Dantes Inferno In Today's Society

Often, we cannot see the good until we have experienced the bad. Dante Alighieri, a poet who makes himself the main character in his Divine Comedy, finds himself lost in a dark wood at the start of The Inferno. Though he sees a safe path out of the wood towards an alluring light, he is forced to take an alternate route through an even darker place. As the ending of the pilgrim Dante’s voyage is bright and hopeful, Alighieri the poet aims to encourage even the most sinful Christians to hope for a successful end. Thus, Dante the pilgrim goes to hell in The Inferno to better understand the nature of sin and its consequences in order to move closer to salvation; his journey an allegory representing that of the repenting Christian soul.

Dante is a poet who wrote an epic poem called, The Divine Comedy. This epic poem is about Dante’s journey as he goes through 3 levels, which he calls Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. In the Inferno, he meets Virgil who ends up being his guide throughout his voyage. They both pass through the nine circles of Hell where they witness many different punishments for those who have done awful things in their past. In the Inferno, there are times where Dante sees good and evil, but also represents it himself.

The Inferno is a tale of cautionary advice. In each circle, Dante the pilgrim speaks to one of the shades that reside there and the readers learn how and why the damned have become the damned. As Dante learns from the mistakes of the damned, so do the readers. And as Dante feels the impacts of human suffering, so do the readers. Virgil constantly encourages Dante the pilgrim to learn why the shades are in Hell and what were their transgressions while on Earth. This work’s purpose is to educate the reader. The work’s assertions on the nature of human suffering are mostly admonition, with each shade teaching Dante the pilgrim and by extension the reader not to make the same mistakes. Dante views his journey through hell as a learning experience and that is why he made it out alive.

More commonly known as Dante, Inferno, The Divine Comedy: Inferno is a telling of Dante the pilgrim’s journey though the many rings of Hell by Dante Alighieri. At the time of its creation the poem carried a lot of weight by using nearly all of the prominent figures of the time to establish the dos and don’ts of Christianity. For example, when Dante’s journey begins he finds himself in the circle of the lustful where he lays his eyes on many recognizable figures that even those of us today can recognize, those such as; Dido, Helen of Troy, and Achilles. The story very carefully exaggerates the cardinal sin of these people in a way that clearly lines out how it lead to their doom, a brilliant teaching tool for new Christians. However, this

Joseph Miller English 231 4-27-15 Justice and Pity in Dante’s Inferno Dante was obviously very interested in the underworld, and afterlife. His work regarding hell included references to many historical figures, political leaders, and Greek gods. I found the most interesting aspect of this story to be the relationship between crime and punishment, or simply put, justice. In Inferno, Dante tells us that god had created Hell for justice.

Dante’s The Inferno takes the ideas of the ancient world and puts them into a “Christian format” to express the deeper and more divine meanings behind them. Dante is conveying the message that all actions of human beings are actions of God’s universe. In The Inferno, it clear that the punishment a soul has in Hell is a reflection of the “sin” the soul committed on Earth. In the First Circle of Hell, Dante meets the “Virtuous Pagans”.

In Dante’s Inferno, the Roman-Italian poet Dante paints a horrifyingly detailed and illuminated visual walkthrough of the entirety of his journey through the caverns and levels of hell. On his journey, guided by the dead poet Virgil, Dante meets and sees a large variety of deceased individuals from many periods of time, and is able to interact with them in specific ways, and learn from them the deeper purposes of the inferno in which he walked. From these individuals, Dante learned to be accepting of the horrors that he was presented whilst within the inferno, that that which he saw was fair and deserving punishments, from limbo to the 9th realm of hell. It must not be forgotten however, that the placement of each of these individuals comes from within the mind of Dante himself, and with a closer look it becomes very easy to see the bias that Dante held while constructing this poem. This placement serves to open to the reader to a piece of the mind of Dante, into his own feelings and predilections regarding religion, politics, and philosophy. Using a selection of the individuals Dante stumbles across in the fires of hell, it is possible to see very specifically both what Dante hated or disliked in that person, in addition to his feelings over all to a group of people, grouped in the mind of Dante either by occupation, by origin, or by practice. Let’s begin this insight with the some of the first people that Dante meets.

In a horrific burning plain, is where you will spend eternity for being with your same sex lover! Dante wanted to bring an end to immoral behaviors in Florence. Dante was born to a family that liked getting involved in the multifaceted Florentine political arena. He was born in the year 1295. The political setting that his parents were used to became a key theme in Inferno. According to historical findings, his mother passed away when Dante was 12 years of age. When he became of age, he was arranged for a lady who he would later marry, but was in love with another lady. After the death of his loved one, Dante began to venture into the field of philosophy and issues dealing with the political environment of Florence. Because of the writings that he wrote to the Florentine government, the Florentine leaders exiled him after falling out of favor. Being exiled from Florence was a great success for him because it was the period in which he became involved with his artistic work. He soon then wrote he Inferno, which was a section of the Divine Comedy. He later completed all the sections of the Divine Comedy, which is a comedy symbolizing the human life which he presented as a visionary journey through the Christian afterlife. He wrote the comedy to warn the corrupt society in order to lead a life of being just and righteous. In his comedy, he talks about the sin of homosexuality. Homosexuality or sodomy is a sinful practice which leads to destruction of souls and is found in

Dante’s writing of The Divine Comedy is not only physical journey, but a spiritual one as well. The Inferno is the story of the character Dante and his travels through Hell. Dante has lost his path in finding God due to sin. Before he can get back on his path towards Heaven, Dante must go through each ring of Hell, seeing all of the punishments that sinners are given according to God’s justice.

