...The impact of Dente’s Inferno on European Society and History, a reflective essay “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” resonates across the centuries. For over 650 years, from the time it was written until today, critics have analyzed and reinterpreted The Devine Comedy and especially Inferno, written by Dente Alighieri (1265–1321) while he was in exile from Florence, Italy . The fact that it has tremendous impact on art and literature is evident by the centuries of continuous study and the number of notable authors and artists whose works clearly reflect an influence from the theological, political or poetic value of the piece. T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) wrote in a 1929 essay that “Dante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them; there is no third,”1 Certainly the word pictures in Inferno are vivid and memorable. But did Inferno actually influence society? Did it shape history? Did thought leaders of Dante’s time and over the centuries following find inspiration in its pages such that the Western world today is different than it might have been without Inferno? There are few works of literature to emerge from the Middle Ages with a lasting legacy to the modern world. Historically, Inferno was the first great literary work available in the vernacular, or common dialect, of a region. As such, it had an impact on the formation of the Italian language. More compelling, Dante’s work seems to be a dividing line between the epic poems of antiquity and the modern, humanistic...
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...Nemo Zaragoza IGE 122 04/04/2012 Dante’s Inferno I have to start by stating that I was overjoyed when we were going to get the chance to read The Divine Comedy. This collection of Dante’s the poets’ poems have been a great and entertaining read. The reason why I was so excited to be reading this book is because of the fact that this book seems to take a few ‘religious liberties’ and explores the concept of hell and prods at the thought of possibly being more to hell than meets the eye. Not only that, but there was a game that came out a couple of years ago that took a more aggressive approach to the book and it was the same premise except that Dante was more of a warrior than a poet. Not just that, but the reason Dante went to hell (in the video game) was to save his beloved Beatrice from the grasps of the devil. Now the reason for her being with the devil is because she made a bet against him saying that, whilst Dante was away on the churches crusades he would remain faithful. Well she lost that bet, mainly because Dante not only was unfaithful, but as he progresses through hell, he notices that he actually committed each of the sins of all the circles. Anyway, back on topic, it seems that Dante responded in a sort of quizzical way. While he was walking through the circles he would sort of comment and jest on the people he recognized, but for the most part he would question Virgil as to why some people were there even though they followed the rules or something along...
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...The book "Inferno", portrays the journey of its creator through what he says is Hell, consisting of nine circles which people who committed sin suffer in. In his adventure Dante is guided through the nine circles by the artist Virgil, who speaks to Human Reason. Every circle in the book speaks to an alternate kind of wrongdoing with an alternate sort of discipline, fluctuating according to the level of offense they conferred in life. In his outing through each one of these circles, Dante acknowledges and underlines the perfection of God's Justice and the seriousness of every offense towards the maker of all life. Dante as a Christian understands the perfection of God's justice. He can make an association between a spirit's wrongdoing on Earth and the discipline he or she gets in Hell. In Inferno, Dante clarifies that God made Hell by justice, a particular case of this, may be the point at which he was entering the Gates of Hell, he read on the passageway of the entryway the sign that said, "Sacred Justice moved my Architect I was raised here by the Divine Omnipotence..." (Alighieri Canto III) without a doubt, ascribing the making of Hell to God and his heavenly justice. God's perfect justice is precisely what shapes...
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...While Dante’s placement of Mohammed in Hell is, in itself, implied, the latter’s damnation not only comes from a sense of divine justice but also acts as a reflection on and a warning to Dante on his individual journey to God. Dante, along with many of his peers and influences, views Islam as a false sect broken off from the core of Christianity and Mohammed as a Christian with a corrupted view of doctrine that lures potential followers from a true path of righteousness. Mohammed, like Dante, feels a spiritual discontentment that leads him on a reflective journey; however, as Mohammed turns his personal path, beliefs, and interpretations into its own doctrine, he varies from Dante’s poetic but applicable tale of salvation. Dante’s encounter...
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...God created the Inferno to punish the sinful souls and makes the each punishment appropriate for the sins. (Here the word “sin” means “crime.”) Throughout the Inferno, The Law of Retribution (contrapasso) rules over Dante’s Inferno, and the law states that the sinners need to suffered the same degree of punishment based on the sin’s nature. So the sinner who committed a terrible sin would suffer more punishments. In the second circle are punished those who are lustful. These sinners unable to control themselves to do the sinful things based on their lustful desires. The lustful sinners are tossed in a violent storm, and unable to control themselves in this circle. Following is a good example of lust characters: Francesca and...
