DreamWorks' Characters and their Resemblance to the Sins in Dante's Inferno

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Recommended: Dante's inferno analysis

Lindsey’s Inferno

“ They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and the majesty of his power” 2 Thessalonians 1:9

Dante created a journey through hell specifically to point out those living in the error of their ways and to put them on the path of salvation during his time. The order of hell and the punishments directly related to his era and his point of view. In order to modernize his inferno you have to look at our civilization and how the majority of people view different sins.

Based on much research, I have personally come up with the order: Pagans/Heretics, Lustful, Greedy, Betrayers, Prideful, Fraudulence, Thievery, and Violence. Dante’s order is pagans, lust, gluttony, wasters/hoarders, wrathful/sullen, heretics, violent, fraud, treachery. As you can see I kept the pagans as first but added heresy because 70% of Americans believe that multiple religions can lead you to forgiveness (New York Times). Although heresy is still considered a sin in modern Christian beliefs, most people don’t think of it as a big deal so that is why it is added to the first circle. I kept lustful as second because it is a sin that everyone commits at some point in his or her life. I then combined Dante’s gluttonous, wasters, and hoarders into the greedy. This term is a modern day word that means having or showing an intense and selfish desire for something. Wasters, hoarders and the gluttonous all basically commit acts of selfishness constantly. Next are those that betray people. This sin was included in Dante’s eighth sin of fraudulence. It is fourth because it is a sin that many people commit in their lives. It can be as simple as talking behind your friends back or as big as givin...

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...chery because it is just a more severe word for violence but it doesn’t really mean anything different. I combined wasters, hoarders, and gluttony together because they all are a part of greed. I took out the sullen and the wrathful because as we have modernized, we have found that these emotions can almost be considered diseases and therefore are uncontrollable. As Dante says it best “The customs and fashions of men change like the leaves, some of which go; others come.”

Bibliography

Alighieri, Dante, and John Ciardi. The Inferno. New York: Signet Classic, 2001.

Bannerjee, Neela. "Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance." New York Times. 19 May 2014. .

"Fraud." Law.com. Web. 19 May 2014. .

“Theft.” Law.com. Web. 19 May 2014. .

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