Dante’s Inferno in Milton´s Paradise Lost

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Many arguments have been made that Dante’s Inferno glimmers through here and there in Milton’s Paradise Lost. While at first glance the two poems seem quite drastically different in their portrayal of Hell, but scholars have made arguments that influence from Dante shines through Milton’s work as well as arguments refuting these claims. All of these arguments have their own merit and while there are instances where a Dantean influence can be seen throughout Paradise Lost, Milton’s progression of evil and Satan are quite different from Dante. Dante’s influence on Milton is noted by many scholars and is very apparent in several instances throughout Paradise Lost, however, Milton shows a progression of evil through his own vision of Satan and creates a Hell that is less meticulously constructed than Dante’s and more open to interpretation.
Several scholars have made arguments that discuss the Dantean influence seen throughout Paradise Lost. While looking at Dantean influence upon Milton, many scholars use the scene in Paradise Lost where Satan and his companions are turned into serpents as a direct influence from Cantos 24 and 25 in the Inferno in which the thieves must transform for eternity. There are a number of articles that explore this influence of Dante on Milton. In the article “Milton’s Dantean Miniatures: Inflections on Dante’s Inferno and Purgatorio within the Cosmos of Paradise Lost” by Russell M. Hiller, he discusses ways in which Dante’s influence seems to trickle through in Milton’s Paradise Lost. He notes other scholars who have shown areas where Milton seemed to be influenced by the Italian poet. He references Milton’s Commonplace Book in which he states he “features a numerous references to the Commedia” and “reve...

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...people did to be placed in that circle of hell but it does not show a progression of evil, if there was one, or how they got to that point. As for Milton’s Satan, the choices that he makes that ultimately transform him into this radically evil being are described. Milton definitely uses some of Dante’s ideas when it comes to describing the landscape of hell or the transformation into serpents or even the gigantomachy and perhaps repeated themes in Paradise Lost that follow a cyclic pattern similar to that of the cyclic pattern of Hell in the Inferno but I think that Milton created his own ideas when it comes to the major idea of evil and the character of Satan because those are drastically different. So when it comes to the idea of evil and Satan, Dante’s influence is minimal and almost contrasting to what happens in with the idea of evil and Satan and the Inferno.

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