Torrie Brown
Ms. Gurnard
Honors English 1
Today’s image of Satan vs. Dante the poet’s image of Satan
Throughout time the character Satan has evolved into a widely known icon for evil. The ideas of Satan’s image, environment, and personality are mostly unknown. However, people today have developed a collective understanding of Satan. In Dante Alighieri’s poem Inferno, Dante the poet writes a different version of Satan which he shows through Satan’s appearance, environment, and weaknesses.
An example of this is when Dante the pilgrim first encounters Satan in the lowest level of Hell, he describes, “O, what a marvel it appeared to me, / When I beheld three faces on his head!” (Inferno XXXIV.37-38). A common image of Satan’s appearance shows Satan having one head which differs from Dante the poet’s version of Satan which shows Satan having three heads. This choice by Dante the poet
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Dante the poet portrays Satan to be crying but in common stories about Satan, Satan never cries because makes Satan weak. Dante the poet writes Satan this way to show people that Satan is not strong and all power but instead a weak child. Another example is when Dante the pilgrim sees that Satan’s wings are causing the winds in hell. He describes, “Their fashion was; and he was waving them/ So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom/ Thereby Cocytus wholly congealed” (Inferno XXXIV. 50-53). In common stories of Satan, Satan is known to be smart because Satan tricks people into committing acts of sin. However, Dante the poet portrays Satan to be unintelligent through Satan’s inability to break out of the ice. Dante the poet portrays Satan in this way to show that God gives people the gift of intelligence and because Satan betrayed God, Satan is not as smart as God and is weaker than