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dante alighieri inferno essay
dantes inferno literary criticism
critical analysis of dantes inferno
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Dante Alighieri's Inferno is one of the classic works of Western Literature. Like all great works, it is a corner stone for that which follows. One such work is Neil Gaiman's Sandman, which takes Dante's concept of Hell and contorts and plays with it to an almost absurd degree. At first glance the product appears to be extremely different. In actuality it is a hidden portal to a new meaning of Dante's Inferno.
Dante the pilgrim wakes up in the Dark Wood of Error without knowing how he got there. He tries to get to the Mount of Joy, but cannot, as the Leopard of Malice and Fraud, the Lion of Violence and Ambition, and the She-Wolf of Incontinence guard it. He cannot get passed them, so Beatrice, Dante's love, sends Virgil, who represents Human Reason, to come to help him, for man cannot get through Hell without the aid of Human Reason. Apparently, Dante thinks that the intellect can keep one from sinning. However, Human Reason can only get man to Purgatory. Man needs Divine Love to reach Heaven.
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 ...
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...ope is only possible for those who are able to change. Dante isn't writing a discourse on Catholic dogma. He isn't merely writing what eternal punishments those who sin will receive. Rather, he is writing a discourse on human nature and the nature of sin. The question isn't whether Dante the poet actually believes in eternal punishment. Dante believes that it is in human nature not to change one's habits and own up to one's mistakes. If one can overcome this all-too human predilection then there is hope.
Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. Trans. Ciardi. Penguin Books, New York, 1982.
Gaiman, Neil. Preludes and Nocturnes. (Originally published in single magazine form as
The Sandman 1-8) DC Comics. New York, 1991.
----------. Season of Mists. (Originally published in single magazine form as The Sandman
21-28) DC Comics, New York, 1992.
Descending from the first to the second level of Hell, Dante witnesses the transition to greater agony and greater punishment for the damned. Overwhelmed by the sinner’s harrowing cries and the extensive list of seemingly innocent souls given to him by Virgil, Dante beckons for two lovers to approach him, desperate for some sense of comfort. The souls are known to be the historical figures Francesca de Rimini and her lover Paolo, forever trapped in the circle of lust due to their sinful adultery. Through her words spoken to Dante, Francesca shows how she feels she has been unjustly punished and is deserving of others’ sorrow, and Dante, despite his awareness that she is a sinner, pities her. A close reading of this passage is necessary to better understand Dante’s internal battle with showing compassion where it is not deserved and Francesca’s incessant denial of her sins.
Dante's Inferno is a strange journey through hell, which at times seems familiar but then sometimes seems unexpected. As an American and a Christian it is possible to think that my opinion on this could be crafted from my religion and our society, particularly its media.
“To know how hard the wind is blowing, one must set sail against the wind, to measure the force of a stream, one must swim against its current (121 Blow).” In The Inferno’s first person narrative Dante is lost in a journey, he ventures off the path and gets lost in the dark woods, and he is off on a journey to find himself. Dante is given a guide, Virgil; Virgil takes Dante on a tour of hell, all nine circles of Hell. Dante and Virgil progressed smoothly until they get to the sixth circle. Virgil tries to open the gate but fails, so they were forced to wait on an angel to force the gates open. From the seventh circle to the end is finally where Dante gets to see the more aggressive sinners. As they proceed through all the stages Dante is scared and frightened. As they get deeper and deeper into the fiery pits of Hell Dante develops a sense of compassion and he speaks of the sinners he encounters with sorrow and pity. When he hears the names of some of the sinners he feels compelle...
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
Throughout his journey Dante the pilgrims meets different souls who share their gruesome stories, and Dante the pilgrim does initially sympathize with them. Eventually as he gets lower into hell he does not pity the souls anymore. In Canto three Dante states "Inscribed on the lintel of an archway, master I said, this saying 's hard for me."(Inferno, III; 11-12). The claim can be made that Dante is very different from the dammed souls he sees in hell, and he is aware of that. In a way Dante sort of separates himself from those souls he meets. A single minded mentality is born unlike in Beowulf where his pride helps him to solve a problem that will help his
...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.
