outside of academia, Tom is the cartoonist for Cambridge’s Varsity newspaper and rows for his college.  

Supervisors: Dr. Helena Phillips-Robins & Prof. Virginia Cox