Nine Circles Of Hell In Dante's The Inferno Of Dante

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In the epic poem of The Inferno of Dante, we are introduced to the protagonist Dante, who travels through nine circles of hell along with his “master” Virgil. This journey reveals all the depths of hell as a poem retold by Dante himself. After a quick recap of the poem in a greater detail you will soon see the many unanswered questions this book poses. The poem begins with Dante wandering through the woods pondering the rights and wrongs of life. While walking through the woods Dante becomes threatened by creatures blocking his path, but then a dead poet, he admires named Virgil comes to rescue him. Dante wants to get to the other side of the hill and Virgil will help him, but first they have to go through hell. Therefore, when Virgil arrives, he begins to take Dante through the woods to begin his guided tour of hell. When the two of them approach the first circle of hell Dante is afraid and passes out in fear (as he will continue to do throughout the story) because on the gate of hell it states, “ABANDON ALL HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE” and this was too terrifying for him. After, he awakes and is in the first circle of hell he learns that it is a place for unbaptized souls and people who lived before Christianity. These people could not be “proper” christians so they ended up here. Virgil resides in the first circle of hell along with other writers such as Homer. The second circle of hell consists of lustful sinners. This circle had greater punishment than the first and smaller than the first. Also, here is where Minos stands in front …show more content…

Considering the time in which it was written the horror of it makes sense. This book comes from the middle ages, but for modern day it seems very draconian in the punishments of the sinners. The author, Dante seems to want to frighten the people who read this book. This is because his detailed description of each layer of hell seems all too real for a human to live

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