Comparative Essay Inferno and King Lear
Throughout Dante Alighieri's poem, Inferno and William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, the common theme of justice plays a critical role throughout both pieces of literature. Often depicting just and ironic punishments to fit the crime, both pieces focus on the eventual consequences of ones actions towards others, resulting in the death of the person or the eternal damnation in which waits. Throughout King Lear, the arrogance of King Lear to not recognize Cordelias unconditional love leads to his abrupt death. Throughout Inferno Alighieri alludes to the somewhat ironic and just forms of punishment by punishing the souls of Hell such as twisting the head of people who predicted the future so then they only see what is behind them. The eventual realization of Lear and Dante both depicts the self-realization in which both protagonists perceive. Though Dante ultimately can change the outcome of his current spiritual righteousness, the repented King Lear only can watch as the actions he demonstrated results in the ultimate destruction of his idyllic scheme.
The similar theme of justice throughout Inferno and King Lear both depict the eventual consequence of ones actions throughout their existence. Often causing more harm than good, the actions in which they preform tends to damage them more than the action itself. In William Shakespeare King Lear, King Lear decides to disown Cordelia, the youngest of three daughters from owning any part of his kingdom due to the fact that Lear wanted to see which daughter loved him more in which Cordelia replied, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave, My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty, According to my bond; nor more nor less.” (Shakespeare 9) Although C...
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...e fact that Cordelia is deceased and the pain and guilt that his actions killed his daughter, is the catalyst of his apparent death.
Throughout the works of famous pieces of literature such as Dante Alighieri’s Inferno and William Shakespeare’s King Lear, the common theme of justice is prevalent throughout the works. Often resulting in physical pain, the concept of justice throughout these two works of literature reinforces the brute and cruel perspective that Dante and King Lear experience firsthand. The subsequent death of King Lear after Cordelia demonstrates the ultimate guilt in which King Lear experienced due to his arrogant and ignorant perception of the amount of love that Cordelia feels towards her father. Dante’s journey through the afterlife conveys the illumination of his transformation from a sinner who lost his path, to a spiritually righteous man.
In Dante’s Inferno, we followed Dante as he narrates his decent and observations of hell. A wonderful part of that depiction is his descriptions of the creative yet cruel punishments that each of the different sinners receive. This story is an integral part of literary history, and even if I were to have the imagination and ability of Dante Alighieri, I don’t believe I would change this tried and true version known universally.
“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
Within a lifetime, people are incapable of living a perfect life. Throughout The Inferno, Dante reveals how people's wrongdoings have consequences based on the severity of the action. Dante wrote The Inferno as a representation of how people were living their lives as sinners. In the excerpt from The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Dante shows how he begins to accept and understand the justice of punishments the sinners receive throughout his journey. Dante uses his description of the setting and his use of imagery and figurative language to show how people’s sins have consequences.
In King Lear by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare recounts the tragedy of King Lear as he fails to acknowledge his tragic flaw and thus falls into tragedy and unintentionally brings others with him. Throughout the play, tragedy befalls undeserving people and they suffer greatly even though they have not done anything to deserve their suffering. Although Gloucester, Edgar, and Cordelia all live happy lives at the beginning of the play, they experience great suffering despite their inner goodness, a fact that highlights Shakespeare’s belief about the blindness of a justice that does not necessarily strike only the wicked.
Undoubtedly, the underlying theme that resonates throughout the first part of Dante’s Divine Comedy is the notion that all worldly sins against God are balanced by punishment in Hell. In Dante’s eyes, crimes committed against God and Christianity are destined to be penalized with some type of corresponding retribution. This so-called symbolic retribution is vital to the theme of Inferno, because it provides imagery and symbolism of God’s judgement and power. For example, the Gluttonous are showered with sewage and excrement, representing how they showered themselves in life’s pleasures during their time on earth, and the Heretics lie in open flaming tombs to symbolize how they claimed a mortal spirit. Especially the latter punishment illustrates
Even though the evil characters are also dead, they deserve the punishment upon them. The death of these virtuous characters exemplifies that the presence of a “just and involved God” does not exist in a world where “nothing really matters” (Hermesmann, 4). The character’s actions in both works prove futile because tragedy transpires upon them; Cordelia and Antigone lose their life, Lear his kingdom and family, and Gloucester loses his sight. This human cruelty contributes to the scrutiny of an unjust world.
The idea of justice and equality within a culture is one of extreme importance. Not only is criminal justice important to a society, but moral equality is essential to the welfare of a civilization as well. William Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, centers on the theme of justice, or rather injustice, in the world. The foolish King Lear must navigate through a society in which the only way there can ever be justice is when humans behave justly toward each other, which very rarely happens. King Lear takes place in a world where “justice is anything but constant, and fortitude, prudence, and temperance are called into question” (Graham n.pag.). Without the help of any divine force, the existentialist characters in William Shakespeare's King
Woven into a tale that reads like a adventure in travel, Dante’s Inferno was written during a time of great transition, particularly in Western Europe. More laypeople could read and write, thus it allowed for messages to be conveyed more through imagery and metaphor rather than just the speeches of the clergy or nobility. Dante painted a picture for the people of his world and time to better understand how there was more connection between the everyday world they functioned in and the Biblical world long shrouded in mysticism. Dante overlaid his interpretation and explanation of Hell with such detail it was hard to imagine it as anything but a real, physical place one should do all they could to avoid. To that end, Dante gave examples of those condemned to the varying levels due to the corresponding degree of sin committed, thus explaining how one could also avoid such eternal doom.
Tragedy, a dramatic art form, extending back thousands of years, employs human suffering to invoke catharsis and vicarious pleasure in the audience. While deriving pleasure from viewing the suffering of others appears paradoxical, tragedies are one of the most popular forms of entertainment today. Although the elements and defining characteristics of tragedy have changed drastically throughout the years, in essence they remain the same. A tragic hero unexpectedly experiences an unprecedented calamity, often provoking pity and empathy from the audience, leading to their downfall. Shakespeare’s King Lear, one of the most noted and acclaimed examples of Shakespearean tragedy, details the story of Lear, an aged and maddening king, who decides to bequeath his land to his three daughters while still attempting to retain
King Lear and Cordelia become captured by Edmund’s army and are taken to prison. There, Edmund gives the order for Cordelia to be hung. King Lear is so distraught by her death that he asks, “why should a dog or horse or rat have life, but not you?” (V.iii.314-315). Lear clearly understands that his daughter’s death was a huge injustice. She was the one daughter who was loyal and honest towards him and her, “outcome does not correspond to the characters' merits (Kullmann, 209). These clear visions are in contrast to his poor judgement at the beginning of the play where he, “caved into flattery” (I.i.147) and gave his kingdom to Goneril and Regan. King Lear definitely became more aware of what was occurring around
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.
People in today’s world are more open-minded and opinionated than ever before. This has changed the way literature is viewed today. There are many social groups with different ideologies all who view works of literature in their own way. Although authors express their ideas in their own words the different types of readers can interpret it with their own meaning. In one piece of literature, Dante’s Inferno, the author’s trip through hell can be viewed and interpreted in many ways. An individual can perceive different meanings from Dante’s Inferno based on their beliefs and background.
An Analysis of Divine Justice in King Lear: What the Character’s Deaths revealed about Justice
"Shakespeare has suffered the virtue of Cordelia to perish in a just cause, contrary to the natural ideas of justice, to the hope of the reader, and , what is yet more strange, to the faith of the chronicles . . . A play in which the wicked prosper, and the virtuous miscarry . . . the audience will not always rise better pleased from the final triumph of persecuted virtue."