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Examples Of Treachery In Dante's Inferno

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Abstract Dante’s Inferno is one of the most famous comedy known. The writing of this story began in 1308 and was finished in 1320, 12 years after. This story was finished a year before Dante’s death, and he died by contracted a fever while he was traveling to Venice. Inferno is also followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. This comedy tells the story of how Dante and Virgil travel through Hell. Inferno depicts Hell as nine circles that monsters partake in atrocious acts of torture. The souls being tortured, are in Hell because they committed sins (Inferno Summary). The eighth circle of hell is introduced in canto eighteen and is broken to sections. During the few chapters, Dante decided to take a while to start talking about the eighth circle of Hell, which is unknown why. This circle has a nickname which is Malebolge, which …show more content…

Right under Dante and Virgil’s feet they realize that beneath them are souls that are frozen underneath them, some even a few feet below them. Dante then decides to look around when he notices a giant figure that is covered in fog, and when he gets a closer look he knows that this ominous figure is Lucifer. This fallen angel has three horrible faces, one looking straight ahead and the other two watching his back. Beneath each of Lucifer’s heads are wings, which wave back and forth, keeping the sinners frozen. Each of Lucifer’s mouths have the world worst sinners inside them. Judas is in the mouth in the center, and he is there because he betrayed Christ. In the left and right mouth hangs Brutus and Cassius, and they are the two that murdered Julius Caesar. Brutus and Cassius are facing with their heads outside Lucifer’s mouths, but Judas is head first inside Lucifer. The mouths chew the victims, tearing at their bodies, but does not do enough damage to kill them. After Dante has witnessed the worst tortures in Hell Virgil tells him that they must leave Hell right now

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Satan has some very strong wings that would make the ice freeze and be colder every time he would use his wings to try to escape. When they describe satan in hell it’s really more like being in winter with satan since it’s very cold. Satan is frozen as well, not all the way just half his body. His lower waist and down to his feet. In the fourth ring of hell are the one who made the worst sin, betrayal.

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1247 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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1484 Words | 6 Pages

The ninth circle of Hell, for example, is reserved for traitors, who are considered the most heinous of all sinners. By contrast, the first circle is reserved for virtuous pagans, who are not technically guilty of any sin, but are still excluded from the joys of Heaven because they lack the benefit of Christian faith. Dante’s Hell is a complex and nuanced depiction of the nature of sin and punishment.

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608 Words | 3 Pages

Dante had never seen Satan before and the first time seeing him frightened him, as he saw three heads with huge bat looking wings, chewing on sinners. Dante hides behind Virgil when approaching Satan, as it seems to be the only shelter he finds. From the Lucifer in Dante's Inferno to the Satan that readers might imagine, there is a big difference because most of the time the stereotypical Satan is a red, half man, half goat with a large pitchfork. When according to Dante, he is much more large and insidious to whomever comes across him. The description given by Dante creates fear to the reader.

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606 Words | 3 Pages

In Dante's Inferno, Dante who is main character is getting a tour of hell by his tour guide Virgil. Virgil his tour guide presents to him all the nine levels of hell, including the punishments the sinners must suffer with for all eternity. In the ninth level of hell, the worst sinners are frozen in a giant lake. The sinners are then eaten alive by whom is so called satan. According to Dante, Satan is described as “Than do the giants with those arms of his; consider now how great must that whole, which unto such a part conforms itself… O, what a marvel it appeared to me, when i beheld three faces on his head!

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227 Words | 1 Pages

As Virgil and Dante keep walking they see a demon and a circle sinners are walking through and the demon had a sword and started to strike the people who walked up to him and there was people wrapped in a circle into the demon and they would get struck with this sword cutting limbs and they would keep walking regenerate their parts and would be fully regenerated by the time they got back around to the demon to be struck again. Dante also runs into his cousin in hell and stops with him to try and help him get out not really realizing like Virgil that he has no chance of getting out of what he's done, and Dante still tries to help his cousin. The eventually leave and keep walking through the 8th and 9th levels of hell, but as they walk they don't

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Through Dante’s word choices and his choice to use symbols, he creates intense imagery and a dreary, haunting mood. This, as well as his choice to place idols of the narrator (Homer, Ovid, Lucan, and Horace) into Limbo, affects the reader’s understanding of the First Circle of Hell to show that Limbo is not so much a punishment like the rest of the levels, but a “middle ground” where souls whose only sin was the failure to get baptized

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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.

