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Dante's inferno essays
Dante's inferno essays
Dante's inferno essays
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After reading The Inferno, Confessions and The Aeneid, I would have to say that each poem sheds its own way of light as well as darkness and tells their own story. However, when we come to Dante's poem and the influence that it has based off of The Aeneid, now we have a different story. After reading Dante's Poem, I notice the influence upon Dante when he was being guiding through hell. Often at times when it comes to an influence or being influenced we have to see who or what around us may have had an affect or a hand in assisting the influence. In Dantes case he chooses such a troubled path through the inferno, where arguments arouse but more so in error. While reading the different text within the poem, I read that Virgil has so many …show more content…
embarrassing and humiliating moments, that he does not want to discuss nor bring back up in conversation. During Dantes vision of hell and the picture he has painted he wanted others to see what appeared through his eyes. With all this being said, Dante focuses on Virgil and what he has to say and he is who influenced him more so than The Aeneid itself. When it comes to the confessions, I would have to say this was noticed during Dantes final thoughts and vision of St.
Augustine. St. Augustine starts to confess and discuss his temptations and makes a point very clear, that although there are many physical beauties; he does not see any sexual attraction. St. Augustine also confesses that the beauty of the eyes and the beauty of the body which we all know come in all shapes and color, does not interest him. Although, God has made everything you can imagine beautiful, unique and good, it is not what he wants nor what he wants to focus on. St. Augustine continues to confess that the only love that matters and cares to him is actually God. He goes on to say that, he has this connection with God and with that, the only physical love and attractions that he would ever need, comes from no other than God himself. In the book The Confessions, which relates to Dantes final vision and an insight of how he felt. When we step back and look at the word confessions, confessions can mean a variety of things, from admitting one' own sins, not admitting how they feel. Unfortunately, with this story the influence is detected once St. Augustine, confesses that he only has love for one person and nobody but God. Throughout the story he makes it clear, that he values the education and the study behind it, as well-being educated within
Christianity.
St. Augustine’s Confessions is written through the Christian perspective of religion. Christianity is founded on the idea that there is one God who oversees all actions. Though all actions are observed by a higher power, God instills in us a free will. As Christians we are free to make our own decisions whether right or wrong. In his Biography St Augustine expresses that he feels like a sinner. He struggles with the fact that he is a thrill seeker. He loves to watch blood sports. He watches gladiators fight to the death and commit murder. Not only does he watch, but he enjoys observing these acts. He is also expressing his sins in his biography when he writes about stealing, which is another sin. He steals pears for fun. St Augustine doesn’t even eat the pears he steals, but throws them to the pigs to eat. Through the story St Augustine struggles interna...
...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.
The second circle of hell, a realm for those who fell victim of their carnal desires, is another level at which to place Augustine’s soul for he was consumed by lust in his pre-conversion days. He was encouraged by his family to learn the art of persuasion and making of fine speech when he was only sixteen. He used these skills, which he developed very well, along with his good looks to seduce as many women as possible. It was “in that sixteenth year of my life in this world, when the madness of lust. . . took complete control of me, and I surrendered to it” (Confessions, 987). He was in love with being in love. Yet, he was unable to discern between love and lust.
Thesis- Dante and Virgil have an interesting relationship that changes throughout Dante’s Inferno. They started off very different and Virgil didn’t care much for Dante. Dante looked at Virgil differently after he had heard Beatrice sent him to guide him. Throughout their travels, their relationship changed as they went through every layer of hell. Something happened in each one that changed their relationship either drastically, or barely at all. Their travels are very intriguing and their relationship is very complex. They become very close, so much that Dante acquires a deep trust in Virgil. They are no longer “just friends.” They are both poets and can communicate very well through words and Literature.
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.
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,
We learn that Virgil has only come to Dante’s aid because he has been summoned by Beatrice. This is an example of relying on divine love. He says to Dante “Do not fear, the journey we are making cannot prevent: such power decrees it. Wait here for me and feed your weary spirit with comfort and good hope; you can be sure I will not leave you in this underworld” (Dante pg.45).
Virgil is not only an influence on Dante as a character of Dante's fashioning and in terms of the poem, but he is also (perhaps more importantly) an incredible inspiration to Dante as a fellow poet. It seems clear that there are many similarities between the Aeneid and the Divine Comedy - what at first glance may seem indefinite is the importance of those similarities. Virgil's Aeneid is intimately intertwined with Dante's Divine Comedy in the capacity of an entire poetic work with similar themes, and also as an integral reference for specific images.
St. Augustine's sordid lifestyle as a young man, revealed in Confessions, serves as a logical explanation for his limited view of the purpose of sexuality in marriage. His life from adolescence to age thirty-one was so united to passionate desire and sensual pleasure, that he later avoided approval of such emotions even within the sanctity of holy union. From the age of sixteen until he was freed of promiscuity fifteen years later, Augustine's life was woven with a growing desire for illicit acts, until that desire finally became necessity and controlled his will. His lust for sex began in the bath houses of Tagaste, where he was idle without schooling and "was tossed about…and boiling over in…fornications" (2.2). Also during that time, young Augustine displayed his preoccupation with sexual experience by fabricating vulgarities simply to impress his peers. In descript...
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.
It is difficult to determine the true nature of Virgil in Dante's Commedia. At times, he grants incredible advice that parallels the wisdom of some early church fathers, and other times he shows no expertise in any situation, to the point of conferring entirely misinformed counsel. This disparity is confusing mainly because Virgil looked like he would be an infallible guide at the beginning of the Divine Comedy. Yet there are plenty of occurrences confirming Virgil's shortcomings beyond doubt. So what is Dante trying to convey in Virgil's personage? Virgil is not shown to be completely wicked or just in his appearances in the poem, but there is no moral middle ground, as shown by the structure of Dante's afterlife. So, all the reader is left with is Paradise's estimation of Virgil, which is the only ensured truth the Poet gives the reader. Since Heaven chose Virgil to guide escort Dante the Pilgrim to Heaven, but Virgil can continue no further than the entrance to earthly paradise, Virgil must represent a transitional phase that Dante must shed in order to achieve full salvation.
...same time transferring the focus of his text to the glory and wonder of God, causing his readers to shift their focus as well. We don’t finish the Confessions and marvel at the depravity of the young St. Augustine, or even at the incredible mercy of God for taking in such a self-proclaimed sinner. The impression the text leaves us with is that of the immense benefits the Lord can bestow on man, and the great extent to which St. Augustine was able to profit from this. Therefore, what St. Augustine had sought in God, he has found. The inner void is filled, he has a loyal nonjudgmental companion and protector for this life and the next, and he has found a potential scapegoat for all of his possible future mistakes and flaws—as well as someone to pray to and unconditionally praise.
...eeper perspective, Virgil also has an allegorical representation of human reason—“both in its immense power and in its inferiority to faith in God.” As showing respect to his Master, Dante eulogizes the beauty of human reason, truth, and virtue. 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.
The primary characters in Dante’s poem include himself, who is also the narrator, Virgil, a poet he has admired, who serves as his guide through most of the first two sections, and finally, Beatrice, his inspiration, who greets him at Paradisio and escorts him through the remainder of his journey.
What hindered Augustine's conversion was that he was disillusioned in his pursuit of hedonism, paganism, Manicheanism, worldly power and ambition. He entertained the notion that ultimate truth might be simply unknowable or unattainable. He became impressed with the philosophical skepticism that had become prominent in Plato’s old school, the Academy. It was at this point that a number of factors began to come together that would lead Augustine to reassess the religion of his youth.