With more than one mission in mind, Dante decided to use both epic and allegorical elements in his Divine Comedy as the best means of revealing his message and wisdom to his readers. Authors commonly use allegories to express two different meanings within one work. Dante, for instance, used his allegories to diversify the thought process of his readers. Within the first stanza of the Inferno, Dante uses the portrait of a dark and arduous wood to symbolize the darkness that clouds his own life. 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.
After hearing her story and seeing her torment, Dante becomes overwhelmed to the point of fainting. His response to sin at this point is contrary to the Christian view; however, his responses evolve throughout the journey. In conclusion, Dante’s Inferno implicitly communicates to mankind through an allegorical presentation about an individual’s detour off a righteous path leading him into the depths of Hell. He gradually learns that God’s justice prevails, no one can escape eternal damnation unless they
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.
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
The prisoners receive a thematically equivalent punishment to their actions in their previous lives. As the deeper circles of hell are populated by the worst inmates, the concept of contrapasso elicits exceedingly jarring punishments the further Dante travels. The nine total circles of hell are large enough to populate a lifetime 's worth of the world’s sins. When Dante is introduced to the first circle of hell, reserved for pagans, it is clear that the inmates are bound eternally to live in the Inferno, for even those who did not conciously commit sin, are forced to stay in this realm. In his real life, Alighieri was highly vocal about political stances.
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.
In conclusion these are the influence in the decision making process of the couple in The Box, and The Devil and Tom Walker. The conclusion of the story ‘’The Devil and Tom Walker, is that the devil wins and Tom is forced to pay his debt to the devil. He got rid out of it by becoming religious, but in the end he had to own up to what he had done. The devil rode back into the dark woods, to symbolize sending Tom to hell. The conclusion of ‘’The Box’’, is that in the end, it's about being judged for your decisions when those judging you already know how you will respond, and therefore, you should be responsible for your decision.
An example of this from the play is when Romeo found out he was banished and he acted ungrateful, despite the fact he could have avoided the fight had it not been for his hate induced revenge, “There is no world without Verona walls, But purgatory, torture, hell itself. Hence banished is banished from the world, And world’s exile is death. Then banished Is death mis-termed. Calling death banished, Thou cut’st my head off with a golden axe, And smilest upon the stroke that murders me” (3.3.17-23). In West Side Story Tony was shown as optimistic
make the rest of the trojans sit down by me, and all the achaians, and yourself call forth one of the achaians, their bravest, to fight man to man against you in bitter combat. Since it is not your destiny yet to die and encounter fate. for thus I heard it in the speech of the gods everlasting." Yet when Hectors fate finally comes it is utterly grim. Hector's end is so tragic because he holds so much shame because of his brash decision for the Trojans to stay outside their walls the previous night.
And yet again, we could see that each punishment reflects the type of sin that has made in their lives. In there, Dante passes by politicians from Florence who confiscated Dante’s possessions after he was exiled from Florence. The sixth circle of Hell is “Hersey”, which is a place reserved for those who have ideas that contradicts Christianity. Their punishment is to spend an eternity in a flaming tombs. And just like the other circles Dante sees some familiar faces or notable historical figures like Emperor Frederick the second and an ancient Greek philosopher called