However, through the admonishments of Virgil, it becomes apparent that there exist two distinct ways of perceiving: practical, active observation and unreceptive, disadvantageous perception. It is through practical and active observation that Dante comprehends the lessons of his journey. Unreceptive perception fails to provide valuable information for Dante to use during his life on Earth. In addition, with practical, active observation, Dante not only learns about the sinners but he learns about himself when his journey is reflected by a living soul in hell. Dante successfully completes his journey of enlightenment though hell by learning through active observation and self-reflection about himself and his journey.
He also gives his readers a glimpse into his own perception of what constitutes sin. By portraying characters in specific ways, Dante the writer can shape what Dante the pilgrim feels about each sinner. Also, the reader can look deeper in the text and examine the feelings that Dante, as a writer and exiled Florentine, may have felt about his particular characters. Dante shows through his poetry some admiration for certain sinners, as if in life he had reason to respect their actions on earth, only to mourn their souls' fate. In the case of Pier Delle Vigne, it is clear that Dante wishes to clear the name of the damned soul that has been conscripted to hell for the shame of unjust dishonor.
He was a pious man whose own experiences in a corrupt society shaped his writing style and the symbolism he included in his stories. There are graphic details of each circle of hell by describing the appropriate judgement of each sin. In essence, the condemned are those who ignored with God’s laws and eluded His spirit. He describes the different realms of Hell and always descripts the emotions he is feeling in order for the reader to understand the severity of what he has witnessed. The comedy is supposed to symbolize the world we reside in; and Dante’s journey into the afterlife evaluates the human struggles when confronted with sin whether they conquer or succumb to it.
(Dante. 4-15 Along with ... ... middle of paper ... ...ing devoured for all eternity for example; one believes that this would be a better punishment. In conclusion, allegorically, Dante’s Inferno represents the soul seeing corruption and sin for what it really is. Dante as a writer creates a lot of tension between unbiased punishment of Gods justice and the sympathy of Dante for the lost souls he sees around him. As Dante travels further into hell Dante feels less inclined toward pity for the souls, because the sins become so great that even Dante feels that they deserve what they are getting.
Just as Aristotle gives a framework with which to judge virtuous action, so Dante presents a framework with which to punish actions deemed outside of virtue. In Dante’s Inferno we meet non-Christians, those not baptized, whom God punishes according to the severity of their sin. At the entrance to Hell, Dante reads an inscription above the gate that says, “Abandon every hope, you who enter here” (Dante 1416). Hell is a place of stasis—the dead found there can never leave. Drawing from Homer’s Odyssey, this essay explores the actions of Odysseus’ son Telémakhos.
Virgil functions as the pilgrim’s guide and poetic inspiration, and despite his position in hell as a pagan, Virgil still transmits divinely-inspired language to his pupil. Thus, notwithstanding his amorphous physicality as a shade in hell, Virgil represents lucidity and focused thought, which comforts the pilgrim and provides a reprieve from hell’s dissonant sounds. Ultimately, the pilgrim’s relationship to language is multifarious: it enables the pilgrim to connect with Virgil and discover his place in the tradition of famous poets through divinely-inspired and intimate speech; yet, it isolates and horrifies him when it is incomprehensible, amplifying his individual suffering; thus, ultimately drawing him closer to his understanding of the shades’ own torture. Virgil’s enlightened language spawns partially from Beatrice, a divine inhabitant of heaven, who worries about the well-being of the pilgrim, and partially from his status in a long tradition of famous poets, beginning with Homer. Yet, despite Virgil’s association with enlightened and elevated ... ... middle of paper ... ... His relationship to Virgil is enriched by their similar relationship to language as poets, and by the challenge of creating a poetic legacy on earth that counters the legacy of the tower of Babel in hell.
(The devout are able to identify this power with the one Judeo-Christian God, while pagans and sinners often attribute the impetus behind the Pilgrim’s voyage to fate.) Dante’s initial reaction to meeting Virgil reveals his penchant for the worldly as opposed to the divine. He addresses Virgil humbly, his words dripping with praise. “Are you then that Virgil, you the fountain/ that freely... ... middle of paper ... ...an-Islamic notion of the heavenly father and his love for mankind are striking. God loves us and wants nothing more than that we be saved from Hell.
In The Inferno, Dante journeys into Hell to find redemption for his sins because he chose to live a life less virtuous. His trip to Hell is to help him conquer his sins and discover God’s love. Dante represents the everyday sinner, and The Inferno is a poem that gives the reader hope for redemption while also depicting the what happens when redemption is not reached, the wrath of God’s perfect justice. Dante’s tour of Hell is to gain insight of the very difference between sins on Earth and the punishment for sins in Hell, or contrapasso. In order for Dante to elude contrapasso, he must go through Hell and see God’s punishment for each sin and truly repent to avoid the fate of sinners.
In The Inferno of Dante, Dante creates a striking correspondence between a soul’s sin on Earth and the punishment it receives in hell for that sin. This simple idea serves to illuminate one of Dante’s recurring themes: the perfection of god’s justice. Bearing the inscription the gates of hell explicitly state that god was moved to create hell by justice. Wisdom was employed to know what punishments would be just, power to create the forms of justice, and love to show that the punishments are conditioned with compassion, however difficult it may be to recognize (and the topic of a totally separate paper). Certainly then, if the motive of hell’s creation was justice, then its purpose was (and still is) to provide justice.
In The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri there are two main guides who help Dante on his journey to salvation. These guides help demonstrate the consequences of sin and teach him how to overcome the temptation of it. These guides are each a crucial part in Dante’s transformation to allow him to fully grow and learn to be pure on his own. Dante needed two main guides to help him take on the arduous task of changing his sinful ways to save him from himself, he needed both guides because each taught him very different but very valuable things. These guides where chosen because of various aspects that allow they to teach Dante to the best.