Dante and Virgil's Relationship in Canto XIV of Dante’s Inferno
In Canto XIV of Dante’s Inferno, Virgil describes the statue of the Old Man of Crete. Dante uses the Old Man of Crete as a metaphor for Virgil’s legacy in order to elucidate the nature of Dante’s and Virgil’s relationship.
In the beginning of the metaphor, Dante carefully and methodically illustrates the grandeur of the Greek empire and Roman civilization. "[Mount Ida] was once chosen," Virgil explains, "as a trusted cradle/ by Rhea for her son" (XIV.100-101). According to Roman mythology, Rhea gave birth to Zeus, who ultimately became the father of all Greek gods and mortal heroes and served as the cornerstone of Greek civilization. Crete, thus, is the "cradle" or birthplace of Greek civilization. In the Aeneid, Crete is also the birthplace of the Roman civilization, a concept that is important because it already begins to point to the greatness of Virgil and his homeland.
The position of the statue of the Old Man provides a straightforward glimpse of the status of Rome and the legacy of Virgil. Standing straight and "erect" (XIV.104), the Old Man "looks at Rome" with his back "turned toward Damietta" (XIV.104-105). The statue’s back faces Damietta, an ancient city in Egypt. What’s more important, though, is that the Old Man is facing Rome. This precise detail makes it clear that Dante the poet wants his contemporary readers to know that Rome is the direction towards which society is converging. The image of the statue looking at Rome "as if it were his mirror" (XIV.105) drives this point further. Within Rome, the Old Man sees a reflection of all of his characteristics; Rome is a natural extension of all the great aspects of the Greek culture, including...
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...to the Romans. Virgil is the conduit through which the tradition of Homeric poets and Greek literature flows. On the other hand, Dante also seems to be describing the deterioration of Virgil’s legacy: the Old Man is "of choicest iron/ except for his right foot, made of baked clay; and he rests more on this than on the left" (XIV.109-111). Furthermore, "down that fissure there are tears that drip" (XIV.113). The tears are metaphors for the flowing away of Virgil’s legacy. The tears form the rivers of hell, which suggests that Dante is using Virgil’s description of hell as a basis for his own vision. By doing so, he builds his reputation but takes away from Virgil’s fame. Dante must stand on his own feet, which is the reason why the Old Man is leaning on his crumbling, "baked clay" foot. Dante’s challenge, then, is upholding Virgil’s legacy while building up his own.
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.
“80 percent of teen-agers have tried alcohol, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the top three causes of death among teens: accidents, homicide and suicide” (Underage, CNN.com pg 3). Students may use drinking as a form of socializing, but is it really as good as it seems? The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of “culture” fixed in every level of the college student environment. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These perceptions of drinking are the going to ruin the lives of the students because it will lead to the development alcoholism. College students who drink a lot, while in a college environment, will damage themselves mentally, physically, and socially later in life, because alcohol adversely affects the brain, the liver, and the drinkers behavior.
Dante’s initial reaction to meeting Virgil reveals his penchant for the worldly as opposed to the divine. He addresses Virgil humbly, his words dripping with praise. “Are you then that Virgil, you the fountain/ that freely...
As Dante and Virgil, Dante’s guide through Hell, approach the Gate of Hell, Dante reads the inscription above the gates:
College student drunkenness is far from new and neither are college and university efforts to control it. What is new, however, is the potential to make real progress on this age-old problem based on scientific research results. New research-based information about the consequences of high-risk college drinking and how to reduce it can empower colleges and universities, communities, and other interested organizations to take effective action. Hazardous drinking among college students is a widespread problem that occurs on campuses of all sizes and geographic locations. A recent survey of college students conducted by the Harvard University School of Public Health reported that 44 percent of respondents had drunk more than five drinks (four for women) consecutively in the previous two weeks. About 23 percent had had three or more such episodes during that time. The causes of this problem are the fact that students are living by themselves no longer with parents or guardians; they earn their own money; students need to be a part of a group, be accepted; and they have the wrong idea that to feel drunk is “cool.”
