Dante, The Righteous Politician; Mulan, The Righteous Activist
Dante’s Inferno, although written more than 400 years ago, rings a certain familiarity with audiences everywhere. This epic explores concepts systematic to the development and revival of intimate themes throughout modern and classic works of literature and film. There are a myriad of works and themes that weave the web of modern literature drawing inspiration from and parallel to Inferno’s style and concession. Inferno’s use of cultural motifs is especially familiar in the Disney fashion. Unlike Dante in appearance and caricature, Mulan by Robert D. San Souci bears tribulations attributed to Dante and works of his nature. Derived from the Poem the Ballad of Mulan written between 589 and 618 AD. Mulan honors and contests traditional aspects of belief by blending folktale and culture. While Dante, addresses aspects of Greek, Roman and Pagan ideals and critique Florentine politics. Both narratives, in a systematic avenue play upon and explore the ideologies of popular culture, addressing the and creating a cultural climate, enacting a and political commentary of their time.
Based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, this story is framed on the foundation of popular faith and ancestry. Mulan and Chinese culture hold in very high regard the memory of their ancestors. The veneration of the dead, specifically ancestors in Chinese culture play a significant role in aspects of faith and worship. Love and respect for the
In, Eric Li's Ted Talk "A Tale of Two Political Systems”, he discussed the two stories he was told, which I feel exemplifies the differences in the two political systems. The first , believed by the Chinese, was that all societies develop in a linear process and will be engaged by the struggle of good vs bad or as Li stated socialism vs. capitalism and socialism will triumph. However, while in U.S. he was taught that all human societies progress in a linear process and end in a singular end. All societies must progress from singular groups that are reduced to singular individuals who are all rational. Therefore, electoral democracy will be for all and all other govern concepts are bad.
Mulan is the ultimate epitome of a hero. Joseph Cambell who said “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself” , characterizes Mulan to perfection. She undergoes changes throughout struggles which shape her into the worthy hero that she is. . Mulan faces both inner and outer battles that transform her persona to being a hero. According to Joseph Cambell’s monomyth, Mulan meets the necessary qualities, as she portrays them grandly
Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy from 1308-1320. The story narrates Dante’s pilgrimage through hell, purgatory, and heaven while guided by Virgil and Beatrice. Throughout this journey Dante conforms himself to virtue, properly orders his passions, and conforms his conscience, “Dante 's psychopoiesis operates through the mimetic deformation, reformation, and transformation of conscience” (Macready, 2). This essay will examine what a true conscience is according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and explore the nature of the conscience in Dante’s Divina Commedia. Additionally, this essay will examine the errors of Dante’s conscience regarding divine justice, love, and courage; and who contributes to this formation.
Zeba Khan writes this article in response to the absence of Muslim Americans in politics and in an effort to remedy the issue. The author builds her argument and convinces her audience through the use of an anecdote, evidence and statistics, as well as rhetorical questioning and vivid language.
In both the Inferno and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the central characters are riddled with moral inadequacies. Both Dante and Gawain set forth on a journey that reveals the flaws within themselves. Each is faced with challenges that force them to go against their original beliefs. Dante endures a full 180 degree transformation on his views of sin and Gawain is unable to uphold the perfect identity of knighthood. Based on these journeys the nature of the individual in medieval literature is to be in a state of identity crisis because Dante’s views of salvation are based on arrogance and Gawain is obsessed with perfection. The self view of each character provide an element of moral progression throughout the story and the ultimate theme behind each piece of literature.
Mulan is a Disney animated film that takes place in ancient China during Han Dynasty War. Mulan is a young girl in China, the only child of her honored family who struggles to find her identity and meaning in society. While Mulan is a lovable, spirited girl who doesn’t fit in with Chinese tradition because she speaks her mind and follow her heart. Being a girl who experience culture, gender role, and self-image demonstrated what a non- tradition person will do to bring honor to her love one’s and the family.
