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Dante's inferno analysis
Dante's inferno analysis
Dante's inferno analysis
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Dante’s Divine Comedy is a multi-layered epic, containing not only a story about his incredibly difficult journey from earth to the depths of hell then up to the peaks of heaven, but it also contains many insights on theology, politics, and even his own life. Broken into three canticles—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—the work is written in the terza rima form. In Inferno—in 33 Cantos—Dante makes a vast journey through the nine circles of hell. In the Eighth Circle (specifically, the Ninth Pouch), Dante meets with those who “were, when alive, the sowers of dissension” (Inf. XXVIII.35-36). Dante encounters a myriad of characters in many realms of interest, including theological and political figures.
This Canto adequately flows in the
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Medicina, in his time, was “a political trouble maker” (Dante, 608, n. 73). Conferred from the minimal passage regarding Medicina, a conflict referring to Dante’s actual life can be detected—an example of the theme of polysemous writing. Since Dante (was aware of) Medicina and his antics, it is accurate to assume that Dante wrote him into the story out of spite; he describes Medicina as “another sinner, with his throat slit through and with his nose hacked off up to his eyebrows, and no more than a single ear remaining” (Inf. XXVIII.64-66). Despite the lack of information Dante gives us on this person, it can be assumed Dante did not hold a favorable opinion of Medicina, for, aside the fact that he is in hell in the first place, his only real punishment is to be made physically repulsive (Only his ear and nose is sliced off, as opposed to having functional body parts—hands, stomach, or tongue—cut off). It is also interesting to note here that, despite the eternal suffering of Medicina, he still requests Dante to “remember Pier da Medicina if you ever see again the gentle plain from Vercelli slopes to Marcabò” (Inf. XXVIII.73-75).” Even in the depths of hell, Medicina still cares about his pride and himself. From these context clues, this tiny section about an obscure character shows that Dante saw Medicina as prideful and attempts to remove the pride by making him look hideous by his own standards. If …show more content…
A man named Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti was betrothed to a girl in the Amidei family, but on the day of the wedding, he married someone else. Mosca de’Lamberti convinced the Amidei family to murder Buindelmonte (out of his hate for him, which, again, shows the theme of anti-love). This is “seen as the cause of the division of Florence into the Ghibellinces and the Guelphs” (Dante, 609, n.106). As Dante is politically active and, at the time of writing this, was exiled due to the conflict in parties, it seems logical that in his writing that he would damn the soul that started is political frustrations. It is worthy to note the punishment Mosca receives: he walks “with both his hands hacked off, while lifting up his stumps through the dark air, so that his face was hideous with blood” (Inf. XXVIII.103-106). There appears to be no correlation between his punishment and his crime. One could argue that the hand is a symbol of power and control (A man cannot exert power over anyone without hands). So by removing Mosca’s hands, he loses the abused control he had over the Amidei
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
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
This canto does two interesting things. It lays out the physical description of what lies ahead and provides the philosophical outline of the why the divisions in hell exist. The seventh circle, of which Dante and Virgil were about to descend into, deals with violence. The damned souls in this circle are divided up into three smaller circles: Those who inflict sins of violence on themselves, their neighbors, and against God (28 & 31). To elaborate further, the infliction of pain on oneself shows that the person disdains himself or herself while this same person should be doing the opposite. The second one applies to those possess malicious intent when inflicting harm on their victims and these include the murderers, plunderers, and robbers (37). How can one commit acts of violence against God? Although not physical, the violent act committed is by being blasphemous and exhibiting scorn when speaking of God. These are sufficient enough to commit acts of violence against God.
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.
In Dante’s Inferno hell is divided into nine “circles” of hell; the higher the number correlates to the grimmer the sin and the pain you will endure. However, I do not completely agree with Dante’s version of hell, perhaps due to the difference in time periods. In this essay I will be pointing out my concerns with Dante’s description of hell and how I would recreate hell if I were Dante.
As Dante and Virgil, Dante’s guide through Hell, approach the Gate of Hell, Dante reads the inscription above the gates:
Though there are countless disturbing moments throughout Dante’s Inferno, one can dare to say that Canto 34 is the most unsettling and borderline irreverent Canto in Inferno. In Canto 34, Dante and Virgil meet the sinners who are deemed to be the most evil; those who have betrayed their benefactors (the individuals who extended their kindness towards them.) It is also the canto where Dante meets Satan, the king of hell. Dante opens Canto 34 with a sentence in Latin that reads: “Vexilla, regis prodeunt inferni.” In translator Mandelbaum’s notes, the words are said to mean: “The banners of the king of Hell draw closer.” At first glance, the reader might dismiss the fact that this is the only line in canto 34 that is written
“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.
Dante felt that having knowledge of the divine love will eventually lead to happiness and get one through the hard times. Even in the inferno, divine love is still present and guides Dante through his battles, fears, emotions and fatigue.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
Dante's "Inferno" is full of themes. But the most frequent is that of the weakness of human nature. Dante's descent into hell is initially so that Dante can see how he can better live his life, free of weaknesses that may ultimately be his ticket to hell. Through the first ten cantos, Dante portrays how each level of his hell is a manifestation of human weakness and a loss of hope, which ultimately Dante uses to purge and learn from. Dante, himself, is about to fall into the weaknesses of humans, before there is some divine intervention on the part of his love Beatrice, who is in heaven. He is sent on a journey to hell in order for Dante to see, smell, and hear hell. As we see this experience brings out Dante's weakness' of cowardice, wrath and unworthiness. He is lead by Virgil, who is a representation of intellect. Through Dante's experiences he will purge his sins.
... Moreover, such belief in human reason signifies Dante's hope towards a bright society and the pursuit of God’s love as the other part of self-reflection. In conclusion, a great deal of tension and contrast between “dark” and “light” in The Inferno helps us to explore Dante’s self portrait—he fears dangerous desires and sinful darkness, but shows much courage and hope towards life since he nevertheless follows his guide Virgil to dive into horrible Hell. As shown in Canto I, such emotional reaction to dark and light symbols lays a great foundation for developing Dante’s broad and universal traits as his journey progresses.
In Canto V Dante uses Minos and those who lust from mythology to form allusions. Minos is a beast that Dante and Virgil encounter when they reach the second circle of hell. The second circle is where hell actually starts where all sins are punished. Accordingly, Minos wraps those who sin inside of his tail, and decide what circle they belong in. Furthermore, while Dante is here, he calls over Paola and Francesca in the name of love. The two lovers, then explained their story. Francesca was married to Paola’s older brother out of the alliance. Consequently, he found these two lovers and killed them both. The older brother is now at the bottom of hell being punished for murder. The allusions help the reader connect with the narrative and feel
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.
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.