Loss Of Hope In Dante's Inferno

Another obstacle Dante faces is the sympathy he feels for the shades. Dante's sympathy for the shades is an obstacle because it's keeping him from going to Heaven; by sympathizing and pitying the shades, Dante is questioning God's justice. To God all the shades belong in Hell because they chose to sin. Dante must get rid of his feelings in order to enter Heaven. He does this by adjusting to Hell.

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, a known political figure in Florence with political views associated with the merchants and traders opposed the political party sided with the banking families. Dante went out on a mission outside of Florence in order to persuade others into his political views so that he would have more support in his party. While he was gone, the Black Guelfs or opposing party took over Florence and by the time he returned and they told him that if he did not change his political views he would be executed. Dante remained in exile for the rest of his life and never returned to Florence again. In 1314, Dante then wrote The Divine Comedy which includes Purgatory, Paradise, and Inferno to depict the reality of corruption in society.

In Dante Alighieri’s “Inferno” which is the part of a greater poem Divine Comedy incontinence is the sin which is mentioned to be punished in the second circle of hell through the fifth circles. Incontinence is a feeling of desire of sex, power, wealth and food in which an individual lacks in self-control. It is described as an unchecked desire. In his philosophy Dante views incontinence as the most basic and most forgivable category of sins.

Many scholars argue as to whether or not God has granted his people free will. Some believe that God’s people are predestined to either salvation and eternal life or damnation to hell. Christians believe that God gave Adam and Eve free will and power to control their desires. When Eve was deceived by the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit, she forfeited the gift that God had given them of the ability to control their desires. Mankind has since been enslaved to their sin and desires.

Dante 's depiction of suicides ' punishment, from a modern perspective, seems too harsh for the nature of the crime. The crime seems to neither deserve such a low place in hell nor warrant a harsh punishment. However, after closer examination of the text and context, Dante 's punishment for people who were violent against themselves is justifiable. The Christian ideology of the connection between body and soul, explains this contrapasso of the suicides.

Hell is a unknown realm that sinners are put into for doing terrible things in their lifetimes. Hell is only available after death, in the afterlife and your actions will decide if you will go to hell or not. In dante's inferno, there are a total of 9 levels of hell and the intensity of the sin increases as you go down the levels. There is a variety of sins that dante witnesses and the punishments that go along with it.

Life can really suck sometimes. It can give us the illusion that everything is going to go smoothly as planned, but then it surprises us with tragedy or rough, unexpected circumstances. It is during these times that we just don’t know what to do and feel hopeless. But hope is always there. Sometimes it’s obvious, and sometimes it seems impossible to find, but there is always hope for any situation or circumstance.

One prominent motif used in The Inferno by Dante Alighieri and The Odyssey by Homer is the idea of love as the momentum that pushes the protagonists of both stories to persevere in their journeys. In The Odyssey, Odysseus embarks on a journey of twenty years to reach his home in Ithaca and return to his beloved wife. Comparatively, Dante goes through Hell in order to reach his departed lover Beatrice, and in the process must go through many parts of the underworld and overcome the unique challenges found in each part of the under world that Dante went through so he could be reunited with his love. On their journeys, mystic beings aid both protagonists, allowing them to persevere in their treks. Neither story could be complete without the guidance

During the time of Dante, the Catholic Church was a major power of control and had ruled over a vast amount of land deemed the “Holy Roman Empire” when the Roman Catholic Church was at the height of its popularity. The ruling with papal influence caused much controversy throughout Italy and Western Europe and led to a great deal of discontent. People had either been pro-church control or anti-church control and the commentary throughout literature about politics and religion was very present. Dante, in Inferno, addresses his views toward the church and what he believes has gone wrong.