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...John Anhcondo 02/02/13 G4 Dante’s Inferno: Jason Jason and the Argonauts, a hero of Greek mythology, punished for the sins of a seducer in the eighth circle of hell. He is to march for all eternity and be whipped by demons supervising himself and the other sinner in Dante’s Inferno. One might ask is this punishment too severe, whether it’s for the seduction and abandonment of two women, or even poetic justice for his sins. Jason of Iolcus in Thessaly, the son of the former king of Iolcus, Aeson, was one of the heroes taught by the centaur Chiron. As a young man Jason went to the court of his uncle Pelias to reclaim the throne his father had given his uncle with the condition that Jason would become king when he came of age. King Pelias, warned by an oracle that a man with one sandal would cause him to lose the throne, was alarmed when he saw Jason because, while crossing a river, Jason had lost one of his sandals. To stave off the oracle's predicted ill fortune, Pelias sent Jason on what was presumed to be a suicide mission, which was to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis. Jason succeeded in the seemingly impossible quest, with the help of his many heroic friends, known collectively as the Argonauts, and by charming the king's daughter Medea, a witch/sorceress. (It should also be noted that before he met Medea he had slept with a woman of The Isle of Lemnos, and left her with child When he left Colchis, Jason was obligated to take Medea with him because she had betrayed...
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...In The Inferno it illustrates Dante and Virgil’s journey through Hell, and results in Dante understanding sins. According to the Bible, sinners will be punished for eternity, and those who follows good Christain values will live in eternal happiness, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life,” (Revelation 21.8) Dante’s journey allows him to see the pain that sinners go through for eternity, and learns about how sins can cause an eternity of pain. In the beginning of the poem, we see that Dante has lost his way of life, Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray From the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood. (The Inferno, 16) Dante has lost his way to salvation, and Virgil...
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...are not able to control. Dante endures a similar fascination with the human body and its changes a parts on his journey through hell through the Inferno. Even reading this a second time, I was able to make even more personal connections with the book than I previously had. I have had many experiences where my view of the human body was being ruined by uncontrollable forces. Much like me, Dante’s fascination with the body often leads to disgust of even pain when it is ruined. Not long ago while I was still in my boarding school, my grandmother that I called Nana had a heart attack. She is fine now, but it worried our entire family...
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...Contrapasso is one of only a handful few principles in Dante's Inferno. It is the one "law of nature" that applies to damnation, expressing that for each heathen's wrongdoing there must be an equivalent and fitting discipline. These disciplines, in any case, are once in a while basic or clear and are generally figuratively as opposed to actually identified with their separate sins. Indeed, Dante researcher Lino Pertile takes note of, "the routes in which [contrapasso] works in the account are the same number of as the transgressions, if not the same number of as the miscreants, to which it is connected" (70-73). As is not out of the ordinary with such a confounded idea, numerous elucidations of this exchange amongst transgression and discipline...
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...Dante enters the third circle of hell and is immediately surrounded by all the sinners that call this level their home. The inhabitants of the third circle are gluttons, sinners who have fallen for one of the seven deadly sins that has to do with excessive eating. Gluttony comes from the Latin word gluttire, which means “to gulp down or swallow” from which many get the definition that it means to overindulge in food and drinks (F., Lewis). However, Dante makes the sin, gluttony, and more complex by not only defining it as excessive eating but it also having to do with selfish acts and greed (Dante’s Inferno). The gluttons are sentenced to live a life in misery as they are being pelted by the rain, snow, and wind. As the canto goes on Dante...
