Pride In Dante's Inferno

I found Canto XXXIII of Dante’s Inferno to be an extremely intriguing canto as it highlighted many key themes portrayed throughout all of Inferno such as betrayal, cruelness and death. This can be illustrated from Count Ugolino’s story on his cruel death in the hands of the Archbishop Ruggieri and what led to his journey to Hell. Ugolino begins by calling the archbishop a traitor for imprisoning him and his children, claiming “How [Ugolino] was seized, and executed then, having trusted [Ruggieri] while he betrayed and lied” (Canto XXXIII, p. 1). Then, Ugolino recalled how Ruggieri viciously starved them to the point where, upon witnessing their father’s grief and sorrow, Ugolino’s children began urging their father to eat them in order to relieve their father of his great hunger and ensure his survival. In the following few days, all his sons died of hunger, extending Ugolino’s misery even further. Ugolino ends his story with a rather disturbing line, “Then fasting did what misery had not done,” perhaps hinting at the possibility that he ate his dead sons, which could ultimately explain why Ugolino was in hell (p.2).

In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller in 1953, Miller illustrates the importance of seeing past pride and listening to other people. The Crucible is about the small town of Salem Massachusetts. The story takes place during the Salem witch trials. It is centered on a few main characters, Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams, some other girls in the town, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Judge Danforth. Abigail is a 17-year-old girl who is trying to lie her way back into John Proctor’s heart. When John says no Abigail goes on a rampage of lying (also leading a few other girls with her), causing 20 deaths and ultimately not succeeding in her goal. The other characters, besides John and Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Hale, cannot see

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

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. But, as the poem continues to progress, it becomes quite clear the there is a perfect balance within God’s justice as the degree of each sinner’s punishment perfectly reflects upon the gravity of the sin. Furthermore, the inscription on the gates of Hell explicitly states that Hell exists as a result of divine justice; “ll. “Justice moved my great maker; God eternal / Wrought me: the power and the unsearchably / High wisdom, and the primal love supernal (III.4-6).”

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,

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. Throughout his journey, Dante feels differently towards the shades. One of the first time he sympathizes is when he is talking to Paolo and Francesca, in Circle 2, he felt so much sadness that he "swooned away as if I had been dying./And fell, even as a dead body falls" (Inferno IV.141-142) This is one of the few times that Dante faints because of

Honor and pride is a recurring theme in Titus Andronicus. In the beginning of the novel, we see that Titus has returned from a ten year war,in which he is perceived as a virtuous leader. Titus encompasses the virtues of pride and integrity so much, that he is proud that his sons perished in the war with honor, and even tries to bethrothe Lavinia to the emperor to strengthen his family honor and their place in the social hierarchy. Throughout the novel we are able to see that Titus stands upon his honor and pride and even goes to the extent of murdering his son Mutius for the sake of his intact honor. Yet, his words in Act three, Scene one, juxtaposes societies beliefs of Titus, because he humbles himself down and cries for mercy in front of

Through the tales of Lucifer and Adam in “The Monk’s Tale”, the author develops the theme that even the highest beings, whether they be gods or created by gods, cannot escape bad fortune (or more simply, that Fortune is more powerful than gods). For example, in Lucifer’s case, his tale automatically sets him apart from normal, weak mortals by saying that he was “an angel…/ and not a man” (1-2). It also says, “For notwithstanding angels cannot be/ the sport of fortune, yet he fell… [the] brightest of angels all” (3-4, 6). Through this we learn Lucifer was not only the brightest of all angels (a magnificent being, seemingly all-powerful and immovable), but apparently, being an angel, immune to fortune. However, despite his claim to be above sin, even an omnipotent being such as he was swayed towards sin and promptly cast into Hell- a massive, eternal case of bad fortune. The second excerpt also uses a biblical, pre-ordained example of a victim of bad fortune: a man named Adam. The text explains that Adam was not the result of “man’s unclean seed”, but created by God himself. Adam was even holy enough to dwell in the Garden of Eden (biblical paradise) (9-11). However, despite his divine origins and his access to the highest holiness, bad fortune still befalls Adam as he partakes of the tree of life and is condemned to mortality. Through these excerpts, both showing

The critical analysis article by critic Susan E. Blow discusses the meaning of sin to man compared to Dante’s Inferno. Blow states that in today’s society, man is “rapidly losing the consciousness of sin” (Blow) and is blending the lines of right and wrong. Throughout Divina Commedia, the idea of

The function of a literary device plays an important part in literature. They provide a deep analyzation of the structure in a novel or poem. In Dante’s The Inferno literary devices play a significant role in providing a clear explanation of the Pilgrims journey through hell, allowing one to better understand the concept of eternal punishment.

