Essay Canto 8 of Dante’s Inferno

Throughout the poem, Virgil uses logic and reason to convince the monsters to allow him to gain passage to the various circles of Hell. The use of characters and mentors is distinct in each piece. "The Allegory of the Cave" presents few characters, and except for the one prisoner who ascends from the cave, none are distinguished from the others. The one freed prisoner attempts to become a mentor to the others but fails.

But Virgil comes to the poor, powerless Dante. He will never really do anything alone from this point on, which is good because in order for Dante to understand and learn he must have a teacher, t here must be some authority for Dante. There is a grey hound that is mentioned (canto 1, line 78-88, Alighieri). I think that this grey hound is Virgil, because he represents the savior of Dante. He is said to represent intellect, and in Dante's mind that is what is needed to be reasonable, and reason conquers all desires and weaknesses.

Dante as a madman is defined as well as understood as an irrational figure, a figure possessing qualities that contradict Dante the poet who in turn is rational and calculated through his use of language within Inferno. The idea of madness can be portrayed in various different ways, one being to be in a state of madness (a madman), is to be, “mentally ill”, or otherwise to be someone that portrays irrationality in their actions (Soanes, Hawker and Elliott 2006). Wilson considers two such contrasting characteristics (the scholarly poet as well as the irrational madman) to derive from one Dante Alighieri: the author as well as creator of the Inferno. Such a form of malice can be seen through the idea of revenge, an intention to harm on a personal level. In the eighth canto through Dante’s encounter with Filippo Argenti, a political figure representing Dante’s opposition in political Florence during the thirteenth century, whom attempts to violently attack Dante

Dante's and Virgil's scorn seems at first glance to echo the sin of intemperate anger which infects the foul waters of the Stygian marsh. Filippo Argenti, the weeping sinner who emerges from the mire, is eternally punished for his anger. However, the pilgrim's denunciation of Filippo is not only permitted, but lauded by Virgil with the praise given Jesus: "Blessed is the womb

In this quote, the author is showing how Dante’s finally learns about how he has gotten mistreated throughout the whole prison affair. I chose this quote because it shows the how gullible and trusting Dante’s was as a person and how it quickly changed into a fury that would not be extinguished.

Dante’s work Inferno is a vivid walkthrough the depths of hell and invokes much imagery, contemplation and feeling. Dante’s work beautifully constructs a full sensory depiction of hell and the souls he encounters along the journey. In many instances within the work the reader arrives at a crossroads for interpretation and discussion. Canto XI offers one such crux in which Dante asks the question of why there is a separation between the upper levels of hell and the lower levels of hell. By discussing the text, examining its implications and interpretations, conclusions can be drawn about why there is delineation between the upper and lower levels and the rationale behind the separation.

In the 24th canto of Dante’s “Inferno”, we see how Dante depicts forgiveness and the idea keeping an excellent mindset through troubling times by enlisting an epic simile. “The peasants who lack fodder then arise and look about and see the fields all white… go back to the house, walk here and here, pacing, fretting, wondering what to do… I saw my masters eyebrows lower, and my spirits fell and I was sorely vexed”. This quotation compares Virgil to a humble farmer: both are stumped by a seemingly impossible problem to conquer, are both mad that it’s happening and also that no matter what they can’t overcome it. However, both stories continue, “Despair falls from them when they see how the earth’s face has changed in in so little time… he stood and turned on me that sweet and open look”. We see that, like how the farmer is pleased to see that winter has finished so he can feed his herd, Virgil has seen that there is another way down. This simile that shows forgiveness is an important and underlying theme through the entire comedy. Had all of these people repented and asked forgiveness while still in their mortal life then they would have to suffer tar pits or hands bound by snakes. This is also a subliminal message to those that read it that he should no longer be banished from Florence.

Dante is like the son Virgil never had. This comes to light most apparently in their flight from the two-timing demons. In lifting Dante to his chest and carrying him as he sprints toward safety, Virgil becomes a mother figure to the terrified Dante. Hmmm, father and mother? You’re right in guessing that something bigger is going on here. As an unofficial poet laureate of the Romans, Virgil is a kind of patron spirit of Italy. Moreover, as the consummate speaker and writer of Latin – the ancestor language of Italian – Virgil is, in a sense, the fore-father of Dante’s native language. The two poets’ kinship traces back to their respective languages.