Virgil represented Dante and his humanity, that he still has sin that is holding him back, and when he must stay behind it shows Dante’s change. Virgil is stuck in hell, not able to move past the sin from his life on earth, like how Dante was at the beginning of the novel. When Dante crosses the river to Beatrice the reader is shown how Dante is leaving his sin behind him and is changing into something greater. The reader can tell that he is being transformed because the guides teach him different aspects that needed to be changed. When a person is changing, he must realize his past, which is what Virgil is teaching him, and then how to use this change for the better, which is what Beatrice is teaching him. They each represent the two stages of Dante’s transformation; Virgil showing Dante the effects of sin and Beatrice helping Dante learn and see the truth in purity. Dante the poet also want the readers to realize with this change that Dante in the novel has overcome his sin. When Virgil leaves him in the hands of Beatrice he is confident that he has done his part, that Dante is freed from his temptation, and he is confident that now Dante can follow his heart and not let it lead him to sin. When Dante follows Beatrice, the reader knows that his selfish ways have been wiped away, that Virgil and Beatrice know that Dante is on his way to holiness. The different things the guides teach Dante highlight this change. Virgil taught Dante more about the effects of his lifestyle now, that if he did not change he will be crushed by his sin in the afterlife. The Dante that was with Virgil was very proud and cared too much for the sinners in hell, and Virgil needed to show him how wrong he is being. When Dante meets Beatrice, we can see the change Dante has made, that he is less caught up with himself and sees the effects of his actions. Beatrice reprimands Dante,
“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.
Many subjects have been spoken of over the history human beings. For some time it may have a world war, at other times a great recession, in another day it would have been a very fast athlete, at others the final match of Champions League and many more. Yet in all these occurrences that grip the human mind for some time there is no occurrence more spoken than the crucifixion of a man called Jesus Christ (Zugibe 33). His crucifixion has even been a study for the entire lifetime of many people. Institutions have been built primarily for the purpose of studying this crucifixion. Some have said this crucifixion has changed their lives. Others have retorted that it has lifted off their worries. It is widely known and embraced. However, aside from all this, with all the goodness this man Jesus Christ is preached to have, many wonder why he would be killed on a cross.
We've all heard it before: "Too much of anything is bad for us." The amount of binge drinking occurring on American college campuses today proves that college students do not heed this warning. Binge drinking, or drinking for the purpose of getting drunk, harms both drinkers and non-drinkers alike. As today's college students come dangerously close to being swept away in the sea of papers, exams, jobs, and interviews, they use bingeing as the lifeboat that allows them to escape the stress. It allows them to forget their worries, fit in with the crowd, and live on the edge in a fast-paced world that normally does not leave time for such activities. Teetering on the brink of adulthood, yet still trapped in childhood makes drinking decisions difficult for many college students. A desire to get away from our usual lives because of societal regulations and conformity, psychological and emotional problems, and the stress of everyday life causes college binge drinking.
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.
We all know what it is like to wake up in the morning, with our head aching, and our body feeling like it was just hit by a train. College students world wide know this feeling. These are the results of binge drinking. The question of why college students continue to submit themselves to alcohol is unknown. While many reasons are given, the cause generally falls into one of three categories, peer pressure, insecurity, or to help solve there problems. But the one thing students don’t realize are the consequences and effects that binge drinking can have, health and social problems are just a few.
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.
In the United States, forty-four percent of persons ages eighteen to twenty-one are enrolled in colleges or universities (1). According to recent statistics released by the Health and Education Center, forty-four percent of college students are categorized as heavy drinkers. Alcohol abuse is one of the biggest issues on college campuses nationwide, but what is it that makes excessive alcohol consumption such a concern in the year 2003?
According to a national survey conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “almost 60 percent of college students ages 18–22 drank alcohol in the past month, 1 and almost 2 out of 3 of them engaged in binge drinking during that same timeframe” (NIH). Binge drinking culture refers to the recent rise and normalization of college age students drinking excessively. The CDC describes binge drinking as “a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol level to 0.08grams within two hours” (CDC). For many young adults, college is one of the first times they will experience complete freedom. This freedom often leads to partying, which goes hand in hand with the consumption of alcohol. However, since the age at which
Wechsler, Henry and Kuo, Meichun. College Students Define Binge Drinking and Estimate Its Prevalence: Results of a National Survey. EBSCO Publishing 29 Oct. 2000