Reflection On The Inferno

Dante's use of allegory in the Inferno greatly varies from Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" in purpose, symbolism, characters and mentors, and in attitude toward the world. An analysis of each of these elements in both allegories will provide an interesting comparison. Dante uses allegory to relate the sinner's punishment to his sin, while Plato uses allegory to discuss ignorance and knowledge. Dante's Inferno describes the descent through Hell from the upper level of the opportunists to the most evil, the treacherous, on the lowest level. His allegorical poem describes a hierarchy of evil.

Dante Alighieri’s epic poem, Inferno, and the Book of Revelation as told by John in the Bible each regale the natural curiosity of humans involving manifestations of endings and possibilities of new beginnings in the afterlife. The purpose of informing God’s people of these manifestations and possibilities is mutual and key to the preparedness of humans for life after death. Still, justice is surely delivered appropriately in Inferno and Revelation, due to God’s brilliant arrangements. Divergence between minutiae is outshone by appreciation of seemingly incredulous similarities between God’s plans in the texts. Analysis reveals that Inferno and the Book of Revelation share countless themes, concepts, and scenes, though they differ slightly in the specific details surrounding the unfolding events.

The next three rings and sub-rings of Hell are composed of violent crimes against both ones self and others. The sixth ring is reserved for the heretics who are engulfed in flames. This symbolizes the problems that they tried to create by challenging the Christian church and its practices. The seventh ring has three sub-categories consisting of violence against people and property, suicide, and those against god, nature, and order. The sinners that were violent against people and property are punished by being immersed in boiling blood, which is equivalent to the level of violent crimes they committed. The punishment for suicide is being planted and growing as a tree, when a branch is torn off the person feels the equivalent pain of having an arm or leg taken off. This is a fitting punishment because in their life the only relief from suffering was through killing themselves and in hell they live with that agony similarly to the way people on earth are suffering over the deceased. The third and final sub-ring of the seventh circle holds those against god, nature, and order. They are punished by either walking, sitting or lying on flaming sand while hot ashes fall from above. Their position is based on their lack of respect for what they offended. The last ring in this group of violent

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 Dante’s Inferno, the author Dante Alighieri described the journey of his fictionalized self going through Hell. Dante describes all nine circles as grisly and grave. Gustave Doré’s paintings relate the most to Dante’s descriptions. Doré’s paintings of the Inferno are dark and mysterious, which is how Dante explains Hell in his story. Doré does not use color in his paintings; all of his painting of the Inferno are black, white, and in some shade of grey. His paintings reflect the mood that Dante was trying to interpret in his story. This is why Dante would choose Gustave Doré to illustrate Inferno.

A human's innate reaction to another person’s pain is piteous. We don’t like seeing others in pain, and often make advances to help them. On the other hand, we may see one who is in pain due to their own detriment, and have a conflicted heart over if their pain is validated according to their sin. Most of the human population choses to overlook the bad, and find the good in others, despite their previous actions. Similarly, in the novel The Inferno as well as the film adaptation of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, the characters in the novels feel pity for and forgive the ones who had sinned in their previous lives. The immediate reaction in one’s heart for another who is suffering is pity and forgiveness, despite the fact that they may

Despite the fact that the reason for the disciplines in Dante 's Inferno might be misty, their general strategy and structure appears to be direct. There are numerous concentric rings, each with a transgression or set of sins connected with them, and a discipline for every wrongdoing. At the point when miscreants kick the bucket they are relegated to the spot which is assigned to properly rebuff the specific sorts of wrongdoing that they submitted amid their lifetime. As Dante slides to lower circles, we see that the disciplines deteriorate and more terrible, so that more extreme disciplines are made to compare to all the more ethically disgusting sins. In all cases, it is the transgressions of a man that place that individual at every level of Hellfire.

In Canto 11 of the Inferno Virgil explains to Dante that violent sins, sins of violence, takes three forms other people, ones self, and God (28-33). The people who commit crimes against other are punishes in the first ring of the seventh circle, a river of blood (Inferno 12) Those people who commit suicide, those who commit crimes unto themselves are punished in a horrid forest (Inferno 13). The ring for the people who commit crimes against God, the third ring is a barren places all of sand ignited by flakes of fire. To break this circle down more, there are those who offend God directly(blasphemers), those who violate nature(sodomites) and those who are users(Inferno 14-17).

