Character Analysis: The Divine Comedy

Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent was described as the personification of the Counter-Reformation. As mentioned in Document 5, “It is the church’s position to interpret holy Scriptures. Those who break these laws shall be punished with the penalties by law established.” The Council persecuted those who disobeyed and went against the official doctrine of the church. The clergy were overly strict about their imposed laws to prevent even more followers from breaking away from the Church at that time.

Dante Hero Essay Pieces of writing are often viewed as a product of their origin time period, even in the modern day it is not uncommon to view our time plane as independent to what preceded as if we were somehow separate from every moment that came before. Instead every aspect of a story is ingrained with the message of millenniums before it, so much so the effect that the present has pales in comparison. This is present throughout Dante’s inferno written by Dante Alighieri as it is not merely a representation of the time period it originated from, rather the present represents the top of an iceberg whose very existence and stature are fully dependent on the times that preceded. This phenomenon of the past is fully present in Dante’s epic hero cycle. Dante’s resurrection reveals to be heavily influenced by the history of humankind.

The Middle Ages were the era of Reformation. The Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Catholic counter-reformation were all major reform movements that brought about much needed change. However, these three movements strongly disagreed with each other. Why did they disagree? Because they had different perspectives concerning Christianity and the church’s authority.

A man named W.S Gilbert once said, “Let the punishment fit the crime.” In the Elizabethan Era this idea was nowhere near hypothetical. The punishments were only as harsh, heartless, and unusual as one could imagine for every act that was considered a crime. The most inhuman behaviors were demonstrated at every hour, of every day, throughout this time period. Although the upper and lower class committed mostly contrasting crimes, they all had similar punishments involving humiliation from villagers that were classified as common or rare.

Bishops gained a lot of power with control of church memberships, finances, and the selection of priests. In 590, “Gregory the Great was named Bishop of Rome…and named himself ‘Pope’ and the ‘Head of the Universal Church.’” He was the key to asserting papal primacy and started the requirement of confession and penance. He also worked to convert the pagan kings, hoping more people would follow in their footsteps. With the belief that Constantine left his crown to the papacy, the future Popes had the power to crown the emperor acting as god’s representative.

In Christianity, the Bishop of Rome, or the Pope, is the leader of the religion. The Pope has had significant influence on the world stage throughout history. The Pope in the early stages of Christianity helped its rapid spread. Through the middle ages, the Pope was just as large of a political leader in Europe as he was a religious leader within Christianity. His influence of the spread of the Christian faith as well as the developments of modern European culture and history makes the Pope and his Papacy one of the most influential and enduring institutions in the history of the world.

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 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.

When making decisions regarding who to choose as our next elected officials, one of the first qualities we scrutinize is their judgment, using our own judgment to do so. However, in a nonsecular society in which judgment of a religious authority is essentially the judgment of a divine power, there is significantly less room for scrutiny. The authority of any figure with political power stems from the judgment of the community over which it rules. For instance, if the community believes in the absolute authority of God, then the judgment of God is what gives the judgment of the church or any religious leader authority. A large aspect of the authority that made the Catholic Church such a prominent religious and political force during the early 16th century was called into question by Martin Luther.

These radical changes made to the Christian church allowed for imperial involvement in the religious cult, but it also allowed for a new power and influence of the church on politics and governing of the Roman Empire. The advance in power and status of Christian leaders has been maintained still in modern eras. Although it is debatable whether Christian leaders are as significant and powerful as the period of Constantine’ rule, it is blatantly obvious how Constantine and his Christianization marked the stepping stones for a lot of political and religious relations, as still seen today in the collaboration of the Queen of England and the Pope (Lenski,

The year is 1302, Dante Alighieri is absent from his role as one of the six supreme magistrates. Prior to that he had an extremely successful political career who had no problem exerting his power. Dante considered himself “a moderate White, he found it necessary during the two-month term to join in banishing his brother-in-law, Corso Donati, and his "first friend," Guido Cavalcanti, as ringleaders respectively of the Blacks and Whites.” Blacks and Whites were faction groups who had ongoing fights in the streets of Florence. This is an extremely admirable trait of a great ruler and/or ruler, the ability to at any moment turn on friends or family in order to uphold the city or government.

This pope is not physically in Dante’s Hell, because he was not yet dead at the time he was writing the poem. However, to Dante, Pope Boniface VIII was one of the most corrupt and fraudulent because he led a false perception of wanting to make peace. This false perception undermines the church and all of its followers, causing him to eventually join Pope Nicholas III in his misery, following the theme of how the abuse of power, particularly in the church and politics, is despicable towards

The king or the leader of the church is like God to the catholics because after he has heard the pleas of the members of the church, he solves the problems right away and those problems that he cannot solve, he tries to solicit the help of governor of the land who tries to solve them. Religious cats are very powerful because they also make joint task efforts with the state and country, and the bishop with overall ruler( the pope) representing the kings each time they are out for meetings. It is common to see the religious cats influencing or favouring those that have religious beliefs to capture power, even in a land that does not practice christianity while the others with different religious beliefs, follow these favoured cats and i think that this is correct. Among any group, there are invisible cats, whether we like it or not and they are there for a particular reason which is also secret. A cat or some groups of cats, with the same skin colour can blend with the people of another country whose people are in a great slumber and without

One of the most often literary device that Alighieri uses is symbolism. He uses it constantly throughout the book which makes it easy to miss. In canto III the reader meets the outcasts and the opportunists, they are the one’s who did not choose good nor evil. These souls are outside the gates of hell and will forever be unclassified. They are closest to heaven geographically,

Comedy plays an important role in the majority of Molière’s writing. It sets the tone for the play, entertains the audience and most importantly helps the playwright to achieve their theatrical objectives. In Le Tartuffe the nature of the comedy used is satirical. This essay will examine why Molière was inclined to use this style of comedy and how the comedic techniques accentuate the main theme of the play. Molière was one of France’s most successful playwrights of the 17th Century.