"The Inferno" is the first book in the epic poem called the “Divine Comedy” by the Italian politician Dante Alighieri and it is followed by "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso”. The book "Inferno", which is the Italian translation for Hell, tells the journey of its author through what he believes is Hell, which consists of nine circles of pain and suffering. In his journey, he is guided through the nine circles by the Roman poet Virgil. Each circle in the book represents a different type of sin with a different type of punishment, varying according to the degree of the offense they committed in their life. By the end of his journey through all of the circles, Dante realizes and emphasizes the perfection of God's Justice and the significance of each offense towards God’s unconditional love.
The same way, disorder means damnation. In both of the masterpieces we find the same way in conceiving coordinates and juxtaposing politics and religion, empire and church. Analogous is the way to express certain forces of nature, intimate qualities of the spirit, sublimation or degeneration of senses through animals. Dante’s Comedy and the mosaic of Otranto teem with animals and monsters: dogs, wolves, dragons, lions, sphinxes, griffins, centaurs, etc. We find all of these representations in both of the works and with the same meaning, same analogies, and same functions.
Dante’s Inferno is an epic poem by Durante “Dante” degli Alighieri, written in the 1300s. He wrote a trilogy, known as the Divine Comedy, consisting of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante was inspired by many events and issues happening at that time, such as the war between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Battle of Montaperti, and Christian religious beliefs. In this paper, I will explore the first book, Inferno, on the topic of Hell and how the sinners had a significant impact on Dante’s journey through Hell. In Circle 5: Styx, Canto VIII, Filippo Argenti, a sinner of Wrathful, helped Dante to symbolize to readers his anger towards Black Guelphs, political enemies of the White Guelphs.
While both works have similarities in their portrayal of sin, punishment, and redemption, they have their own distinct approach in the themes and literary style. To begin with, Dante’s “Inferno” is a piece of literature that describes Dante’s journey through the underworld with his guide Virgil. Dante and Virgil journey through the nine circles of Hell, and within each circle people are being punished for a sin that they committed in their earthly lives. Each circle serves as a different punishment depending on the sin that that person committed. In the first circle of Hell, this is known as Limbo where people who were not able to be baptized or not taught about God have to go.
The only difference is that Hamlet is the sin happening right now while Inferno is what happens to those sinners after death-almost as if Inferno is a sequel to Hamlet. To display this, we created a drawing that places each of the main characters in Hamlet into one of the circles of hell from Inferno. Gertrude lands in the second circle for lust due to marrying her dead husband’s brother. Laertes ends up in the 5th circle of hell for anger due to his desperate need to avenge his father and sister’s death by plotting to kill Hamlet. Ophelia lands in the middle ring of the 7th circle for suicide.
In Dante’s Inferno, Dante Alighieri's depiction of Satan at the bottom of hell reveals the theme that in Hell the punishment is always befitting of the due to the fact that the lower you go, the farther that person is from god. The picture of Satan satisfies the reader because he shows that he is the opposite of god and that he is full of evil. Lucifer is the demon in the circles of hell which he has three faces, and bat like wings in which he creates the cold wind where the sinners suffer. “The face in the middle was red, the color of anger. The face on the right was white blended with yellow, the color of impotence.
In Inferno, Dante is the main character who is fighting between good and evil, which translates to be the theme of the story. Dante explores deeply the Christian hell and heaven, which includes the immediate Purgatory. This experience makes him cast his allegiance to good and God. The differences between these two stories are depicted when comparing the epic conventions, epic characteristics, and when comparing the various religious backgrounds of the times in which these two stories were written.
God’s Justice in Inferno One of the most significant themes, if not the most significant theme within Dante’s Inferno is the perfection of God’s divine justice. Dante expressees divine justice within Inferno in a multitude of ways, with one of the the most prominent examples being the overall structure of Hell and how the punishment for the sinners (perfectly) reflects upon the sin. To the modern reader, Hell likely seems more like an act of cruelty than divine justice, much less a product of God’s love. At first,the torments that the sinners are subjected to seems extreme and grotesque.
In the Inferno, Dante describes the different levels of hell and the punishment which corresponds to the sin. Dante categorize hell into three major sins consisting of incontinence, violence, and fraudulent. Fraudulent is portrayed as the worse sin in the Inferno while incontinence is seen as a less serious sin. Each category has sinners which have all been punished for their wrong doings in life. The three major sins consist of circles where Dante separates the different sinners.
In Canto IV, Dante addresses two theological issues of salvation. According to Christianity, all souls that lived sinless life but were not baptized, are denied salvation. Dante designates his first circle of hell, called Limbo, for those poor souls. In Limbo, they are not tortured, but the cannot have salvation. It was a very simple and brilliant solution.
but mental love may choose an evil object / or err through too much or too little” (Pur. 17.94-96). Dante already presents a main difference between the two realms because in Inferno there was only a singular, misplaced love and now in Purgatory, there are two types of love, with one a faithful love. Even though the souls in Purgatory sinned, they still had a natural love for God that allowed them the
His response to sin at this point is contrary to the Christian view; however, his responses evolve throughout the journey. In conclusion, Dante’s Inferno implicitly communicates to mankind through an allegorical presentation about an individual’s detour off a righteous path leading him into the depths of Hell. He gradually learns that God’s justice prevails, no one can escape eternal damnation unless they
No one that forever belongs in Hell has hope of being saved, but other souls do possess hope through salvation. The loss of hope is the one common punishment of every sinner in Hell. Dante the pilgrim, in his spiritual traveling throughout the Inferno, encounters a plethora of different punishments distributed out to the damned souls that occupy the nine rings that form Hell. Each punishment is a kind of poetic justice suited for each kind of sin being punished and always includes the
Inferno and Purgatorio are two different places and environments, one is more optimistic (Purgatorio) and while the other is pessimistic (Inferno). While Inferno (Hell) represent the eternal damnation of the souls that exist there, they die without repenting and not accepting God, in which they don’t anticipate going anywhere else. In the Purgatorio, there seems to be some purification from the souls that are trying to enhance their purification to enter Paradiso so they could finally enter into heaven. The souls and people are more likely to make to its heaven in Purgatorio opposed to the souls in inferno. But the similarity is Inferno and Purgatory is a place where the souls are sent after death, the difference is where you go based on your sins committed while alive and their beliefs.
Dante’s Inferno represents a microcosm of society; meaning, laymen, church, politicians, and scholars are all compiled into one place and punished for their sins. Hell, despite being depicted as brutal, ugly, and chaotic, is made realistic because the inhabitants come from every country and every walk of life. While Dante Alighieri did not invent the idea of Hell itself, he did create an important and in depth concept that still receives attention in biblical, classical, and medieval works. The Divine Comedy itself was written sometime between the years 1308 and 1321 and scholars still consider it the “supreme work of Italian literature.” The work itself is an epic poem divided into three separate sections: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso; respectively Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
