How Is Satan Portrayed In Dante's Inferno

In Dante’s Inferno, Dante thoroughly describes what he believes Hell to be. He lists many sins, along with their punishments and placements in Hell. Strangely enough, Dante does not have a specific circle for idolatry, the worship of idols, or something other than God. This is thought to be strange because idolatry is generally considered a grave sin. One possible explanation of this is that each sin in itself can be viewed as a form of idolatry.

Does Satan seem to a Hero or Villain in Paradise Lost, Book I? Paradise lost; book I by John Milton starts in midias Res with invocation to the muse. He proposes the subject of man’s first disobedience and loss of Paradise they were placed in, Milton emphasis on justifying the way of God to men through Christen believe of Felix Culpa. Milton portrayed Satan as one of the most dynamic and complicated characters in Paradise Lost, book I. Satan can be argued as villainous character as well as a tragic hero in this book. Satan (Lucifer), the chief of rebel angels to go against God, is the greatest villain with many tragic flaws of hubris.

Real versus Real C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters tells the story of Screwtape, a devil in Hell, writing letters to his nephew, Wormwood, who is trying to guide a patient towards Hell over God and Heaven. Lewis has in other works described his thoughts on subjectivism and an objective truth as well as how an objective truth is better than subjectivism. Lewis’ ideas about subjectivism are shown in his non-fictional works, such as The Abolition of Man, in which Lewis describes how an objective truth is better than subjectivism. However, in The Screwtape Letters, Lewis is describing the views of the devil, and therefore the descriptions most often become the opposite of Lewis’ beliefs. Yet, in some circumstances an objective truth can apply

Hawthorne’s use of words such as “mournful,” “sinful,” “dreadful,” “horror,” “shadow,” and “red stigma” create a dark and deathly tone (Hawthorne 381). This tone associates directly with Chillingworth which adds to his nightmarish portrayal in the passage. Hawthorne also uses imagery to portray Chillingworth as a symbol of the devil in the quote “the devil knew it well and fitted it continually with the touch of his burning finger!” he literally calls Chillingworth the devil, and “now at the death-hour, he stands before you” is also used to portray him as the devil because the “death-hour” is foreshadowing the apocalypse and soon coming end to the novel (Hawthorne 381). Chillingworth’s portrayal as evil and the devil is used in the book to reveal that seeking revenge towards Hester caused hate to manifest inside him and transformed him into a much darker and more evil being than he once was in the beginning of the book. This helps the book as a whole convey one of the flaws in society as Chillingworth holds on to his grudge and allows it to control his actions and change

Dante brings this woody scene to life for his readers by claiming “I [Dante] went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.” (Canto I lines 1-3) From that ominous wood, Dante is escorted through the steep and winding levels of hell. In the Inferno, “hell” represents Dante’s own hell in his life, his home city of Florence, Italy. The steep and

Although many may not believe that Satan is a being present in the lives of all, the Bible portrays him as “the father of lies,” and a “thief” whose purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy (King James Version, John 8:44). His purpose is that of pure evil. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago demonstrates similar characteristics. Utterly consumed by his malevolent desire for revenge, he describes how “nothing can, or shall, content my soul,” until he achieves it (Othello 2.1.223). He will do everything in his power to obtain what he wants, no matter the cost.

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 ‘contrapasso’ in accordance with Dante’s Inferno is a process, “either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself” (Musa 37-38). The disenabling of the soul to enjoy the good that it had once rejected is evident as a result of the contrapasso for the soul has no room to grow therefore remains stagnant from the consequences of the choices made on earth (Sayers, Dante The Divine Comedy 1: Hell 120). This mere description of a damned soul’s fate already paints a distasteful picture of the nature of Hell

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.

The nouns ‘fiend’ and ‘Satan’ fit in the semantic field of Hell, in direct contrast to the Puritan belief and innocence he believes he has. The evocative use of plosive ‘B’ and fricative ‘S’ emphasises Sir Topas’ anger over Malvolio being an enemy to God, showing Feste’s power and elevated status over the now weakened Malvolio not only because he’s a ‘priest’ but also his newfound ability to criticise him. This depicts that Malvolio’s madness is caused by a possessed demon according to Sir Topas but the sudden comedic interjection of Sir Toby ‘Well said, Master Parson’ reminds the audience that this is all a prank (deception) and the main aim is humiliation. Secondly, the aggressive torment of Malvolio continues with Feste’s