A Comparison Of Harry Potter And The Divine Comedy

844 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Virgil in divine comedy

The focus of this paper will be on a comparison of The Divine Comedy and of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a book written and released by J.K. Rowling in the year 2007. It will include an analysis among the journey of Dante in Hell and Harry through his life. Through this paper I would like to bring to light of the fact that although, the Divine Comedy is from centuries ago the narrative is everlasting. The Divine Comedy is remarkable, many of the modern narratives include a direct or indirect reference to the Divine Comedy itself.
While reading The Divine Comedy, specifically the Inferno Canto IV, it seemed as if I came upon the concept of limbo before. As I read further I recalled a character from a book I once read who went through …show more content…

I now realize that there are copious amounts of references made in the Harry Potter series relating it back to the Divine Comedy. As Harry goes on with his journey in the last chapters of the story, he takes, what he presumes as the next step in his life, to sacrificing himself for the benefit of everyone else. Harry then finds himself in limbo where he is afraid but obtains guidance from his mentor, Dumbledore who reminds Harry the importance of his existence. In the Divine Comedy, Virgil comes to Dante to help guide him through his journey in hell. In the fourth canto in Inferno, Dante is walking with Virgil, as he goes on to explain what kind of souls are in limbo. This circle of limbo exists for the people stuck because they did not get to choose for themselves of their faith in Christ as they were born before. As Dante and Harry both go on their separate journeys we see how their personality’s come to play with the decisions they make. Even though this …show more content…

They now went naked and were sharply spurred by wasps and hornets, thriving all around” (Kirkpatrick, 64-66). He continues to describe them as drained soul. Similarly, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, while in limbo, Harry describes Voldemort’s soul as, “It had the form of a small, naked child, curled on the ground, its skin raw and rough, flayed-looking, and it lay shuddering under a seat where it had been left, unwanted, stuffed out of sight, struggling for breath” (Rowling, 596). As Dante is just really strolling through the circles, Harry’s soul is a lot more as one of the withered souls Dante passes by. The common themes and similarity of both works make it certain of an existing connection, tying the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to Dante’s

Show More
Related

  • Courtly Love In Dante's Paradiso

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the other hand, the Inferno centers on those who turned their back to their “creator” and “source of life” in the fulfilling of earthly desires, and are thus damned for eternity. In between these two extremes is Purgatorio, which deals with the knowledge and teaching of love, as Beatrice and others help outline love for Dante so he can make the climb to paradise and be worthy. For the reader to understand the idea of Dante’s love, one must understand the influence of Aristotle, Plato, and Dante’s “love at first sight” Beatrice in transforming his concept of will and of love in life. In his Divine Comedy, Dante gains salvation through the transformation of his will to love, and hopes that the reader will also take away the knowledge and concept of love he uses to revert to the right path of

    Read More

  • Dante's Divine Comedy - Close Reading of Canto V of the Inferno

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alghieri, Dante. "The Divine Comedy: Inferno." The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: Expanded Edition In One Volume. Gen. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 1032-1036.

    Read More

  • Movement and Stasis in the Divine Comedy

    2886 Words  | 6 Pages

    Movement is a crucial theme of the Divine Comedy. From the outset, we are confronted with the physicality of the lost Dante, wandering in the perilous dark wood. His movement within the strange place is confused and faltering; `Io non so ben ridir com'io v'entrai'. Moreover, it is clear that the physical distress he is experiencing is the visible manifestation of the mental anguish the poet is suffering. The allegory of the image is one of mid-life crisis, but it is physically represented by the man losing his way in a dark wood. Such an observation may seem far too simple and obvious to be worthy of comment. However, I would argue that it is from this primary example of the deep connection between the physical and the mental, that one can begin to categorise and explain the varying types of movement in the work. The first section of this essay will be a close analysis of several important moments of physical activity or the absence of such. The final section will be an overview of the whole and a discussion of the general structure of the Comedy, how movement is governed and the implications of this.

    Read More

  • The Concept Of Limo In Dante's Inferno

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    While reading Dante’s Inferno, specifically Canto IV, it seemed as if I came upon the concept of limbo before. As I read further I recalled a character by the name of Harry Potter, who went through limbo in the book titled “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. I now realize that there are copious amounts of references made in the Harry Potter series relating it back to Inferno. As Harry goes on with his journey in the final chapters of his story, he does what he accepts as the next step to take would be, to sacrificing himself for everyone’s benefit. He then finds himself in this state of limbo where is he is terrified but obtains guidance from his mentor, Dumbledore who reminds Harry the importance of his existence. Similarly, in the first canto when Dante is scared of all the beasts, Virgil comes to Dante and reassures him of protection and

    Read More

  • The Role and Function of the Major Monsters in Dante’s Inferno

    1944 Words  | 4 Pages

    Moreover, Dante, the narrator of the Inferno, has succeeded in not only telling the frightening story of the Inferno, but also pointing out the importance of the relationship between human’s sins and God’s retribution, using the monsters as the symbols for each kind of sin and its punishment throughout the progress of the story, which teaches his readers to be well aware of their sins through the literature – a part of humanities; the disciplines that teach a man to be a human.

