The Inferno: Familiar yet Foreign

All authors are faced with a common first dilemma: how to get the public interested in reading their work, after all if the book was not read then no amount of information would be pertinent. This is what caused Shakespeare to begin Macbeth with a battle scene, and, according to Thomas Bergin's essay Hell: Topography and Demography, this is also what caused Dante to start The Divine Comedy with the Inferno; "Dante puts forth a great and calculated effort in the first chapter of his tale in order to seize our interest" . Focusing on the idea that Dante always had his audience in mind, Bergin claims that from the story telling perspective the Inferno is the richest of the three canticles; rich in action, variety, characterization, and dramatic description. This richness is necessary for a particular allegory "for there is but one way to salvation and there are many avenues of error" .

Bergin introduces the relevance of the topography of the Inferno by first pointing out that in a way Dante's depiction of Hell coincides with his depiction of the other two realms. While Hell descends in a circular pattern Purgatory ascends, "It [Hell] is a kind of mirror image of Purgatory" . After mentioning some of the similarities in the symbols between Hell and Purgatory, Bergin begins with his analysis of the topography of Hell. Explained by the difficulty of moving from circle to circle, Bergin's analysis characterizes the Inferno with separation and individuality. The Inferno, Bergin says, seizes our attention because of the vivid description and variety of the landscape; there are deserts, forests, swamps, rivers, and even ice. Bergin also posits that the Inferno is much like earth and that the effect not only ...

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...the Italians, even the ones without speaking parts, are the majority; recall that in large groups Italians are generally the majority. Such a predicament is explained by the fact that Dante, being an exceptional storyteller, always had his audience in mind. Naming familiar characters was one of Dante's methods of keeping his readers interested. This also explains why Dante names "souls of distinction" , souls who in their earthly lives where famous. Had Dante named more foreign or unknown characters, his audience would not have maintained interest.

Dante has many purposes for the Inferno. One of which is as a tool to grasp the audience's interest. His methods include vivid, and sometimes shocking, descriptions, and invocation of elements that are familiar to the audience. Overall Bergin's opinions are in accord with my own understanding of the poem.