“Abandon all hope ye who enter here” (The Inferno, Cantos III). This line which is inscribed above the gates of Hell, and notably one of the most iconic lines from Dante Alighieri’s, The Inferno, describes what horrors await one inside Hell. Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy, while in exile from his home and birth place, Florence. The Divine Comedy is not only a physical, but spiritual journey which consists of three parts. Part one is The Inferno where Dante journeys through Hell with his guide, the Roman poet Virgil. Part two is called, Purgatory where Dante travels through the place where the souls still have hope to enter heaven. Finally, the last part of the Comedy, is Paradise where Dante gets to see the thrown of God. The Inferno Dante is just like everyone else in regards to knowing absolutely nothing of Hell. It can be said that one reason that Dante wrote The Inferno was for a moral purpose. To point out to the living the error of their ways and to turn them to the path of salvation. Dante creates his own vision of Hell, but nobody knows for sure if Hell is really like he describes. It could be less violent or it could be unimaginably worse. Of course, the threat of Hell can only work if someone believes in the notion of Hell and Heaven and ultimately, if they believe in God. Addressing this issue, Dante awards places in The Inferno for those who do not believe. There is a special area in Hell for those who were born before the practice of Christianity and therefore they couldn’t believe in God. “These were sinless. And still there merits fail, for they lacked Baptism’s grace, which is the door of the true faith you were born to. Their births fell before the age of the Christians mysteries, and so they did not worship God’s Trinity in fullest duty” (The Inferno, Canto IV). His guide, Virgil says that is where he resides. There also is another category of sinners who are punished for their beliefs. “All around are flames and red-hot tombs from which wailings come forth. Virgil explains to the pilgrim that here are buried the souls of the many and various heretics, who burn “The Inferno describes a situation in which the incarcerated have no hope and no possibilities” (Baur). Dante portrays Hell as the condition of the soul after death in which is influenced by the choices made in life. “Constructed as a huge funnel with nine descending circular ledges, Dante 's Hell is a vast and meticulously organized torture chamber in which sinners, carefully and almost pedantically classified according to the nature of their sins, suffer hideous punishment, often depicted with ghoulish attention to detail” (“Dante”). Many of the punishments are very cruel and unusual such as the punishments for suicides. One who has killed his/herself, becomes a tree and is pecked at by harpies. When a branch or twig breaks, it is the equivalent of a human being dismembered. Another group punished is the profligates (those who did not value their earthly goods), “Behind these two the wood was overrun by packs of black bitches ravenous and ready, like hunting dogs just broken from their chains; they sank their fangs in that poor wretch who hid, they ripped him open pieces by pieces, and then ran off with mouthfuls of his wretched limbs” (The Inferno, Canto XIII). There are even more horrifying and painful punishments in The Inferno. This fear of everlasting pain succeeds in acting as a threat to get people to act morally
Dante Alighieri created The Divine Comedy around the time he was exiled from Florence Italy. The Divine Comedy is made up to three books that’s called inferno, purgatory and paradise. The inferno tells the story about him entering the nine circles with a fellow poet Vigil. During the journey are many Historical, Social and Cultural Context.
Anyone who has read Dante’s Inferno is familiar with a certain main character, Virgil. Who is this Virgil that Dante put in his book and where did Dante get the idea of having Virgil as his guide on Dante’s journey through the spirit world? In addition to Virgil, readers of Inferno are also familiar with concepts and characters such as God, angles, demons, Satan, and Hell. Where did Dante get these concepts? Dante did not come up with these ideas on his own, but used familiar characters and places from outside sources such as the Aeneid and the Bible to create his epic poem.
“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
“They couldn't bear the idea of death being a big black nothing, couldn't bear the thought of their loved ones not existing, and couldn't even imagine themselves not existing. I finally decided that people believed in an afterlife because they couldn't bear not to.” (Green) The Divine Comedy is a text that is divided into three parts, the most famous of which being Inferno. Inferno follows Dante through his epic journey through the nine circles of hell in his attempt to achieve a higher understanding of the afterlife. Dante is a man that seems to have, both physically and metaphorically wandered into a very dark place. He has begun to sin without repentance, due to the fact that he doesn’t have a broad understanding of the real repercussions
In the Inferno we follow the journey of Dante as he wanders off the path of moral truth and into Hell. The Virgin Mary and Santa Lucia ask Beatrice, Dante’s deceased love, to send some help. Thus, Virgil comes to the rescue and essentially guides Dante through Hell and back to the mortal world from which he came. However, things begin to seem kind of odd. When reading the Inferno one may begin to question the way Dante describes Hell and the things that occur within, or even the things we have always believed about Hell. Despite the way it is described and well known in western civilization, Hell is not at all how we expect it to be because of Dante's use of irony throughout this poetic masterpiece.
