Oh The Places Lewis Analysis

In the stories, it’s all fire, hopeless souls hopelessly screaming, endless pain. I mean, yeah, there’s fire. Lots of it. And there’s tons of screaming too, probably because of the fire. And where there’s fire and screaming, there’s endless pain.

“The descent to hades is the same from every place” said the ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras. Nowhere is that sentiment anywhere better mirrored than in C.S. Lewis’ book “The Screwtape Letters,” which consists of a series of letters written by an elder demon (the title character) to a junior devil advising him about how to tempt souls to hell; he speaks often of the “time-tested” ways of seducing lost souls. Moreover though, the work illustrates the society of the hell in which the demons dwell as an eternal power struggle not only with God but also with each other; Screwtape himself lays out his worldview as that “all selves are by their nature in competition.” The demonic struggle to dominate and control others is the modus vivendi

The image of the “gates of heaven” is meant to symbolize a life that is devoted to God. Furthermore, it represents "the right path" that one should follow. If everyone followed this path, the world as a whole would be a better place. Quite often, some individuals choose to use another path to get what they desire and this path may not be pleasant for everyone. The image of the “gates of hell” is meant to symbolize how people can turn to violent conduct, thinking that they would be able to get what they want immediately. This may be the case, but if they just take a moment to think about the negative repercussions their actions will have, they may think twice. The two paths used in the collage are used to demonstrate that there is always two ways of reaching a goal: by following "the right path", where even if it takes longer to accomplish your goal, nobody is going to get hurt, or by following "the wrong path", where individuals get what they desire, however, the path may not be pleasant for

First of all, Lewis elucidates that some Christians scorn others for not devoting all their time to religious activities, and that to answer bad philosophy there must be knowledge of what constitutes as good philosophy. Notably, Lewis makes two separate points, but they connect to one another; for it’s bad philosophy if Christians believe that the only way to glorify God is by participating in religious activities. An educated individual would discern that even a person fully dedicated to

Many of us sometimes lie awake thinking of life, death, and what happens after. Nobody knows for certain what happens once the soul leaves the body, we don’t know if there will be life after death, we don’t know if we will be punished for all that we’ve done wrong, and for that reason many of us fear death and try to stay on the straight, morally right path in order to avoid Hell. In the epic poem, The Inferno, written by Dante Alighieri, we get a sense of what Hell is like, or at least Alighieri’s rendition of Hell. After venturing from the straight path, Alighieri’s self-based character, Dante, finds himself on the verge of entering Hell. Dante’s figure for human reason, Virgil, a Virtuous Pagan, leads Dante through the nine circles of Hell

Throughout Dante’s travels through the lower levels of Hell, he meets meets many tormented souls. As he and his guide Virgil get to and goes down through the different circles of Hell, he sees the punishments that each sin gives consequence to and learns of how these souls lost their way and ended up here being in pain for eternity. Specifically in Canto XXVIII, he meets the souls in the ninth bolgia of the eighth circle of Hell who are being persecuted for they have committed sins of scandal and schism. Here the souls are being tormented by a devil who inflicts wounds continuously for each lost soul. Each soul he meets along the way tells him a warning or a story on how to avoid theses punishments himself. With each soul he encounters and sees the eternal physical condition of their souls and pain that they are put through, he comes to understand why sins of schism and scandal are so horrible.

Before entering Hell, Dante sees a stone sign that holds the message “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” on it as a warning for anyone entering into Hell (I, III, 31). Hell itself is a hopeless place filled with hopeless souls. Every single soul that has been damned to stay in Hell for all eternity shares a single punishment with all other damned souls: the loss of hope. From the “nearly soulless” that run in the Vestibule of Hell to Satan in the center of Hell, hope is abandoned in their sufferings (I, III, 31). However, the souls that do not reside in Hell and have not been damned still possess hope through divine salvation. No one that forever belongs in Hell has hope of being saved, but other souls do possess hope through salvation.

It is important that children and young people are educated and encouraged to learn about cultures and beliefs different to their own. This will promote an anti-discriminatory practice. There are many multi-cultural festivals and celebrations that happen in the UK. In school it is important that all children learn about these celebrations to educate them on other individual’s cultures, for example, Diwali, Hanukah, Christmas and Ramadan. This will give children an insight on others cultures and how they celebrate within their religion. It allows children to realise people can have different faiths and values to their own.

Dante Alighieri, who was born in 1265 CE and later died in 1321 CE, was a famous poet in Florence, Italy, most commonly known for his book, Dante’s Inferno. Dante’s Inferno was a product of Dante’s time period because in Florence during this time period, the idea of death and afterlife was very prominent in religion, and Dante’s text, The Inferno, focuses on the idea that the sins committed during one’s life determines the fate of one’s after-life. Because the idea that one’s sins determined their fate and life after death was such a common element in literature and art in Florence during this time period, many other pieces of work emphasized the same ideals, specifically one work in particular, The Scrovegni Chapel.

In these stories, fear is shown a lot there is two stories, the first one is called “Sinner in the hand of a angry god” and the other one “The Crucible”. The fear is very different from one story to the other, but there must be some similarity’s. In “The Crucible” Abigail Williams was caught dancing naked in the woods which raises some question. Everyone is claiming it is witch craft and Abigail doesn’t want anything to come out so she threatens all the girls that were with her at the time of getting caught and tells them she will kill them if they say anything. There is fear in going both ways because even though Abby threaten to kill the girls Abby is also scared because of what could happen to her family because if there is witch craft in her family they could get

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).”

As previously stated, C.S. Lewis created a masterpiece that was written from a different viewpoint. C.S. Lewis wrote this book from a Christian viewpoint and made sure that his audience would be challenged in the natural Christian faith and would be forced to think deeply about what they really believe and why. Many people will ask why knowing the enemy would be a good thing. However, knowing the enemy is one of the best courses of actions that a Christian can take, because the Bible talks much about Satan and his evil deeds and Jesus even talks more about Hell than He ever did Heaven. From these facts it is obvious that knowing your enemy is just as important as knowing your Lord and

Throughout life, people are often faced with many decisions. Some of these decisions are easy to make, while others are excruciating, as they can be life altering. From a Christian’s perspective, however, people never have to make these decisions alone. God promises that he will never abandon his people, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (New International Version, Deuteronomy 31:6). In the poem, “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost uses beautifully crafted metaphors, imagery, and tone to convey a theme that all people are presented with choices in life, some of which are life-altering, so one should heavily way the options in order to make the best choices possible.