Throughout the semester, there are three literary pieces that if I were a World Literature would choose for the class to read. They are The Divine Comedy, Medea, and Don Quixote. These literary pieces were written in different times and all contain their own exquisite tale. The students in the class would be able to benefits from these pieces by gaining new insight that they wouldn’t have had before. These stories all have their own uniqueness whether it is from new perspectives, a tragedy, and have an incredible sense of imagination. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri shows an interesting idea of basically going through what would happen if we were to die. Dante along with a guide through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise brings along new perspective that we would never have thought of. I always thought of Hell being the place where Satan stays and it was basically full of flames and suffering. While the suffering is true Hell has nine circles each with their own special quality and full of a variety of characters
The character Don Quixote basically goes insane from ready medieval chivalric novels and he goes off on an adventure with a random stranger. I would have my students read this because I want their own imaginations to go wild like Don Quixote because it would bring out their own creativity that they would normally store inside their head. After the students read Don Quixote, I would have the students come up with an adventure of their own so they could release all their creativity and passions in to a story that they would want to write/type. This project would give students a break from the harsh reality life truly is by allowing students to create a fantasy they can escape to. The story Don Quixote has influenced works to be written like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty which is the story of a main that imagine a variety of unique
The inferno takes the reader through Dante’s haunting journey in hell. On this journey Dante is guided by Virgil through nine circles that make up hell. Hell is shaped like a tunnel, and the further down it descends the worse the punishment is in each circle. Sinners are placed in the circles according to their sins. The more offensive the nature of the sin, the worse the punishment is, and the further down the tunnel is where the circle is placed. Dante illustrates his concerns and frustrations with the morality of his fellow countrymen and Christians by creating a specific circle and punishment for each type of sinner. He also shows his own personal belief that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Allusions
“Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.”(Alighieri 18) this statement is viewed while entering through The Gates of Hell. The Inferno by Dante Alighieri is one perspective of Hell that has been written. According to the Cambridge University Library, Hell is set up like a funnel that extends from the surface of the Earth located near Jerusalem; it expands down to the center of the Earth (Cambridge 2006). In this cone-like structure, there are circles that divide sins by the severity of the sin committed. Each circle is on a different ledge or level that separates them from each other (Alighieri 25). Dante and his guide Virgil travel through all the circles of Hell during the Lent season. Through their travels they inspect and comment on the variations
A narrative is specified to amuse, to attract, and grasp a reader’s attention. The types of narratives are fictitious, real or unification or both. However, they may consist of folk tale stories, mysteries, science fiction; romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, and personal experience (“Narrative,” 2008). Therefore, narrative text has five shared elements. These are setting, characters, plot, theme, and vocabulary (“Narrative and Informational Text,” 2008). Narrative literature is originally written to communicate a story. Therefore, narrative literature that is written in an excellent way will have conflicts and can discuss shared aspects of human occurrence.
In Dante’s Inferno hell is divided into nine “circles” of hell; the higher the number correlates to the grimmer the sin and the pain you will endure. However, I do not completely agree with Dante’s version of hell, perhaps due to the difference in time periods. In this essay I will be pointing out my concerns with Dante’s description of hell and how I would recreate hell if I were Dante.
The first thing you would notice is the overall irony of Hell itself. As mentioned, most people have a view that Hell is very chaotic and in disarray. However, In Canto IV we find out that Hell is actually very organized. The structure of it is in fact “a great funnel-shaped cave… with its bottom point at the Earth’s center. Around this great circular depression runs a series of ledges, each of which Dante calls a CIRCLE.” (Alighieri 25). Most pictures you see of hell show images of very distressed people and demons running around in turmoil. They are usually all over the place and no sense of organization is apparent. There is also a map of hell that Dante has drawn in order to give us a clearer image of what Hell supposedly looks like (Alighieri 26). Through this we find that Dante has applied his use irony into the very structure of Hell. We also see that the people we thought were myths actually exist – in Dante’s eyes. Scattered throughout the book, we see several mythological characters that have indeed descended into Hell. On...
Inferno begins with Dante lost in a dark wood. When he tries to exit, three impassible beasts blocked his path. Dante is rescued when Beatrice sends the spirit of Virgil to lead him to salvation. However, Dante must journey through hell first. Dante and Virgil then journey through the nine circles of hell, with the occasional help of a heavenly messenger sent to aid Dante in his journey. Dante meets many significant people and hears their stories in each circle. The First Circle of Hell or Limbo is resided by virtuous non-Christians and unbaptized pagans. In the Second Circle, Dante and Virgil find people who were overcome by lust. In the Third Circle, they find souls of gluttons that are seen as more than the usual excessive eating and drinking but also drug addiction. In the Fourth Circle, Dante and Virgil see the souls of people who are punished for greed.