Dante’s Inferno explores a Hell made by God in his quest for justice toward unrepentant sinners on Earth. It can be assumed the punishment in Hell is a direct result of unrepentance before death on Earth, or in the words of Dante, “Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us; it is a gift” (Alighieri). Dante shows this concept in a few different ways. An example would be the lovers, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta who are condemned to the second circle of Hell due to an adulterous love affair that occurred after reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. They felt they were not responsible for their lustful adulterous actions; it is obvious to c...
Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy is said to be the single greatest epic poem of all time. The opening story of the character of Dante the Pilgrim is told in the first of the three divisions: The Inferno. The Inferno is a description of Dante’s journey down through Hell and of the several degrees of suffering and many mythical creatures that he encounters on the way. Throughout his travel Dante displays many different feelings and actions but the emotion that summarizes the entire poem is fear. While some of his character traits change as his mind matures and acknowledges the justice being carried out, from the very beginning until the final Canto, his fear does not subside. This does well to reinforce the symbolism of Dante as Everyman and serves to direct the reader to the moral purpose of Divine Comedy, because of the humility and dependence upon God that fear produces. In the first Canto, which serves as an introduction to the entire comedy, Dante encounters the three beasts which impede his progress out of the dark woods. Coming upon the She-Wolf he writes: "This last beast brought my spirit down so low / with fear that seized me at the sight of her, / lost all hope of going up the hill" (I.52-54). Dante is so shaken by the appearances of the three beasts that he rushes headlong into the dark woods he has just come out of. This is only the first obstacle Dante encounters, but it proves an insurmountable one.
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.
You soon realize that Dante and Farinata are politics and are from different parties by the way they are talking. “And if,” continuing the first discourse, “They in this art,” he cried, “small skin have shown, that doth torment me more e’en than this bed.”(Verse 74-76, Canto X) In this verse, the way he speaks indicates to you that he is a politic. You can also tell that Dante has high moral values in his party and he supports his party completely. Dante believes that you should accept the consequences of your actions which can be morally performed. “The slaughter and great havoc,” I replied, “That colour’d Arbia’s flood with crimson stain- To these impute, that in our hallow’d dome such orisons ascend.” (Verse 84-87, Canto X) This verse is proof that Dante’s morals are that there will always be a consequence for whatever bad action you do such as have a slaughter of many people and cause a lot of chaos to a city. A personal value of Dante’s is that you should care and sympathize for the people in Hell but you should learn from their actions in such a manner that you will not wind up in Hell
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
Dante experiences a vision, at the age of 35, after experiencing traumatic events in his hometown of Florence. The events that are occurring in Florence at the time are associated with papal corruption and cause Dante to be forced into exile. Following the vision, which confirms to Dante that he has strayed from the right path in life, Dante begins his travel through the three realms, which contain the possible consequences following a person’s death. Dante’s journey begins on Good Friday, when he is escorted to the gates of Hell, moves to Purgatory and ends in Heaven. However, an escort accompanies him for duration of his journey. Virgil, who Dante has long admired, escorts Dante through Hell and...
The purpose of the pilgrim's journey through hell is to show, first hand, the divine justice of God and how Christian morality dictates how, and to what degree, sinners are punished. Also, the journey shows the significance of God's grace and how it affects not only the living, but the deceased as well. During his trip through hell, the character of Dante witnesses the true perfection of God's justice in that every sinner is punished in the same nature as their sins. For instance, the wrathful are to attack each other for all eternity and the soothsayers are forever to walk around with their heads on backwards. Furthermore, Dante discovers that hell is comprised of nine different circles containing sinners guilty of one type of sin, and that these circles are in order based upon how great an opposition the sin is to Christian morality and the ultimate will of God. We see here how Christianity plays a major role in the structure of hell and the degree to which each sinner is punished. Lastly, we can look at the story and see the importance of the grace of God not only to Dante during his journey, but how it affects the souls in hell and purgatory as well.