In The Comedy, Dante the Pilgrim develops a relationship with his damned idol, Virgil, in order to journey through both Inferno and Purgatory. Even though Virgil was a good man while living, he lacked understanding of certain virtues, like pride, which prevented him from being able to reach higher levels in the afterlife. Dante the Poet’s choice to damn Virgil conveys that obeying a higher order is the way to one’s salvation. The developing relationship between Virgil and Dante the Pilgrim throughout the first two canticles brings light to the opposing separation between the two characters because of the devotion Dante has to Christian virtues in comparison to Virgil’s pagan misunderstanding of virtue. While Dante the Pilgrim experiences many

In the Divine Comedy, Dante illustrates the consequences of living a life of lust and love. Those who live their lives in an excess of lust will be put in the inferno to live for eternity in Hell. If these people or those of a lesser degree of lust repent before their death, then they chose to go to Purgatory with the knowledge that one day when they are purged of their sins, they will go to heaven. Finally, Those who did not live in total temperance, but still remained loyal to the faith and to God will be put onto Venus in paradise. Desire is a costly commodity in one’s mortal life that can cause eternal stress and potentially damnation.

Musante 1Frank MusanteKirk T. HughesLove and LitMidterm18 March 2018 Love and Moral Judgement Moral judgement has a big part of love. As readers, we have the ability to judge and decide for ourselves what moral love means to us, and when reading we see how different characters judge if the acts of the character 's should be considered moral. When we look at and compare the two readings of Dante 's Inferno Canto 5 and Do you Know where I Am we see this. In these readings we see the similar acts, but different ways it’s dealt with. We see the judge 's of their actions, what the judge 's punishment for the characters ' actions, and the characters self-aware of how their choices and behavior will be judged. We also see two different ways that moral judgement happens. What’s the opinion of the reader on the moral judgement of these characters love. When we look at the actions that the character’s have committed in these two reading both characters Francesca and Sharon commit adultery. In Dante, Gods the judge of their actions, but in Do You Know Where I Am David Sharon 's husbands the judge. When we see how each character 's actions will be judged, it’s very different, but we have to take into account where the characters come from and who’s judging them. When we read Do You Know Where I AM Sharon commits adultery and the David judges her. On page 161 it says “ I was surprised to discover I wanted to hit my wife.”

In the Medieval ages, the lyric poem had three main themes: “loss and exile”, “love” and “religion”. The one that matters us to most in Dante’s Commedia being love, it can be said that the concept of love at the time, wasn’t associated with the understanding of “romantic love” that now we have come to love and use in majority of literary pieces. At the time, marriage was mostly considered to be just a business deal that one participate in so that one can assume a title and improve his/her economical status. In the circumstances, men and women were encouraged, in a sense, to have relationships with other people, outside their marriages. In other words, marriage had almost nothing to with romantic love and that’s why the theme

A Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, once stated “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. Dante’s journey into hell, as he described in his many cantos, was undeniably critical to analyze; it was Canto II, however, that depicted his very first step. Dante did not only make Canto II his introduction to hell, but also implied the philosophy of Christianity in the canto. Numerous readings, including this canto, suggested that cooperation is highly emphasized in the Christian culture. Before setting out for the journey, Dante spoke cowardly to Virgil: “Poet, you who guide me, consider if my powers will suffice before you trust me to this arduous passage” (Inferno, 2.10). Clearly, Dante did not think of himself as a hero. Despite already having Virgil as a guide, Dante still lacked confidence and commitment. This confirmed that fact that Dante will unlikely tour hell alone; therefore, unable to reach the divine heaven. Here, I argued that he had intentionally done this to illustrate the Christian ideal that ones could not achieve one’s ultimate goal alone.