...ards monstrous figures and sympathy towards those who seem to be tortured unjustly. In his perverse education, with instruction from Virgil and the shades, Dante learns to replace mercy with brutality, because sympathy in Hell condones sin and denies divine justice. The ancient philosopher Plato, present in the first level of Hell, argues in The Allegory of the Cave that truth is possible via knowledge of the Form of the Good. Similarly, Dante acquires truth through a gradual understanding of contrapasso and the recognition of divine justice in the afterlife. Ultimately, Dante recognizes that the actions of the earthly fresh are important because the soul lives on afterwards to face the ramifications. By expressing his ideas on morality and righteousness, Dante writes a work worth reading, immortalizes his name, and exalts the beliefs of his Christian audience.
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.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
Dante's "Inferno" is full of themes. But the most frequent is that of the weakness of human nature. Dante's descent into hell is initially so that Dante can see how he can better live his life, free of weaknesses that may ultimately be his ticket to hell. Through the first ten cantos, Dante portrays how each level of his hell is a manifestation of human weakness and a loss of hope, which ultimately Dante uses to purge and learn from. Dante, himself, is about to fall into the weaknesses of humans, before there is some divine intervention on the part of his love Beatrice, who is in heaven. He is sent on a journey to hell in order for Dante to see, smell, and hear hell. As we see this experience brings out Dante's weakness' of cowardice, wrath and unworthiness. He is lead by Virgil, who is a representation of intellect. Through Dante's experiences he will purge his sins.
Dante passes through the gate of Hell, which reads, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here (Dante 42)." At the end of his journey, Dante comes to realize what that means. As Dante descends through each level of Hell, he sees how every sinful act is punished accordingly. He passes by the Opportunists, who were neither for good or bad. Because they chose neither, they are placed in neither Hell nor Heaven. The Carnal are eternally whirled around, just as in life, the souls were led by their emotions. These punishments are everlasting. This is the meaning of the inscription, " Abandon all hope ye who enter here (Dante 42)." Dante goes though the Inferno and learns what eternal torture is. The souls he meets in torment will never receive ...
To begin, pain is an ideal threat that Dante provides in the idea of hell. When the thought of hell arises, one of the very first things that comes to mind is pain. The pain of realization that you are going to spend the rest of eternity in purgatory is very excruciating. “May you weep and wail for all of eternity.” (pg.81) This quote from Dante’s Inferno states just what kind of pain there will be if a person went to hell. Weeping knowing that for the rest of eternity there will be only pain, and heartache. “Heartbreak is like one big emotional pain but it also seems to spark off hundreds of other emotions. We hate the feeling of heartbreak, and yet we find ourselves compelled to go over and over memories, ideas or fantasies which make the feeling worse. “ As Dr. Edward E. Smith states, heartache is one of the worst feelings that a person can face. After realizing the kind of heartache and pain that going to hell can cause, people will be more tempted to act morally correct. Hell has...
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
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
As mentioned above, the structure of Hell is determined by the sins people commit during their lifetime (the specific morals people disobey) and how ‘bad’ these sins are considered to be (within their respective divisions). The sins being described in The Inferno abide by the rules written for the Catholic religion in The Bible, which is why The Inferno is often viewed as a religious text. This explains why Aristotle and Dante would disagree on a few key points of what it means to be virtuous. Aristotle is adamant about not having excess nor deficiency and rather finding a middle ground (mean), whereas Dante abides by the virtues laid out in The Bible. Hell usually personifies what would be considered excessive rather than deficiency in Aristotle’s code of ethics because of its background in the Catholic religion. One example of this exists with humility. In the Catholic context, humility stands a virtue that is praised in The Bible (and therefore Inferno) whereas in Nicomachean Ethics humility is a vice to be looked down on. This continues to be the case with many different excesses and virtues for
In Dante’s Inferno, those who never repented for their sins are sent there after death. Like the old Latin proverb says, “The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation.” (“Latin Proverb Quotes” ThinkExist) The punishments in his Hell are decided by the law of retribution, which according to Webster’s Dictionary is the total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny. (“Retribution” Merriam-Webster) Therefore, Dante creates a variety of reprimands for the three different types of sins: incontinence, violence, and fraudulence. These penalties can also be referred to as allegories because of their hidden moral meaning. The three best allegories in Dante’s Inferno describe the flatterers, fortune tellers, and suicides.