Christianity In Dante's Inferno

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. In Circle 7: Round Three, Canto XV, Ser Brunetto Latino,

"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.

God’s Justice in Inferno One of the most significant themes, if not the most significant theme within Dante’s Inferno is the perfection of God’s divine justice. Dante expressees divine justice within Inferno in a multitude of ways, with one of the the most prominent examples being the overall structure of Hell and how the punishment for the sinners (perfectly) reflects upon the sin. To the modern reader, Hell likely seems more like an act of cruelty than divine justice, much less a product of God’s love. At first,the torments that the sinners are subjected to seems extreme and grotesque.

Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy begins with Dante’s journey into Hell. Dante has strayed from the true path and must therefore take this journey into the supernatural realms in order to correct himself. In the Inferno, Dante dramatically changes his perception of sin from a response of empathy to a response of disgust and hatred. The turning point of his perception is when he encounters the sinner Filippo Argenti in the Fifth Circle of Hell.

Throughout ‘Inferno’, sins and their punishments are structured from the least morally corrupt and

Condemned In Dante’s Inferno, we are guided through the nine appalling rings of hell. As we make our way through, we see many fallen heroes and heroines from Greek and Roman mythology. In the second ring of hell, we are escorted to the famous lovers, Cleopatra and Antony, Francesca and Paulo, and Helen and Paris. Through the Inferno, we understand the crimes and retributive justice of those condemned in eternal suffering and question if the punishments are appropriate.

Dante's journey is more for self enlightenment in comparison to other great epics, such as Beowulf. Although Dante does not realize it, he is there to improve himself. During this trip, he feels pity for the sinners in the levels of Hell and often faints because of the awful treatment they are being subjected to. He eventually feels compassion for the sinners and realizes that Hell is a place that you would not want to be in. He then goes back to the normal world wanting to tell everyone to change the way they live so they do not end up in Hell, like he experienced on the

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. The face on the left was black, the color of ignorance,” (34). Lucifer is pictured as a terrifying demon to give a better

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.

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”.

The only difference is that Hamlet is the sin happening right now while Inferno is what happens to those sinners after death-almost as if Inferno is a sequel to Hamlet. To display this, we created a drawing that places each of the main characters in Hamlet into one of the circles of hell from Inferno. Gertrude lands in the second circle for lust due to marrying her dead husband’s brother. Laertes ends up in the 5th circle of hell for anger due to his desperate need to avenge his father and sister’s death by plotting to kill Hamlet. Ophelia lands in the middle ring of the 7th circle for suicide.

Inferno begins by following Dante as he falls from his path of moral truth. Sin has obstructed his path to God. We never know what type of sin Dante has committed, this is not important, he has simply strayed from the straight path. Because the hero of the Inferno is also the writer, we have to look at both aspects of him, Dante the author and Dante the character. Dante the character, well to be blunt, he is a bit of a weenie.

Dante’s Inferno represents a microcosm of society; meaning, laymen, church, politicians, and scholars are all compiled into one place and punished for their sins. Hell, despite being depicted as brutal, ugly, and chaotic, is made realistic because the inhabitants come from every country and every walk of life. While Dante Alighieri did not invent the idea of Hell itself, he did create an important and in depth concept that still receives attention in biblical, classical, and medieval works. The Divine Comedy itself was written sometime between the years 1308 and 1321 and scholars still consider it the “supreme work of Italian literature.” The work itself is an epic poem divided into three separate sections: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso; respectively Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.

In the “Divine Comedy” the writer, Dante Alighieri uses his own namesake to create a character, Dante, whose moralistic qualities change dramatically as he journeys through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. In the beginning, Dante finds himself lost on the path of sin and is sympathetic to others who have strayed as well. As he begins his journey, Dante shows concern and sympathy to the suffering sinners. It is only once Dante ventures deeper into the circles of Hell, when his demeanor changes and hatred begins to show. Dante, once weak and blindly empathetic to the sinners who turned their back to God’s love, becomes consciously aware of the importance of faith and justice.

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.