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The Inferno Feminist Analysis

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Throughout the course of history, women’s rights have continued to be taken away throughout literature. This trend is clearly visible throughout The Inferno, written in fourteenth century Florentine Italy, where gender stereotypes play a major role. Women are, in some cases completely excluded from The Inferno, as is made evident in the relatively excluded character of Beatrice. In fact, Francesca da Rimini, a sinner found in the circle for the lustful, is the only woman to speak in this text. Women are seen as monsters in some circles too, a negative depiction indeed. Dante does include women in his version of hell and punishes men and women alike, he even shows them both monsters; yet one gender is seen far more frequently than the other

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