Divided into three major sections—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—the narrative traces the journey of Dante from darkness and error to the revelation of the divine light, culminating in the Beatific Vision of God. ("The Divine
Dante begins this journey to find God. To reach Dante 's goal, Dante passes through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante and Virgil enter the gates of hell and descend through the nine circles of hell. In each Circle, sinners are punished differently according to what you have done. In the first circle are virtuous non-Christians and unbaptized pagans who are punished with eternity in an inferior form of Heaven.
Dante's journey is more for self enlightenment in comparison to other great epics, such as Beowulf. Although Dante does not realize it, he is there to improve himself. During this trip, he feels pity for the sinners in the levels of Hell and often faints because of the awful treatment they are being subjected to. He eventually feels compassion for the sinners and realizes that Hell is a place that you would not want to be in. He then goes back to the normal world wanting to tell everyone to change the way they live so they do not end up in Hell, like he experienced on the
Dante was an Italian poet who depicted his fictional journey through heaven and hell. The first epic poem of the three, Inferno, depicted Dante’s experiences going through Hell. Purgatorio begins with Dante and Virgil, his guide, emerging from Hell at the foot of Mount Purgatory, where souls purge themselves of sin. The epic follows Dante and Virgil as they travel through the seven terraces of Purgatory and see souls cleanse themselves of their vices. The bottom of the mountain, Ante-Purgatorio, contains the excommunicates – those who delayed repentance and are now awaiting their time to begin purging their vices in Purgatory.
Dante paints a very beautiful picture of heaven in Paradiso. Heaven is divided into ten realms that are held within the constancy of The Empyrean, the fastest sphere, which lies beyond space. The Empyrean, which is the tenth heaven, is representative of perfect and everlasting love, which renders it unchangeable (Canto 1 123). The Great Wheel, also known as The Primum Mobile, is the largest sphere that lies within The Empyrean; it encompasses the eight heavens, which are fixed onto separate planets (Canto 1 76-78). Once a soul enters Heaven, their earthly actions are judged by God, then they are placed into a level of heaven in accordance with His judgement.
Argument of Dante’s Inferno Throughout the story of Dante’s Inferno his travels through Hell to search for God was interrupted by the spirits and the nine levels of Hell. In the book Dante’s Inferno, Dante goes on a journey through the levels of Hell. In the book as Dante travels through the levels of Hell and his anger increases as the journey goes on.
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.
Upon Virgil showing Dante’s the circles of hell and the punishments assigned to each sin their journey is complete to show Dante what he will face if he does not find his path of righteousness. Finally, the two at the end of our story find they are on earth Dante having survived. Having survived this struggle of good and evil Dante has found his way back to the right path. I find the ultimate conclusion to be a bit underwhelming as it is vague in what becomes of Dante having come out of Hell and what his life becomes having gone through the experience he has. The vagueness of what Dante takes away from his experience is a bit frustrating in the same way that the reader can only guess what sin Dante committed to have strayed from the path of
The reward of the soul that Dante exemplifies in his writing is supported by St. Thomas’s teachings in his novel Aquinas’s Shorter Summa. St. Thomas states, “the reward of virtue is happiness, to be granted to man by God’s goodness” (Aquinas, Shorter Summa, P.198, Par.172). St. Thomas believes that God grants happiness to souls who lived with virtue throughout their life, and punishment to those who neglected it. For God to be gracious to a soul after death, that soul must have lived a virtuous life in accordance with God’s teachings. If the soul had strayed from his teachings, God sends that individual to a lower realm where they can repent their sins.
Unfortunately, Dante’s journey transitions from the wood into the depths of Hell where he and readers discover the Christian view of sin, repentance, and the need for a savior. The author introduces his readers to Jesus Christ during Virgil and Dante’s conversation about the lost souls in Limbo. In the First Circle of Hell, known as Limbo, the lost souls that did not have an opportunity to meet Jesus Christ dwell in this place. Although they did not sin, they did not have a proper relationship with God through Jesus Christ. However, Virgil testifies about Jesus’ decision into Hell when he says, “ I saw a mighty lord descend to us…
Jesus has descended into Hell and granted salvation to the souls in Limbo with hope. With the absence of these saved souls, every soul left in Hell has no hope of salvation. The sigh that states “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” acts as a warning for only the souls damned to stay in Hell for all of eternity (I, III, 31). No matter what ring of Hell a soul is punished within, the loss of hope is part of their punishment. Dante is one of the few that enter Hell that retains hope.
The story revolves around metaphors where everything has a double meaning behind what is said. Here what Dante is trying to tell us is that he wakes up in hell because he has strayed from the righteous path that the church and God has set for him. This medieval writing continues throughout the layers of hell sinners are damned to hell and live in a world devoid of any sanitation everything around them is full of suffering and death. Above the gate is a message that tells the beginning of the journey into hell and the suffering that will be caused, “I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY, I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL GRIEF… ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER” (399, 1). The church brings out these punishments seeing as the medieval era he lived in was during the time that the church dominated a person’s way of living.
Essentially Dante was never settled after his exaltation and wandered endlessly. With his journey into the Inferno, Dante first awakens in a Dark Wood, at first sight he sees a light outlining a mountain in a distance and makes his way towards it. He is encountered by three beasts who stop his passage up the mountain. Before the monsters could have their way with Dante he is saved by the Roman poet Virgil who tells him to reach the mountain top he must first travel through Hell and Purgatory. Virgil was sent by Dante’s lover, Beatrice.
Dante’s conception of purgatory does not make sense when placed in line with Christianity. The Christian faith today is based on the life and teachings of Jesus from the study of the word of God, also known as the Bible. The Bible does not specifically state that purgatory exists. God’s word, through numerous scriptures, only states that Heaven and Hell are the two places that exist after death.
Many readers consider this level of the Heavens to be the “waiting room” of Paradise. The seven terraces correspond with the seven deadly sins and the idea of symbolic retribution remains evident in this part of The Divine Comedy. Dante’s experiences, meeting the different souls in Purgatory and in Inferno, both have the same effect on him. Dante learns that humans believe God and the Heavens are the explanation for everything – sin and purity – in their lives. Learning this has a major impact on him because he realizes that humans have the power to choose to either be pure or impure in their lives.