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...In Dante’s Inferno, the author chooses certain punishments for each sin in the 9 Circles of Hell. A few of these circles include Gluttony, Greed, and Heresy. In the story, at the gates of hell, it is said God created hell to achieve justice, and so each punishment is based off the desire for moral righteousness. The crimes committed in the real world coincide with the punishments for each sin in hell. As Dante and Virgil progress deeper into hell, the sins (received at the time) become more immoral and the penalties become even more severe. Gluttony is the third Circle of Hell. Souls of gluttons are observed by the monster Cereberus, a worm-like monster with three heads, and are punished by laying in filthy slush, while icy rain falls upon them. Elements of the punishment symbolize traits of gluttony. The slush represents the indignity when one indulges in excess of food, while selfishness is punished by having to lie where you can see no one else. Dante and Virgil speak to Ciacco, who tells of the symbolic purpose of Cereberus: “The ravenous hellhound is a torturer of gluttons. He feasts on our souls and disgorges them, so that he may always eat with insatiable hunger.” This creature may be meant to mock the gluttons as well, representing what God wants them to be seen as....
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...concept of where one goes after death is a question that had baffled people from the beginning of time. A number of people have attempted to create individual ideas of what the afterlife will be like. This paper will try to find the differences and the similarities between the hell that is depicted in Dante’s Inferno and in the film What Dreams May Come. The film, What Dreams May Come, is about two people, Chris and Annie, who fall in love and become soul mates. Unfortunately Annie faces many hardships in her life after her two children pass away in a car accident in addition to her husband dying as well. Annie is unable to deal with the pain of her losses and chooses to commit suicide. Because of Annie’s decision to end her life she goes to a special place in hell for those who commit suicide while Chris is in heaven. Once Chris realizes that Annie will never be able to join him in heaven he promises to journey to hell and retrieve Annie and bring her back with him to live in heaven together for eternity. A difference between Dante’s depiction of hell and the film’s view of hell is the concept of where one goes when he or she dies being subjective or objective. In Dante’s Inferno, he creates a hell that is full of creative monsters, and terrifying lands filled with unthinkable punishments for the crimes that were committed while the person was alive. This hell is divided and then subdivided again into smaller more specific realms of hell. In Canto 12-17 Dante describes circle...
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...For my final project, I wanted to present Hell in a way that would cause people to enjoy it, rather than blanching in disgust from the grotesque nature of Dante's depiction of Hell. It was then my group and I decided to use something that everyone likes: food. For each Circle/Bolgia, we have a different food that reminds us of the punishment sentenced upon those sent there. For Ante-Hell, we are making Dirt Cups (Oreos, chocolate pudding, and gummy worms) to represent the "swarm of wasps and hornets that goaded them" (Canto III). For The Gate, we are making Angel Food Cake to show the irony between angels and Hell. For Circle One, we decided to use Dried Fruits, to represent those "born without the light of Christ's revelation" (Canto IV)....
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...Chase Hamblen English 2410 Mr. Wesley Jarrett 10 April 2012 Inferno Canto I I awoke from a daze to find that I was in a dark unfriendly place with cave-like features, filled with sin and wrongdoings. I do not recall how I got to such a place, but after collecting myself, I noticed a very dim light to one end of the cave, so I proceeded toward it. The path I had chosen seemed to descend, and as I appeared to reach the light I was astonished to find a lion with a bright glow blocking the path. As he paced back and forth, looking at me hungrily, I considered retreating. After realizing I was no match for the magnificent beast, I turned and began to venture back to the other side of the seemingly never-ending cave. Then, a man appeared before me and stated that his name was Izuel, a fallen angel. He explains that the lion represents different forms of evil and tells that another greater being that represents good will come one day and remove the lion from its post. Amazed by this story and his Izuel’s arrival, I asked why he had been banished from Heaven. He told me the story of how he had spoken against God and had been sent to Hell, and has been sent by my long lost wife in Heaven and given a short time to guide me to Heaven. He then outlines what the journey will be like and warns me that I must first journey with him through Hell. He says that there are three levels that we must travel through and that each level will be worse than the last, consisting of obstacles...
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...Contrapasso is one of the few rules in Dante’s Inferno, it is the “law of nature”. Stating that for every sinner’s crime there must be an equal punishment. In the sixth circle Dante and Virgil see “flaming tombs of the souls who have not worshiped God but who have worshiped others”. The punishment of having the souls in a tomb full of flames fits the crime they have committed. Many of of the souls are being punished in the sixth circle by burning in a tomb for eternity. Those are people who have not listened to the truth. In one of the other levels the punishment isn’t quite fair like all the rest of the punishments. In the fourth circle Dante and virgil enter and they see souls who are being punished for greed. The level is divided into...
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