Free Will In Dante's Inferno And The Unknown Citizen

Across many historical periods, religions, and cultures hell has always been somewhat of a common theme. Its description as a place of eternal sorrow and punishment for those who have sinned can be found in ancient greek literature and modern television with more or less the same basic premise. However, no literary work encapsulates the concept of hell quite like Dante Alighieri's work the divine comedy and its first passages of Dante's inferno. Dante takes a trip through the 9 circles of hell and through his journey he discovers the truth behind holiness and the path to righteousness. The work goes into great detail on the reasons why souls are damned to hell and where in hell they will reside, which is dependent on the specific kind of deadly

Likewise, the neglect of free will is a common theme that between Dante's inferno and “The Unknown Citizen “ by W.H Auden. The citizen on which the poem describes displays an abdication of this great responsibility and would, therefore, be damned to hell like the many souls in Dante's inferno.

Luzzi makes it very clear that although subjugates of the inferno have sinned in different ways, they all have misused or abandoned their gift of free will. Always refusing to accept their own mistakes, they perpetually cast blame on the other. As Virgil, Dante’s guide through the inferno led Dante to the gates of hell he sternly warned: “ Here you should pass among fallen people, souls who have lost the good of intellect.” Virgil's words are clear and they help explain the common qualifier for souls that enter hell. Those who have lost the intellect to see the message of god and the teachings of Christ have immediately destined themselves to the vestibule or worse. These individuals did not utilize their free will and moral conscious to chose between good or bad. They simply acted as slaves to their own

“The Unknown citizen” by W.H Auden provides an interesting perspective on Luzzi’s claims. The main character of the poem is an unnamed person who is described to be the exemplary citizen. Nonetheless, the citizen is far from perfect and due to the massively conformist lifestyle he is living, Luzzi would almost certainly describe him to be in a hell like those of the Inferno. The unknown citizen is at the very least living in a modern day version of the vestibule of hell. He holds almost no unique views and did nothing that would make him stand out. Such characteristics are strikingly similar to the opportunists in the vestibule. Auden mentions that “ When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.” His views change only because the government deemed it to be ok. His own moral compass was blinded by conformity and therefore he had abandoned his free will. Living a life with such moral sloth would land a spot in the vestibule of hell. Later in the poem, Auden points out “That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint” The views held by the unknown citizen are opportunist considering that he his referred to as a “saint” by his government for believing what they want him to believe. As a result, he in