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The Characteristics Of Dante's Characters In The Inferno

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Dante’s usage of mythological creatures in the Inferno was well thought out, with every creature having its own role and place. An educated man, Dante Alighieri knew,not only, how to write worlds into his paper but also, how to write them into the minds of his readers. He uses character placement to make his stories more realistic. His characters are people, or things, that the people in his time would be familiar with. They connect his writings to the real world, creating a sense of reality. Even though, we are aware that some of his characters, mostly consisting of mythological creatures, can not exist, just the knowledge that they exist in this world is enough. Each mythological character, whether it be human, animal, or somewhere in between, …show more content…

Dante’s skillfully placed people, used guardians or guides of different circles of hell, can be seen as a foreshadowing of what has yet to come. The first human-like figure Dante encounters, Charon, is the boatsman of the river Acheron. Charon was described as “a man of years whose ancient hair was white… whose eyes were set in glowing wheels of fire.” (Inferno 3.83-99) Shouting at the sinners, Charon recognizes Dante as a living soul. Charon’s description from an elderly years changes to a devil. This can be seen as to symbolise Dante’s descent into hell, where torture changes just as quickly as Charon’s appearance. Beyond Charon, Dante confronts Minos, the next anthropomorphic personage. The only aspect separating him from a human is his coiled tail, used to pitch sinners down to their rightful circle. He ceases his duties for a moment for shout at Dante, “who come to the place where pain is host… be careful how you enter and whom you trust it’s easy to get in, but don’t be fooled.” (Inferno 5.16,19-20) These lines foreshadow the trickery of the malebranche who mislead Dante and Virgil. The next …show more content…

The first human-animal hybrid Dante and Virgil encounter are the furies along with their friend Medusa. They guard the gates to the City of Dis, where the heretics lie in their fiery graves. It is on their tower, whence the hostile furies spy Dante and Virgil approaching. They call to Medusa to turn him to stone and they add, “how wrong we were to let off Theseus lightly!” (Inferno 9.54) This, of course, refers to the renown hero, Theseus, who also journeyed through hell and happened to pass the furies. He had been able to escape with his life. Their companion, Medusa, also bears an unique backstory. Cursed by Athena after breaking her vows as a priestess, her hair was transformed into serpents while her gaze could turn anything that met her eyes to stone. She was supposedly killed by another greek hero, Perseus. A parallel between the furies and another hybrid, the minotaur, is analogous in the fact that they both face Theseus. Unlike the furies, the minotaur dies by Theseus’ hands. In Dante’s Inferno, the Minotaur guards the violent. After seeing Dante and Virgil he flies into a rage, a rage so unhinged it could only be described as beastly or monstrous. “Monstrous has latin origins from the word monstrum which means the birth of a deformed animal. It can be perceived as a sign as to what beastliness

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