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The individuals who have committed sins are burdened by their heavy cloaks, while the Malebranche take pleasure in inflicting torment upon them. Following their successful evasion of the Malebranche through cunning tactics and the assistance of a demon named Malacoda, Dante and Virgil proceed to navigate through the circle of Hell. Upon reaching the bridge leading to the subsequent circle of Hell, the protagonists encounter a group of sinners who are undergoing punishment for their thievery. The Malebranche escape constitutes a pivotal moment in the poem, highlighting the intellectual acumen and ingenuity of the travellers, while underscoring the difficulties inherent in navigating the circles of

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Throughout this Canticle, it is clear that Dante used to show empathy towards the sinners, and thus, it has to be Virgil's influence that makes him become wrathful. One of the first places that Virgil leads Dante is where the lustful sinners are being punished. It is very dark and there is a giant whirlwind whipping around the sinners, who have wings attached to their backs. There, Virgil shows Dante some of the sinners in this ring of Hell, such as Semiramis, Cleopatra, Dido, Helen, and Paris. When Dante wants to talk to one of them, Francesca and her lover land right in front of them.

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729 Words | 3 Pages

As Dante progresses through the nine rings of hell, he begins to realize that the level at which you sinned determines which level of hell is appropriate for the sinner. However, at the beginning of the Inferno Dante describes the violent scenes of hell through a scared and pitiful tone. For example, Dante entering the gates of hell, “here sighs and cries and shrieks of lamentation echoed throughout the starless air of hell; at first these sounds resounding made me weep” (1607). But as Dante moves through the final levels of hell, he is not scared, rather he is somewhat repulsed and experiences a realization as he reaches the lower levels of hell. For example, as Dante addresses the reader directly when describing Satan himself, “How chilled and nerveless, Reader, I felt then; do not ask me–I cannot write about it” (1716).

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As far back as the third century BCE, Aristotle reported on the occurrence of red or “blood” snow.” (Cerveny 43). While remaining true to science and possibility, Dante still distinctively conveys hell's brutality. Dante includes what phenomenons occurred during his time, which most likely was feared as it

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Dante also witnesses many promiscuous souls being forever pursued by hounds. The innermost ring is a burning desert where fire falls from the sky, raining down upon blasphemers and sodomites. The Eighth Circle of Hell is filled with fraudulent false prophets and the like. All those who practice false magic, business, etc. The last Circle of Hell is divided into 4 sections by seriousness of their traitorous sin however all punished are frozen in an icy lake.

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A poet, a writer, and a political thinker, Dante Alighieri is a famously known Italian poet, whose works are read all over the places, in the world. The book which brought him much praise namely consists of three parts: Inferno, Paradiso, and Purgatorio; making a “hell” of a story called The Devine Comedy, or simply La Comedia. The plots of each represent different pieces of the Dante character’s journey to seek salvation and to cleanse from his sin; though what exact sin? The firsts part of the La Comedia, Inferno, has undoubtedly made Dante popularized and became the most read out of all three pieces of work. Although, the setting passages of the nine circles of Hell are described vividly, and depicted with desisting details that take readers

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Dante’s portrayal of Satan is paradoxically empty and monstrous; it captures Satan in his true form and speaks of who he truly is. One of Dante’s portrayals of Satan is his monstrousness throughout the Inferno with him blowing over the cocytus. Dante’ first impression of Satan is “I saw his head towering above me! for it had three faces” (266). The image of the three heads is a symbolic mocking of the most holy Trinity.

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