Dante, full name Dante Alighieri, is an epic poet who hailed from the Late Middle Ages of Italy, he was the brilliant writer behind The Divine Comedy. Dante wasn’t a follower, he was a “trend - setter”. Dante was one of the first writers of his time to write in the Tuscan dialect whereas most of his peers only wrote in Latin. This undertaking led to Dante unintentionally playing a paramount role in the creation of the Italian language. Dante was born in the year 1265 and died in 1321 a year after finishing writing The Divine Comedy. Unfortunately, Dante did not get a chance to have a relationship with his mother, she died just a few years after he was birthed into the world. In 1285, Dante married a woman by the name of Gemma Donati when he was 20 years of age. They were arranged to be together since his age, of just 12 years old. Dante wasn’t in love with Gemma, he was in love with another woman, named Beatrice Portinari. Dante even went as far as incorporating Beatrice in his epic poem, she served as the pillar to The Divine Comedy. Dante’s epoch-making also influenced the art culture in a vast way, many well-known artists created paintings of his depictions of hell, and heaven.

Dante’s Inferno’s central theme is God sees all of the sins people partake in their lives. Once you enter hell you will be punished for those sins according to the severity. You will endure a punishment that matches the sin you committed. Dante’s Inferno is a very imaginative way to look at crime and punishment. The story is made up of three different parts told by three people. A pilgrim is lead on journey by Virgil, Beatrice, and Saint Bernard. Virgil takes him through Hell and the Purgatory. Hell was created when Satan fell from heaven and became lodged into the center of the earth. The mountain of Purgatory was created when land was pushed down into the earth opposite the future site of Jerusalem where a passage was created and lead to the southern hemisphere as a result of Satan’s fall into the earth. Beatrice takes him through Paradise. Paradise sits on top of the Purgatory and is where Adam and Eve first dwelt Eden. Bernard prepares him for his final union with the godhead. The union with the godhead is the end of the journey when the pilgrim experiences love and reason. Hell is made up of nine different levels and each houses different severity of sins and the people who occupy these levels endure a different punishment. As the crime gets worse on each level the punishment is also more sever. The nine levels of Hell are Limbo, Lustful, Gluttonous, Avaricious, Wrathful, Heretics, Violent, Ordinary Fraud, and Treacherous Fraud. These are listed from the lesser sinful

Dante Alighieri’s Inferno is the first of three books in The Divine Comedy. A “comedy” in Dante’s time didn’t mean what it means today: a comedy was a piece of literature that moved from dark to light or from damnation to salvation in the eyes of God. In The Inferno, Dante delves into darkness and damnation, and his view of the nature of Hell. Dante was a devout Catholic, so most of his inspiration for The Inferno came from the Bible. In Dante’s version of Hell, there are nine circles that reach to the center of the Earth: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice and Prodigality, Wrath and Sullenness, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. Those who commit the least severe sins are put near the top, as in Limbo, and the worst sins at the bottom come with the worst punishments. Dante, the character in the book, is escorted by the poet Virgil to literally explore Dante’s descent into sin. To better understand the book's concept of sin, the reader should compare the least sinful part of Hell, Limbo, to the most sinful part of Hell, the ninth circle where Satan is kept.

Knowledge is a fundamental component of being human. The ability to comprehend information, apply it to the future as well as understand the past, is remarkable. Without knowledge, there could be no critical thinking, empathy, or technological progress. This is an incredible ingredient of our makeup that touches every aspect of human life, and arguably the ingredient that makes us human. The great scholars and philosophers have understood this for thousands of years and have documented as such in their works. The Biblical Genesis, which purportedly describes the first humans, shows how knowledge was first obtained, showing from an early age that man understood its importance. Aesop’s fables from ancient times use the acquisition and application of knowledge as a cornerstone for their construction. Homer’s Odyssey and Dante’s Inferno, both great recognized works, demonstrate protagonists with prudent minds, and the rewards that follow their actions. Prudence was a highly valued attribute to these authors, in which knowledge, both possessing and applying, is the key to the successes and failures of their characters, and also from a religious aspect, a determiner of their ultimate fates.

According to Dante, the Inferno is “”””””"not simple but... endowed with many meanings. The first is called ”"literal”" and the second, ”"allegorical”" or ”"mystical””."”"1 He used the literal meaning of the Inferno mainly to portray a graphic and grotesque picture of hell that, by itself, would suffice as a warning to the reader. On the other hand, allegorical meanings are used to persuade his readers about the nature of hell and its relation to the journey of life. The paranetic function of hell lies in Dante’s comparison of the journey through hell to the journey of life, admonishing his readers to approach God by first humbly understanding sin and learning to hate it. By writing the Divine Comedy he wished to “”"remove those living in this life from their state of misery and lead them to a state of felicity.”"2

“As little flowers, which the chill of night has bent and huddled, when the white sun strikes, grow straight and open fully on their stems, so did I, too, with my exhausted force.” (Dante Alighieri, Inferno). Readers develop more in depth interest of the storyline due to the to these emotions of loss and love, along with the sacrifice and determination. Each level of Hell contains a punishment for every act of sin from the most innocent to the most gruesome. With every intention to escape from the inferno, the ironic solution to paradise lies within experiencing the depths of the pit. Dating back to the 13th and 14th century, Christianity takes a great part in the beliefs and practices involving the fear of punishment for sins. Common issues currently remain relevant because the struggle between good and evil endlessly battles amongst one another. Thrill seekers enjoy the novel, embracing the worst fears of hell and expressing Inferno in various music, video games, stories, and art. With modern media advertising the book, more readers take interest into the story in inspiration of what lies within Dante’s fate.