In Dante’s Inferno, the relationship between Dante the Pilgrim and Virgil the Guide is an ever-evolving one. By analyzing the transformation of this relationship as the two sojourn through the circles of hell, one is able to learn more about the mindset of Dante the Poet.  At the outset, Dante is clearly subservient to Virgil, whom he holds in high esteem for his literary genius. However, as the work progresses, Virgil facilitates Dante’s spiritual enlightenment, so that by the end, Dante has ascended to Virgil’s spiritual level and has in many respects surpassed him. In Dante’s journey with respect to Virgil, one can see

Dante’s descent into Hell in Inferno, the first part of his Divine Comedy, tells of the author’s experiences in Hades as he is guided through the abyss by the Roman author, Virgil. The text is broken into cantos that coincide with the different circles and sub-circles of Hell that Dante and Virgil witness and experience. Inferno is heavily influenced by classic Greek and Roman texts and Dante makes references to a myriad of characters, myths, and legends that take place in Virgil’s Aeneid, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Some of the most important references, however, are the most obvious ones that are easily overlooked simply because of the fact that they are so blatant. Dante is being escorted through Hell by the

American Educator Susan Blow studied Dante’s Inferno with great respect to the implements of ethics and theology. “In the following excerpt, she discusses the Inferno from an ethical and theological point of view, explaining that divine retribution implies man's fundamental ethical responsibility, and that ‘Hell is the Creator's final tribute of respect to the being he made in his own image’ “ (Blow, para 1). Blow clearly understood Dante’s views and states, “His poem is not individual but universal; he utters not his own thought, but the unformulated creed of Christendom. Nay, he reaches beyond Christianity and speaks to the universal conscience of humanity—that inward witness which is always calling upon man to rejoice in his freedom and tremble before the responsibility bound up with it” (Blow, para 2).

Violence without consideration, striking out at another in anger, frustration, hatred or selfish ambition is inherent in the nature of these actions. Accordingly Dante interprets them as being less detrimental to one's being than crimes of thought and meditation.

Dante and Machiavelli define opposite sides of the Renaissance in several ways.  Certainly the former believes that God will reveal all and call people to account for their behavior, while the latter gives every sign of believing in no God and supposing that scrupulous behavior only makes one a target for ruthless exploitation.  This difference in the two could be expressed in terms of religious faith—but they could also be said to have differing views of human nature.  Try to get to the heart of the distinction.  Why is Machiavelli’s sense of right and wrong so opposed to Dante’s?

Dante however proves himself to be a hypocrite and often reflects his own sins and hubris in his work. His guide throughout hell, and later purgatory, is none other than Virgil, one of history’s finest and most accomplished epic poets. In the very first circle of hell, Limbo, he places himself among the other great epic poets: “He is Homer, sovereign poet, next comes Horace the satirist, Ovid is third, the last is Lucan. ‘Since each is joined to me in the name the one voice uttered, they do me honor and doing so, do well.’ There I saw assembled the fair school of the lord of loftiest song, soaring like an eagle far above the rest. After they conversed a while, they turned to me with signs of greeting, and my master smiled at this. And then they showed me greater honor still, for they made me one of their company, so I became the sixth amidst such wisdom.”-Divine Comedy, Dante’s Inferno, Canto IV, lines 88-102.

The connection between Dante and Virgil, however, goes beyond a simple mentor/student relationship. Dante and Virgil are united in their craft, which is to produce literature and communicate through words. They are both poets who, by depicting hell in their works, face the challenge of answering to blasphemy. This common thread is emphasized by the fact the passage about the Old Man is told in the Circle of the Violent Against God. The only way to be violent against God, i.e. to deny his existence, is through words. In this context, the Old Man shows how Dante and Virgil are united through their literary craft. Furthermore, Dante the poet very carefully places this message in the Circle of the Violent Against God, and not in the Eight Circle of Fraud, suggesting that Dante and Virgil do not intend to blaspheme.