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Nine Ptolemaic Spheres Of Hell In Dante's Inferno

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Dante’s the Inferno, is designed to demonstrate how human actions transgress their sins on Earth after death. He does so by placing the main character, Dante, in Hell, whose soul is in a lost state and must witness the consequences of sin and suffering in order to educate him on the importance of moral Christian law in order to restore the balance within his soul. To properly explore the nine ptolemaic spheres of Hell, Virgil is summoned to Dante’s distress in order to guide him through the true evils of Hell. As well as, Virgil is there to provide reason and clarity in every circle. These justifications are the core of Virgil’s guidance and furthermore, brings progressive revelations to Dante’s expedition. However, it is not Virgil who is truly guiding Dante, but it is by Mary who initiates this pilgrimage and she does so out of love. It is Mary who calls upon St.Lucius, who then calls upon …show more content…

At the beginning, similar to Mary’s desire to assist Dante, Athena confronts Zeus about Odysseus’s turmoil and her desire to see him return home. To clarify, she states, “it is for Odysseus that my heart bleeds, when I of his sufferings in that lonely sea-girt island.”Both Odysseus and Dante are lost in a sense , and are assisted by acts of love in order to restore their lost states. Athena’s interventions help Odysseus restore his family dynamic and likewise Virgil’s wisdom has aided in rehabilitating Dante’s soul. so that he is worthy to enter into heaven when the time comes. Both Dante and Homer demonstrate how vital elements of love are in the bringing of harmony. These philosophers utilize this universal sense of affection to manifest how influential this one emotion can promote and preserve the path towards

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In Dante’s Inferno, the ideas of justice, good and evil, and suffering in hell are implied. The idea of suffering in hell and the idea of justice are closely related. Dante indicates that those suffering in hell have committed crimes that are being punished in a reasonable way and that we should not have pity for them. He uses the setting and his organization of hell to transmit these ideas and his philosophy regarding these ideas. The organization of hell helps us understand that Dante believed it was a person’s poor decisions and not cruel fate that got a person in hell.

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The passage opens up with a sentence in latin  “Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni” to put in evidence  that Dante is near to meet the prince of demons, Satan.   In the beginning,as the first verse discloses, Dante saw nothing in the darkness, except for the silhouette of what he thinks is a huge windmill from which a cold air blows. The wind produced by Lucifer is a parody of the breath of the Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the Father and the Son, who is ardent of charity while this air freezes the lake in which the lost souls are trapped. The vision of the monster is prepared with a wise expectation, coming only after Dante described the traitors immersed in the Cocito area, the Giudecca.

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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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He also can lead him all the way up to Eden, the earthly paradise. Dante believed that a just government could bring about such a paradise, and thus Virgil’s travel to Eden is doubly

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1236 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the Divine Comedy, Virgil served an essential role in guiding and teaching the Pilgrim. By having Virgil be the pilgrims guide, Dante (the author) illustrates how important Virgil is in providing a pagan perspective to the poem. In spite of Virgil’s pagan view, this is seemingly altered through the course of the poem. At multiple points in the inferno and purgatorio Virgil shows signs of change, through actions like confession to his sins and reflecting on why he was placed in Hell. Comparatively though, through Virgil’s actions in other parts of the poem, he also demonstrated not changing in slightest.

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In Inferno, Dante is the main character who is fighting between good and evil, which translates to be the theme of the story. Dante explores deeply the Christian hell and heaven, which includes the immediate Purgatory. This experience makes him cast his allegiance to good and God. The differences between these two stories are depicted when comparing the epic conventions, epic characteristics, and when comparing the various religious backgrounds of the times in which these two stories were written.

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Fueled by the anger surrounding his banishment from Florence in 1302, Dante Alighieri spitefully wrote the epic poem, the Divine Comedy. The Inferno, the first part of the trilogy of the Divine Comedy, tells the story of Dante the pilgrim and Dante the poet. The two personas deliver Dante’s journey through hell, the Inferno, with added depth. Dante is also guided by Virgil, an ancient Roman poet from 50 B.C. The three personas share different perspectives on the grueling detail of their findings in hell.

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Virgil is all of the noble virtues of the perfect Roman and represents wisdom and reason to aid Dante. He may act differently during the different areas through hell, but most importantly, he is protective of Dante, reminding him multiple times not to be sympathetic of the damned souls. He is both a tour guide to all of the details of hell and a tour guide to help Dante understand himself. Virgil’s symbolic job is to represent God’s decisions and views on justice through the multiple scoldings to Dante about not pitying those deserving to be punished. Virgil really is one of the most important characters of the book and has a lot to add to Dante’s points on God and

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In The Comedy, Dante the Pilgrim develops a relationship with his damned idol, Virgil, in order to journey through both Inferno and Purgatory. Even though Virgil was a good man while living, he lacked understanding of certain virtues, like pride, which prevented him from being able to reach higher levels in the afterlife. Dante the Poet’s choice to damn Virgil conveys that obeying a higher order is the way to one’s salvation. The developing relationship between Virgil and Dante the Pilgrim throughout the first two canticles brings light to the opposing separation between the two characters because of the devotion Dante has to Christian virtues in comparison to Virgil’s pagan misunderstanding of virtue. While Dante the Pilgrim experiences many

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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…

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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.

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Great works of literature such as Dante’s: Inferno as well as One Thousand and One Nights contain similar themes such as religion, redemption, and love. These themes encompass the philosophical and religious ideas that can be found in both texts. Although Dante’s: Inferno is written on the base of Catholicism and One Thousand and One Nights is written on the base of Islam, the views we are presented with in both are not unique , but rather found in one form or another throughout history and in various cultures spread across the world.

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2078 Words | 9 Pages

In his travels, Dante is lead by the symbol of human reason, Virgil, who takes Dante to talk to sinners of each circle in Alighieri’s depiction of Hell. His bias is extremely evident towards three specific sinners in Hell.

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1207 Words | 5 Pages

"The Inferno" is the first book in the epic poem called the “Divine Comedy” by the Italian politician Dante Alighieri and it is followed by "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso”. The book "Inferno", which is the Italian translation for Hell, tells the journey of its author through what he believes is Hell, which consists of nine circles of pain and suffering. In his journey, he is guided through the nine circles by the Roman poet Virgil. Each circle in the book represents a different type of sin with a different type of punishment, varying according to the degree of the offense they committed in their life. By the end of his journey through all of the circles, Dante realizes and emphasizes the perfection of God's Justice and the significance of each offense towards God’s unconditional love.

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741 Words | 3 Pages

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

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