Fear In Dante's Inferno

“They couldn't bear the idea of death being a big black nothing, couldn't bear the thought of their loved ones not existing, and couldn't even imagine themselves not existing. I finally decided that people believed in an afterlife because they couldn't bear not to.” (Green) The Divine Comedy is a text that is divided into three parts, the most famous of which being Inferno. Inferno follows Dante through his epic journey through the nine circles of hell in his attempt to achieve a higher understanding of the afterlife. Dante is a man that seems to have, both physically and metaphorically wandered into a very dark place. He has begun to sin without repentance, due to the fact that he doesn’t have a broad understanding of the real repercussions

of these actions. Dante’s trip through the underworld, though, allows for him to really comprehend what comes when individuals choose to sin without repent. This transformation of Dante is just one prime example of the way in which Dante’s Inferno has become an incredible tool when it comes to persuading individuals to behave in a positive light. This text is still being used today in an attempt to convince individuals to travel down a path of moral correctness. Dante’s Inferno is an effective device for persuasion due to its development of the illusion of freedom, its intense amount of relatable fear, and its use of fear as a propaedeutic.
The Inferno allows for a development of the illusion of personal freedom to occur, causing an incredible level of deceit as well as persuasion for positive behavior. One of the biggest tools for the persuasion within Inferno is Dante’s construction of the illusion of freedom. He repeatedly creates this idea that there is both a right and a wrong path that individuals can choose to travel down, developing this idea that they actually have the ability to freely make a choice about what they would like to do within their lives. This is actually the way that the text initially begins. “Midway on our life’s journey, I found myself / In dark woods, the right road lost. To tell / About those woods is hard—so tangled and rough. . .” (Inferno, Canto I) The reality of this situation, though, is that the very existence of hell is vastly limiting the freedom of all individuals that choose to believe in it. This is done by Dante creating a situation in which individuals either have to behave correctly or face an alternative that is so horrendous that it is nearly unthinkable. “Human freedom is impaired by so many psychological flaws that it would be cruel to make one’s eternal fate hang on the decisions made in this life.” (Seymour) Therefore, Dante has developed one of the ultimate tools of persuasion by backing individuals into a corner that forces them to either behave according to his moral standards, or face an eternity of punishment that is so beyond comprehension they cannot even bear the thought.
Fear is one of the most defining themes and aspects of the Inferno, and all of its fear is both highly psychologically damaging as well as physically tormenting.

Dante’s development of fear within Inferno is so complex an in depth that it was completely unheard of during it’s time. Dante is using methods of psychological and physical torture that mentally damage some individuals that do so much as dare to read his text. His work is so completely on edge that even an individual that does not completely believe in his work is forced to take a little bit of warning. “. Through me you enter into the city of woes / through me you enter into eternal pain, / through me you enter the population of loss. . . . / abandon all hope, you who enter here.” (Inferno, Canto III) This horrible representation is not the worst part, though. The most tormenting and persuasively effective portion of Dante’s Inferno is his humanization of the souls. Most people would like to see these souls represented as awful ghostly creatures with quite a bit of depth from real life, but Dante takes that idea and shreds it with his incredibly realistic portrayal. He makes these souls completely lifelike, with the ability to experience pain, emotion and process complex thought. “Throughout the Inferno, the souls of Dante’s other world are described as if they possessed visible, human bodies, capable of sense perceptions and physical reactions to the things perceived.” (Heilbronn) This development causes an intentional relation to occur for nearly all individuals that decide to read the text. It is hard for people to separate these punishments from real life when the individuals experiencing the punishments are so relatable themselves, and Dante definitely uses this to his

advantage.
Dante’s Inferno falls under the classification of a propaedeutic device because it maintains the ability to instill fear as a motivation and persuasion of good behavior. Through a combination of the illusion of freedom and the advantage of fear, Dante has managed to create an intense propaedeutic device that has managed to reduce some people into bawling children over the prospect of ending up in some of the torturous devices he has worked up. However cruel it may seem, he is achieving his goal the best way possible. People need intentional education in order to proactively learn. “Planful, intentional teachers keep in mind the key goals for learning and development in all domains by . . . selecting from a variety of teaching strategies those that best promote thinking and skills.” (Epstein) Dante has created an intense ultimatum that forces these individuals to either behave morally or face the consequences. He has developed this idea that there is in fact the presence of both a right and a wrong path that individuals can move between with enough education and work. Dante is one example of this with his transformation in his exit of hell. “To get back up to the shining world from there / My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel; . . . / Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.” (Inferno, Canto XXXIV) Dante uses initially shocking and rather unconventional methods to scare individuals into behaving in ways that he deems fit. These things seem harsh and wrong at first, but upon further inspection are often times the only way to achieve successful education.
“The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture. At the beginning of the journey to the next world, one's education and culture can either provide the greatest assistance, or else act as the greatest burden, to the person who has just died.” (Plato) Dante’s Inferno is not the first text to ever propose this idea of a horrifying afterlife, it is however, the first one to use techniques of such a terrifying magnitude. Dante’s primary source of persuasion within Inferno is fear, fear from the idea of being sent to the afterlife in the first place, and fear of the variety of punishments there. For this reason, Dante is often times the first name that comes to mind when the topic of hell s brought up. He had predecessors to pull ideas from, but he took the idea of punishments in hell to a level all its own, creating a text that still, today, sits beside the bible in terms of reference for hell. Through the falsification of freedom and the development of fear, Dante has managed to create a propaedeutic tool that will forever remain a part of the arsenal when it comes to individuals attempting to perused people onto a path of moral correctness and away from a life of what they deem to be sin.