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.
Christian humanism involves “the belief that human freedom, individual conscience and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine”. It developed ideas, attitudes and programs swayed by humanism, but influenced by Christianity; it stressed the “greatness of the individual”. In Pico Della Mirandola’s work, the influence of this greatness shows the comparison of the characteristics of mankind to the rest of the world. In the first half of the article, the author states that although humankind is being praised, they are being praised for the wrong reasons.
With Dante’s journey through hell he examines the sins of others, these supposed wrongdoings, such as murder are overall worse for the population, causing, over time, a
Down to the penultimate Canto, Dante meets the second pair of sinners bound together: Ugolino and Ruggieri. Ugolino bites the skull of Ruggieri—the vengeance that he badly wanted on earth is given to him for eternity. This image of Ugolino and Ruggieri reminds us of the image of Paulo and Francesca as the only sinners in Hell that are bound together. The juxtaposition of Ugolino and Francesca ultimately demonstrates two facets of love: A fatherly love that was rejected because of pride and a passionate love that was pursued despite its unlawful nature. (Inf.
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 The Inferno, Dante is the hero of the story. Dante is the man exiled from his home as a result of his political struggles and beliefs with the choice between evil and good. Dante’s heroism is in the form of humanity as he faces the challenge which all human beings struggle with. Dante’s courage is tested as he journeys through the rings of hell. According to Dante, “therefore look carefully; you’ll see such things/as would deprive my speech of all belief” (Alighieri, Dante. 1854).
The idea of Hell itself in most Judeo-Christian denominations begins with the simple premise of being a place for those who have either sinned or turned his or her back on God, damning them to an eternity of punishment and suffering. A major idea presented in Inferno is the idea of the contrapasso. Justin Steinburg in his essay “Dante’s Justice? A Reapprasial of the Contrapasso” summarizes the idea by explaining it as a balance of crime and punishment in Hell. In canto 28 in the Inferno, the Dante first poses the idea in text when Bertran de Born must carry his own head in his arms after separating father from son.
5.141). This reaction seems misplaced since Dante is talking to two people who committed a deadly sin; however, this reaction conveys that Dante believes that love itself is a valuable virtue, but the reader must be aware that adulterous love is not virtuous. The position that Dante the Poet establishes is that the souls in Hell are there not only because they committed sins, but because they corrupted pure virtues to work in their favor. In Purgatory, Dante encounters lust and love again, but the souls have a love for God in addition to the perverted love they had in their life. Virgil presents to Dante that there is a love that is naturally within everyone and that the “natural is always without error /
The devil is the supreme being of all evil. The villain, once called Lucifer and was the greatest of all angels l, rebelled against God over his jealousy of man. Turning evil and fighting the Almighty, he was destined to lose and thrown out of heaven, along with his army. In Dante’s Inferno, he resides in the deepest bowels of hell, where he tortures the three worst traitors in human history: Judas Iscariot, betrayer of Jesus of Nazareth, Cassius and Brutus, slayers Julius Caesar. In hell, contrapasso rules, and the appearances of the fallen angel Lucifer agrees with it.
But, as the poem continues to progress, it becomes quite clear the there is a perfect balance within God’s justice as the degree of each sinner’s punishment perfectly reflects upon the gravity of the sin. Furthermore, the inscription on the gates of Hell explicitly states that Hell exists as a result of divine justice; “ll. “ Justice moved my great maker; God eternal / Wrought me: the power and the unsearchably / High wisdom, and the primal love supernal (III.4-6).” Prior to delving into the structure of Hell and how it displays God’s divine justice, one must first familiarize themselves with both the historical context of Dante’s life, along with the beliefs of the medieval church.
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 Dante’s Inferno, he writes about his journey through hell for the purpose of recognizing his sins. He goes through this journey with Virgil, a voice of reason for Dante. Dante meets people through his journey of the many circles in the Inferno that lead him down into the center of hell, where Satan is. Satan is seen as being monster-like with three heads, representing a mocking of the Trinity and blowing his wings around the cocytus river. The final thing seen here is the fact that Dante’s description of Satan is a bit disappointing compared to the other descriptions he has written about the inferno.
Dante ensures this happens by using the concept of contrapasso, which describes the relationship between sin and the resulting justification in Hell. The literal definition of contrapasso is the 'counter-strike' or the 'counter-suffering which translates literally as "counter-penalty." And in Dante’s Hell, sinners are punished according to the nature of their sin, so that their punishment fits their crime. And as we see throughout the story, some sinners literally become the personification of their sins while others become victims in Hell of the crimes they committed while on
Inferno explores the descent of mankind into sin. The work’s vast usage of imagery and symbols, a powerful allegory, and well known allusions highlight political issues whilst dealing with the nature of sin and the road to salvation. In Inferno, Dante is forced to take a journey through hell. With the help of Virgil, his personal tour guide, Dante sees the different kinds of sins, as well as their contrapasso, or
Dante’s Inferno details the long journey of Dante and Virgil, throughout the bowels of Hell, or the Inferno. Dante’s Inferno is organized into nine different levels, each distributing a different and awful punishment to every different sin. The main sins include the seven deadly sins, “Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Envy”, he also included “Treachery” and “Violence”. The three sins that I believe fit their sins would be “Wrath/Sulleness”, “Greed” and “Gluttony”.
