A Comparison Of Harry Potter And The Divine Comedy

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The focus of this paper will be on a comparison of The Divine Comedy and of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a book written and released by J.K. Rowling in the year 2007. It will include an analysis among the journey of Dante in Hell and Harry through his life. Through this paper I would like to bring to light of the fact that although, the Divine Comedy is from centuries ago the narrative is everlasting. The Divine Comedy is remarkable, many of the modern narratives include a direct or indirect reference to the Divine Comedy itself.
While reading The Divine Comedy, specifically the Inferno Canto IV, it seemed as if I came upon the concept of limbo before. As I read further I recalled a character from a book I once read who went through …show more content…

I now realize that there are copious amounts of references made in the Harry Potter series relating it back to the Divine Comedy. As Harry goes on with his journey in the last chapters of the story, he takes, what he presumes as the next step in his life, to sacrificing himself for the benefit of everyone else. Harry then finds himself in limbo where he is afraid but obtains guidance from his mentor, Dumbledore who reminds Harry the importance of his existence. In the Divine Comedy, Virgil comes to Dante to help guide him through his journey in hell. In the fourth canto in Inferno, Dante is walking with Virgil, as he goes on to explain what kind of souls are in limbo. This circle of limbo exists for the people stuck because they did not get to choose for themselves of their faith in Christ as they were born before. As Dante and Harry both go on their separate journeys we see how their personality’s come to play with the decisions they make. Even though this …show more content…

They now went naked and were sharply spurred by wasps and hornets, thriving all around” (Kirkpatrick, 64-66). He continues to describe them as drained soul. Similarly, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, while in limbo, Harry describes Voldemort’s soul as, “It had the form of a small, naked child, curled on the ground, its skin raw and rough, flayed-looking, and it lay shuddering under a seat where it had been left, unwanted, stuffed out of sight, struggling for breath” (Rowling, 596). As Dante is just really strolling through the circles, Harry’s soul is a lot more as one of the withered souls Dante passes by. The common themes and similarity of both works make it certain of an existing connection, tying the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to Dante’s

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