Dante's Inferno, itself one piece of a literary trilogy, repeatedly deploys the leitmotif of the number three as a metaphor for ambiguity, compromise, and transition. A work in terza rima that details a descent through Nine Circles of Hell, The Inferno encompasses temporal, literary, and political bridges and chasms that link Dante's inspired Centaur work between the autobiographical and the fictive, the mundane and the divine and, from a contemporary viewpoint, the Medieval and the Modern‹Dante's recognition of the Renaissance as our millennium's metamorphic period and of himself as its poetic forerunner (until deposition by Shakespeare).
A subtopic worth further exploration within The Inferno is the depiction and representation of women. The Inferno mentions very few women throughout, and that makes it all the more salient to analyze the presence of these feminine characters for the fact that they are female carries more weight within the context of the poem than what they say alone. Dante lived in an era when women did not occupy influential roles in the public realm, and were actually discouraged from engaging in intellectual or philosophical debate. Women were not allowed to take part in political discourse nor communicate through the medium of poetry. For the exclusion of women from the historical and literary western canon, Dante’s perception of women in The Divine Comedy can be seen as an underlying framework for further discussion about the consideration of women. What makes Dante’s dialogue even more germane is his use of women from both pagan and Christian epochs, endowed with key virtues of salvation, but closely linked to secular goals (Glenn, xiii-xiv).
With his writing style and the implementation of some literature firsts, Dante assured his name in history. His mastery of language, his sensitivity to the sights and sounds of nature, and his infinite store of information allow him to capture and draw the reader into the realm of the terrestrial Hell. His vast store of knowledge of Greek mythology and the history of his society assists Dante in the
The theme of equilibrium between reason and faith is one of the core messages of Inferno and it is essential in conveying the main idea of the Divine Comedy and of the pilgrim’s journey that the exploitation of intellect and the misuse of will is the cause of sin, and that through faith, those who are morally lost find their salvation in God. In Inferno Dante makes it clear that he greatly values knowledge and reason in a way that is more characteristic to the Renaissance rather than of his own Medieval time. However, throughout this first book, the author reminds the audience of the Christian nature of his poem as he uses the stories of the sinners he encounters to stress the idea that without faith, the intellect is not sufficient to achieve divine salvation and that the misuse of reason can often lead to terrible sins.
Dante had his fair share of the real human experience, whilst traveling through hell in Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy”. Characters in literature have been popularized since this masterpiece to favor sins as a type of personality trope. The lazy bum, the angry husband, or the prideful peacocks; the list goes on and on. The cause and effect of these traits have served well to teach generations of readers, the ideas and meanings of our actions as humans. Although it is rare, some works leave open ended plots for us to contemplate the meaning of said sin. In conjunction to some of the deadly sins, the main characters from “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Veldt”, and “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”, all display a truth about human nature.
Often when we set out to journey in ourselves, we come to places that surprise us with their strangeness. Expecting to see what is straightforward and acceptable, we suddenly run across the exceptions. Just as we as self‹examiners might encounter our inner demons, so does Dante the writer as he sets out to walk through his Inferno. Dante explains his universe - in terms physical, political, and spiritual - in the Divine Comedy. He also gives his readers a glimpse into his own perception of what constitutes sin. By portraying characters in specific ways, Dante the writer can shape what Dante the pilgrim feels about each sinner. Also, the reader can look deeper in the text and examine the
Dante's `Divine Comedy', the account of his journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is one of the worlds great poems, and a prime example of a most splendidly realized integration of life with art. More than being merely great poetry, or a chronicle of contemporary events, which it also is, the `Comedy' is a study of human nature by a man quite experienced with it. The main argument I will make in this essay is that Dante's `Comedy' is chiefly a work of historical significance because in it lies the essence of human life across all boundaries of time and place. I feel that such a reading is justified, nay invited, by Dante himself when he says;
The Divine Comedy is much more than an epic poem depicting a man’s interpretation of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Written by Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, the Divine Comedy frequently alludes to the political turmoil that was prevalent throughout 14th century Italy, specifically, the city of Florence. During this period of Italian history, there was a lack of a stable government and a power struggle between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor. This paper will analyze the political aspects within the Divine Comedy and its connection to religion, focusing specifically on the Inferno.
Some people that watch the movie Mulan think that that was what life was like in China. But really it is not. Although, some things in Mulan are historically accurate, there are many things in Mulan that are not real.