Ulysses As Dante's Prototype Essay

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.

The answer to that question is family. Both men have great senses of family; Ulysses has a wife whom he loves and six daughters that he fights to keep custody of over the

Not only do both writers have similarities in their life styles they both led similar lives .

Dante made it through many different obstacles and layers of hell, but he could not of made it through his journey without Virgil. The character in the book is being alluded to the Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro. Maro believed and wrote a legendary piece of literature that stated the mission to civilize the world under divine guidance. He not only wrote about these ways of life but he did his best to

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.

Themes are fundamental and universal ideas that are explored in literary works. The epics of The Inferno by Dante and The Odyssey by Homer are two different stories with themes that that have some similarities while others have a variation. In The Odyssey, the key point is Odysseus struggling to return home. In the Inferno, Dante acts as the main character who struggles with good and evil and this translates to be the main theme of the epic. Dante explores deeply the Christian hell and heaven, which includes the immediate Purgatory. The experiences push him to cast his loyalty to good and God. The contrasts in The Odyssey and Inferno are

Dante, the pilgrim, is surprised by invitation to be among the most respected and noted poets in the World. He was not boastful and didn’t even pride of the experience. Instead, felt unworthy to join but remembered that it was an invitation by another classical

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 structures the Commedia in such a way as to enable the pilgrim to function as a progressively more sophisticated reader of confessional texts throughout his journey, and as such he becomes a reflection of our own possibilities as interpreters of these canti. Our initial attempts at interpreting the equivocal texts provided by the sinners are fitful, inadequate, and constantly in need of later correction and reassessment, thus reflecting the pilgrim's own progress. In the reading and re-reading, these confessional passages and canti define themselves as exercises in humility: as understanding becomes the product of a series of misreadings and revisions of the text. In the case of Francesca we have a confession that is more a literary rationale for her offense than an admission of individual culpability, for Francesca seeks to use the language of dolce stil novo poetry as a kind of cloaking device to hide herself as the historical agent or subject who bears responsibility for her

     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).

In the note to Canto V regarding Francesca and Paulo, the Hollanders exclaim that “Sympathy for the damned, in the Inferno, is nearly always and nearly certainly the sign of a wavering moral disposition” (112). Indeed, many of the touching, emotional, or indignation rousing tales told by the souls in Hell can evoke pity, but in the telling of the tales, it is always possible to derive the reasons for the damned souls’ placement in Hell. However, there is a knee-jerk reaction to separate Virgil and, arguably, some of the other souls in limbo from this group of the damned, though, with careful perusal of the text, the thoughtful reader can discern the machinations behind their damnation.

   In The Inferno, Dante explores the ideas of Good and Evil. He expands on the possibilities of life and death, and he makes clear that consequences follow actions. Like a small generator moving a small wheel, Dante uses a single character to move through the entire of Hell's eternity. Yet, like a clock, that small wheel is pivotal in turning many, many others. This single character, Dante himself, reveals the most important abstract meaning in himself: A message to man; a warning about mankind's destiny. Through his adventures, Dante is able to reveal many global concepts of good and evil in humanity.

Traveling from one place to another, physically moving, is beneficial in changing scenery and changing perspective however, physical travel is not the only travel that brings about a positive change in people. Metaphysical travel, also known as a mental or spiritual exploration, is just as powerful as a physical one. Dante, in his epic poem Inferno, and Odysseus, in the epic tale written by Homer known as The Odyssey, experience travel in the physical and mental state. Dante travels through Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven upon force to reevaluate where he has come in his life. Dante’s journey forces him to think about the cost of decisions each person makes in this life that affects the next one. Odysseus is physically separated from his family and most go through mental and physical obstacles to get back to them. He must figure out what he wants most and find the strength to fight for it. Though Dante and Odysseus experience contrasting adventures and tribulations both individual’s journeys change their future courses and give them enlightenment into the rest of their lives. Both forms of travel are valid for growth and necessary to bring about positive and new perspective to Dante and Odysseus.

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