Dante Alighieri's The Inferno is a poem written in first person that tells a story of Dante’s journey through the nine circles of Hell after he strays from the rightful path. Each circle of Hell contains sinners who have committed different sins during their lifetime and are punished based on the severity of their sins. When taking into the beliefs and moral teachings of the Catholic Church into consideration, these punishments seem especially unfair and extreme.
Inferno, the first part of Divina Commedia, or the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is the story of a man's journey through Hell and the observance of punishments incurred as a result of the committance of sin. In all cases the severity of the punishment, and the punishment itself, has a direct correlation to the sin committed. The punishments are fitting in that they are symbolic of the actual sin; in other words, "They got what they wanted." (Literature of the Western World, p.1409) According to Dante, Hell has two divisions: Upper Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of incontinence, and Lower Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of malice. The divisions of Hell are likewise split into levels corresponding to sin. Each of the levels and the divisions within levels 7,8, and 9 have an analogous historical or mythological figure used to illustrate and exemplify the sin.
Two tragedies from two different time period, Medea and Othello show similarities and differences in their characters, story plots and settings. Euripedes’ Medea written in the classical period and Shakespeare’s Othello written in the romantic era, the two tragedies shows different feel of what tragedies are.
Despite the obvious flaws of Dante himself, he does give a clear vision of how punishments will be taken forth in the afterlife. He gives reason to fear and respect the law of God lest eternal punishment be your only promise in the afterlife. These punishments are as relevant as can be, so he offers a very vivid picture of hell. The men that he puts in hell give it a realistic twist, enhancing the fear that is felt upon reading this work
What does hell look like? This question has survived throughout the millennia because people hold no clear answer to it. Various depictions of hell have been created, but one of the most incredibly vivid interpretations comes from Dante Alighieri’s epic three-part poem, The Divine Comedy. Dante’s journey through hell in Inferno (the first book of his epic) is well attributed to the different levels of torture people experience in accordance to their sins. One aspect that is often overlooked, however, is how the weather described within his poem affects the impact of each sin. In fact, weather such as hurricane-like wind, putrid rain, and flaming snow vigorously enhanced the nature of their corresponding sins portrayed in Dante’s Inferno.
Dante’s The Divine Comedy illustrates one man’s quest for the knowledge of how to avoid the repercussions of his actions in life so that he may seek salvation in the afterlife. The Divine Comedy establishes a set of moral principles that one must live by in order to reach paradiso. Dante presents these principles in Inferno where each level of Hell has people suffering for the sins they committed during their life. As Dante gets deeper into Hell the degrees of sin get progressively worse as do the severity of punishment. With that in mind, one can look at Inferno as a handbook on what not to do during a lifetime in order to avoid Hell. In the book, Dante creates a moral lifestyle that one must follow in order to live a morally good, Catholic
In the story of Don Quixote, a middle aged “gaunt” man sets off to become a knight-errant. Within the beginning chapters of the story, Quixote goes on a journey to prove himself as a knight. The narrator speaks sarcastically about Quixote’s and his adventures. On account of the voice of the narrator, perception is crucial relative to forming an opinion about Don Quixote and his journey of becoming a knight-errant. The constant opposition of the narrator in relation to Quixote’s goals and actions create a feeling of tension within the audience as the reader becomes perplexed in trying to figure out if Quixote’s journey can really be considered a knight’s errant. Still, despite the narrator’s sarcastic tone and Don’s idiotic actions, Don
In Dante’s, The Divine Comedy, Virgil leads Dante through the Inferno, where Dante undergoes changes in his compassion. I am going to argue that Dante expresses less compassion during his journey when Virgil leads him through the Inferno. This essay will prove how Dante shows more feelings at the beginning of the Inferno compared to the end of the Inferno.
One way in which death can be viewed comes across the Catholic religion. The Catholic believers look life after death in a prospective of three different worlds, such as Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise according to the deeds committed during life. If a person during his or her lifetime committed any sins, this person’s next world will be the Hell. The traditional view in which people refer to hell can be found in the book written by Dante Alighieri, “La Divina Commedia”. The book states that the formation of Hell was given by the crash of Lucifer (the angel that wanted to be better than God) from the sky onto the earth. Crashing on the Earth in Jerusalem, his head formed an upside down cone inside the Earth. This is where is located the Hell. In the Hell, people pay for their sins with different penitences (12-13). For instance, a person that committed homicide will freeze in a lake frozen by the breath of Satan (XXXIV canto). If a person during his or her life commits any sins but asks for forgiveness, then he or she will go to the Purgatory. The purgatory is represented by an island with a mountain (23). One source states that “Purgatory is very similar to Hell; the main difference is that one will eventually be released from torture. The souls that go in the Purgatory are tortured with fire. These souls remain in purgatory until they become sufficiently purified to enter heaven”(2). For example, if a soul in the purgatory asks for forgiveness and pays the punition with some tests, the soul will be released and moved immediately to Heaven (2).