    Read More

  • The Beasts and Monsters in Dante's Inferno

    2974 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Inferno is the first section of Dante's three-part poem, The Divine Comedy. Throughout Dante's epic journey into the depths of Inferno he encounters thirty monsters and five hybrid creatures.  The most significant of these monsters are of central importance to his journey and to the narrative, as they not only challenge Dante's presence in Inferno, but are custodians of Hell, keeping in order or guarding the "perduta gente".  In this essay I am concentrating on these prominent beasts, namely Minos, Cerberus, Plutus and Geryon, establishing why they feature in Dante's eschatological vision and discussing the sources which influenced his inclusion of these particular creatures. These four monsters all fulfil important functions as well as representing important themes in Inferno, establishing them as symbols which reinforce Dante's allegory.

    Read More

  • Dante’s Inferno - The Evolving Relationship between Dante the Pilgrim and Virgil the Guide

    2166 Words  | 5 Pages

    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 man’s spiritual journey towards understanding God. While God loves man regardless of his faults, His greatest desire is to see man attain greater spirituality, in that man, already created in God’s image, may truly become divine, and in doing so, attain eternality.

    Read More

  • Dante's Sense of Irony

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Inferno we follow the journey of Dante as he wanders off the path of moral truth and into Hell. The Virgin Mary and Santa Lucia ask Beatrice, Dante’s deceased love, to send some help. Thus, Virgil comes to the rescue and essentially guides Dante through Hell and back to the mortal world from which he came. However, things begin to seem kind of odd. When reading the Inferno one may begin to question the way Dante describes Hell and the things that occur within, or even the things we have always believed about Hell. Despite the way it is described and well known in western civilization, Hell is not at all how we expect it to be because of Dante's use of irony throughout this poetic masterpiece.

    Read More

  • The Allegory of the Cave and Dante

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” This maxim applies to the poet Dante Alighieri, writer of The Inferno in the 1300s, because it asserts the need to establish oneself as a contributor to society. Indeed, Dante’s work contributes much to Renaissance Italy as his work is the first of its scope and size to be written in the vernacular. Due to its readability and availability, The Inferno is a nationalistic symbol. With this widespread availability also comes a certain social responsibility; even though Dante’s audience would have been familiar with the religious dogma, he assumes the didactic role of illustrating his own version of Christian justice and emphasizes the need for a personal understanding of divine wisdom and contrapasso, the idea of the perfect punishment for the crime. Dante acts as both author and narrator, completing a physical and spiritual journey into the underworld with Virgil as his guide and mentor. The journey from darkness into light is an allegory full of symbolism, much like that of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which shows a philosopher’s journey towards truth. Therefore, Dante would also agree with the maxim, “Wise men learn by others’ harms; fools scarcely by their own,” because on the road to gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, characters who learn valuable lessons from the misfortunes of others strengthen their own paradigms. Nonetheless, the only true way to gain knowledge is to experience it first hand. Dante’s character finds truth by way of his own personal quest.

    Read More

  • Divine Grace and Justice in Dante's Inferno

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. Notes Allen Mandelbaum and Gabriel Marruzzo. New York: Bantam Books, 1980

    Read More

  • Dante´s Inferno

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, Limbo is a great part of hell in Inferno, because it gives humans a great sense of hope. “The concept of Limbo--a region on the edge of hell for those who are not saved even though they did not sin.”(Daily) Limbo represents a space where nothing bad can happen to you after you die. This is a place a group of people can gather and know that they did nothing wrong in life. Limbo represents more than the first part of hell. It represents that good in life will pay off for those who try not to sin, or those who ask for forgiveness. How Dante described it was “Dark, profound it was, and cloudy, so that though I fixed my sight on the bottom I did not discern anything there.” (Canto 4) Dante says that nothing is here, and you can’t see much.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Hellish Behavior In Dante's Inferno

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dante’s Inferno offers literal discussion and allegorical account of historical individuals while emphasizing heavily on the political crisis of the 14th century in which he lived. In addition Dante’s poem assesses the problem of modern society cherishing those whose actions only earned themselves a place in the fiery pits of Hell. His cantos serve as a condemnation of some of the most idolized historical and political figures in his time and now. In the late middle ages political and religious stability was crumbling sparking corruption of souls; many claimed to be the Pope, courtly love turning adulterous, majority of people failing to control of bodily desires, etc. Dante’s pilgrimage through the Inferno lets the reader witness many well-known legends who fell to these corruptions scattered throughout the circles of Hell. This work creates contradictions in the morals and values of today’s culture; history remembers figures such as Achilles and Helen of Troy by just their positive attributes however, their

    Read More

  • The Weakness of Human Nature in Dante's Inferno

    2210 Words  | 5 Pages

    Alighieri, Dante. "The Inferno." The Divine Comedy. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: First New American Library Printing, 2003.

    Read More

  • The Divine Comedy vs. Paradise Lost

    3039 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Divine Comedy, written in the 14th century by Dante Alighieri, is a heroic epic. Throughout Dante’s literary work, he outlines his scientific understandings of the world, his political views and provides the reader with a moral compass and spiritual map of which to follow. This poem is written in three parts, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio, each of which is broken down into individual cantos. Inferno includes 34 cantos, whereas Purgatrio and Paradiso each contain 33 cantos, however, the first canto of Inferno is really an introduction to the poem.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Dante's Inferno

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dante’s The Divine Comedy illustrates one man’s quest for the knowledge of how to avoid the repercussions of his actions in life so that he may seek salvation in the afterlife. The Divine Comedy establishes a set of moral principles that one must live by in order to reach paradise. Dante presents these principles in Inferno, where each level of Hell has people suffering for the sins they committed during their life. As Dante gets deeper into Hell, the degrees of sin get progressively worse, as do the severity of punishment.

    Read More

More about A Comparison Of Harry Potter And The Divine Comedy

Open Document