This paper critically analyzes the character Dante in the Comedia. The paper analyzes the nature of the journey in the Inferno and what Dante needed to learn from it. The changes that were experienced have been analyzed in addition to the important parts of the text that are related to the changes. Moreover, the discussion has been keen to provide relevant illustrations as the case may be in order to emphasize on the character and the changes that are being addressed.

Dante’s Inferno is an amazing nonfiction piece that was meant to vindicate many lessons to its readers. As well as, depict what Dante believed hell to be, and express some of his concerns with divine justice, and the appropriate punishments for the crimes committed. While reading this epic piece it spoke in many ways, and it addresses similar issues that are still prevalent in current culture. This religious allegory seems to focus on punishments, and how it should equal up to the wrong that was done. It brings to mind the rule of Contrapasso. According to John Kameen, Contrapasso is one of the few rules in Dante’s Inferno. It is the one “law of nature” that applies to hell, stating that for every sinner’s crime there must be an equal and fitting punishment (Kameen37).

Inferno, written by Dante Alighieri illustrates the idea of justice through the belief that with each action arise a consequence. What you sin above ground, you deal with under. Through this he gives examples of the sins done and the punishment that is inflicted from doing such thing as a disgrace to God. All through Dantes imagination and his views as to how it should be done, there is a punishment for each area of sin committed which is why a person who bribes will be in the further in the level of hell, as compared to someone who has killed an innocent.

Journeys can be taken many ways. Some people take the path less traveled and some people take the easy way out. Dante happens to be on journey that is less traveled, by exploring the depths of Hell in the Inferno. The epic poem’s story is about self-realization and transformation. It sees Dante over coming many things to realize he is a completely different person from the start of the Inferno journey. Dante sees many things that help him gain courage in order to prove to himself and the reader that accepting change and gaining courage can help one to grow as a person and realize their full potential. After seeing people going through certain punishment Dante realizes that he must not seek pity on himself and others in order to fully realize his true potential.

In the beginning of his epic, Inferno, Dante seems to have “abandoned the true path” (1.12). He is lost in a dark forest, which symbolizes not only Dante’s loss of morality, but all of humanity’s sins on Earth. The Dark Wood of Error is a foreshadowing of what the afterlife would be like for Dante without God and without any meaning. Dante appears to be suffering through a mid-life crisis as he flirts with the idea of death, saying, “so bitter–death is hardly more severe” (1.7). Dante has lost his dignity and moral direction following his exile from Florence. Dante must travel through Hell and witness the worst crimes ever committed by humans. By traveling through the depths of Satan’s world, Dante is given an opportunity to reconnect with Christianity. Many people claim that Dante journeys through Hell for revenge, but in fact he is hoping to reset his own moral compass and find God.

The remaining four circles of hell are separated from the previous five, in that they are considered the lower parts of hell, where Dante must pass through the walls of the city, Dis. The sixth circle of hell are where the souls of the heretics are found, and burning in their open graves is the way they suffer for the rest of eternity. The seventh circle of hell is where the souls of the violent reside. This circle of hell is separated into three different sections, representing the 3 different types of violence separated by rings; 1) violence against neighbors, 2) violence against oneself, and 3) violence against God. The outer ring, those who commit violence against their neighbors, are punished by being submerged into the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood. Anyone who tries to leave have arrows shot at them by Centaurs. Those in the middle rings who committed violence against themselves, or suicide, are punished by being turned into trees and bushes, in which harpies feed upon them. The trees can only talk when they have their branches ripped off. The middle ring also houses profligates, or those who destroyed their lives by recklessly spending money. Their punishment is to eternally run away from dogs who try to maul

As Dante travels deeper into the pit of hell he finds much more horrific places which climaxes in the fourth ring of the ninth circle, Judecca the lowest part, of hell were people go who betrayed their benefactors. These people spend eternity completely